For decades, emotions were seen as barriers to rationality and productivity in organizations, and learning was conceptualized primarily as a cognitive process, detached from emotional dynamics. Recent research, however, has highlighted the importance of emotions in workplace learning, although empirical evidence remains limited. Therefore, many of these studies have focused on the role of negative emotions, underscoring their hindering effects on learning.
This study investigates the relationship between negative emotions and transfer of learning, focusing on reflexivity on emotion as a metacognitive capacity that can support emotion regulation processes, particularly in high-intensity emotional contexts. We propose that reflexivity on emotion can enhance transfer of learning, even in the presence of negative emotion, addressing limitations of traditional training evaluation models that emphasize immediate reactions and knowledge acquisition rather than deeper learning outcomes.
The research aims to contribute to organizational learning literature by identifying reflexivity as a key mechanism in learning lessons from negative emotions, also clarifying its role in the emotions-reflexivity interplay. It further offers organizations a new lens to enhance and assess training effectiveness.
A three-wave longitudinal design was conducted with 76 Correctional Police newcomers attending an entry training, using self-report questionnaires measuring emotions, reflexivity on emotion, and transfer of learning.
Findings show that reflexivity on emotions served as a protective mechanism, reducing their detrimental impact on learning. In this case, negative emotions appeared to trigger reflexivity itself, further strengthening its role in supporting learning.
Despite limitations (including self-reported data, a highly specific context, and participant attrition), this study advances organizational learning research by identifying reflexivity on emotion as a facilitator of transfer of learning, particularly in the face of negative emotions, and positioning it as an emotion regulation mechanism in organizational training contexts, especially for roles in which managing emotions is integral to the work.