Affect and self-regulation at work: How do we take messy theories to the task?

Within this editorial, we highlight the importance of testing and extending our understanding of core theories associated with affect and self-regulation at work. Specifically, we center our initial discussion on two theories that have garnered substantial attention within the organizational literature—control theory and social cognitive theory—highlighting how these theories offer differential predictions for the benefits of positive and negative affect at work. We then shift our focus on providing three theoretical and/or empirical misses that have significant potential to advance our science forward: (1) arbitrary selection of self-regulation theories within research studies; (2) oversimplifying affective experiences into broad categories of positive and negative affect; and (3) forgetting the complexity of multi-emotion (or ambivalent) events. Overall, we highlight theoretical and empirical contributions, as well as limitations, in this literature, and provide paths forward to enhance both our understanding of affect and self-regulation at work.