Don’t get too emotional: How regulatory focus can condition the influence of top managers’ negative emotions on SME responses to economic crisis
基于155名中小企业高管的调查数据，研究发现高层管理者的负面情绪会促使企业增加收缩、减少投资，而管理者的调节焦点（预防焦点和促进焦点）会调节这一关系。
How small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) cope with economic crises and their aftermaths has been engaging both practitioners and academicians for some time. This study sets to explore how the negative emotional reactions of top managers drive an SME’s strategic responses to the economic crisis initiated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. By drawing on the affect-as-information theory, our survey data collected from 155 top managers in SMEs shows that in SMEs led by top managers who experience strong negative emotions, there is a stronger tendency for increased retrenchment and decreased investment response. Through the lens of regulatory focus theory, we additionally show that this relationship is conditioned by the regulatory foci of such managers. In SMEs led by top managers with high prevention and low promotion focus, there is a balanced response, whereas in SMEs led by top managers with strong promotion and weak prevention focus, oscillations in responses are more likely to occur.