With Head and Heart: How Emotions Shape Paradox Navigation in Veterinary Work
通过对63名兽医的质性研究，揭示了情感如何使悖论变得显著、触发灵活的情感劳动并留下促进持续学习的情感痕迹，为理解个体如何应对工作中的悖论提供了新视角。
Emotions are part of everyday life, and paradox scholars have long acknowledged that navigating paradox, i.e., opposite, interrelated, and enduring tensions, is inherently emotional. Yet, how such emotions shape the ways in which individuals navigate paradoxes remains unclear. Drawing on an in-depth qualitative study of 63 veterinarians facing the business-care paradox, I develop an emotionally informed model of how individuals navigate paradox at work. I find that emotions: (a) make paradox salient by surfacing a personal connection to paradoxical tensions; (b) trigger flexible emotional labor while responding to paradox; and (c) leave emotional traces that foster ongoing learning. In so doing, I surface how emotions shape the way paradoxes are recognized and experienced. My model invites paradox scholars to consider the centrality of emotions in paradox navigation, thus moving beyond emotions as something to be avoided and instead embracing their generative potential. Foregrounding emotions offers rich theoretical opportunities for future work.