To your heart's content: A model of affective diversity in top management teams

In this study we develop a model of how diversity in positive affect (PA) a mong group members influences individual attitudes, group processes, and gr oup performance. We test the model on a sample of 62 U.S. top management te ams. Greater affective fit between a team member and his or her group is re lated to more positive attitudes about group relations and perceptions of g reater influence within the group. Results also suggest there is a negative relationship between a team's diversity in trait positive affect and both the chief executive officers' use of participatory decision making and fina ncial performance. Exploratory analyses reveal that affectively diverse, lo w mean trait PA groups experienced the greatest task and emotional conflict and the least cooperation. Analyses of diversity in trait negative affect produced no significant results. We discuss the implications of our study f or the group emotion, team composition, group performance, and top manageme nt team literatures.