Unpacking Affective Forecasting and Its Ties to Project Work In Organizations

Abstract

When thinking about the future, people often engage in affective forecasting—predicting what it would feel like to experience a particular event. In this article we explore how a specific form of work ubiquitous in today's organizations—project assignments—provides cause to reconsider assumptions surrounding affective forecasting. To this end, we synthesize research on affective forecasting and theorize connections between affective forecasting and project success (versus failure), rooting our arguments in the claim that affective forecasting shapes a key motivation-related aspect of performance—regulatory focus. Further, we account for systematic biases underlying affective forecasting and consider how organizational factors may shape the strength of these biases. Collectively, our arguments expand and, in some respects, challenge theory on affective forecasting and open new windows into the study of affect (i.e., mood and emotion) in organizations.