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When negative emotions such as anger and frustration are only short-lived at work, they can spark positive behaviours that improve performance and engagement, new research shows.

Negative emotions can and do cause problems in the workplace, but not always, and some have the potential to produce positive outcomes, US-based academics report in a new Journal of Occupational Health Psychology paper.

Led by University of Pittsburgh associate professor of business administration David Lebel, the study drew on more than 70 studies from 20 different countries, each with a work or worker-related outcome, and each conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which the team describe as a "prolonged event that stimulated widespread negative emotions".

Subsequent analysis of the actions and outcomes associated with anger, anxiety/fear, disgust, frustration, sadness/loneliness, and a negative mood, showed negative emotions don't necessarily produce "dysfunctional outcomes", and can in fact produce "functional outcomes"...