ABSTRACT
This chapter starts by discussing the psychobiology of human emotions including how they are manifest within the mind, brain, and body at the level of cells, neural pathways, and systems or processes within the body. We will discuss the circumplex theory of emotions and its compatibility with other theories of emotions, such as the approach-avoidance perspective. This chapter then presents a systematic review of the state of the evidence about the emotions that employees feel in reaction to mergers or acquisitions, with much of the evidence showing that negative emotions such as uncertainty and fear are common. We will then help you explore ways of measuring, scoring, and classifying these emotions using the new Employee Emotion Assessment Toolkit (EEAT) if you are a manager, human resource professional, occupational health professional, consultant, or another type of practitioner (including organizational psychologists) involved with a merger or acquisition. Finally, we will discuss the behavioural consequences of employees experiencing negative emotions about mergers or acquisitions, such as withdrawal or avoidance by quitting the organization or looking for another job. We will then explore employees’ quitting intentions, resistance, and support (or lack of support for a merger or acquisition) in more detail in Chapter 4, which follows.
