Abstract
Positivity has been shown to improve wellbeing and performance, but can it yield beneficial outcomes when it is mandatory? Drawing on identity regulation theory, we investigate the manifestations, mechanisms, and consequences of imposing positivity in organisations on employees. Using grounded theory, we collect and analyse textual data from 19 interviews and vignette discussions with an international sample of employees, middle managers, and informants from Communications and HR departments and 27 organisational documents. We identify different types of top-down positivity imposition and that it incites emotional distress, creates unfavourable perceptions, and results in openly opposing or feigning positivity. We offer a conceptual model integrating imposing positivity as a precursor to the perceived obligation to display positivity, resistance to such pressure as an outcome, and mechanisms and conditions of these relationships. Our contributions include extending positive organisational scholarship with the knowledge on the unintended consequences of positivity, framing mandatory positivity as a new form of control, and linking to the literature on antecedents of emotional labour in intra-organisational settings by identifying it as an atypical individual resistance to positivity imposition.