Longing for the Past: The Dual Effects of Daily Nostalgia on Employee Performance

Abstract

Employees’ daily routines (e.g., commutes, lunch breaks, conversations with coworkers or family members) are vital rituals that create order and meaning. However, employees frequently experience changes to how their work and nonwork lives operate, which can generate discontinuity and spark nostalgia—a sentimental longing for the past. In this study, we draw from theory on the dual nature of emotional ambivalence and the literature on emotion regulation to explore countervailing effects of daily nostalgia on employee performance. In a sample of employed adults recruited from a northeastern U.S. university’s alumni database and LinkedIn (n = 109), we used an experience sampling method to capture within-individual variation in nostalgia over 3 weeks. Results of multilevel path analysis showed, on one hand, nostalgia was positively associated with employees’ cognitive change strategies (e.g., reappraising one’s situation), which translated into heightened organizational citizenship behaviors; on the other hand, nostalgia was also positively associated with employees’ attentional deployment strategies (e.g., distraction), which reduced daily task performance and increased daily counterproductive work behaviors. Unexpectedly, results showed higher trait-level future temporal focus exacerbated the positive effect of nostalgia on attentional deployment. Our results suggest nostalgia embodies a complex mix of emotions that impact individuals’ response strategies and, ultimately, performance.