Exploring the Day-To-Day Carryover of Change-Oriented Behavior in Organizations: The Role of Emotional Appraisal Competencies

Change-oriented behavior (CB), that is, self-directed actions that question and seek to improve how work gets done, is one way employees drive constructive change at work. Although CB is dynamic and primarily driven by affective processes, less is known about individual differences in day-to-day carryover (i.e. the extent to which yesterday’s change behavior predicts today’s) and about the role of inner personal resources, such as emotional appraisal. Integrating cognitive evaluation theory and conservation of resources theory, we examined whether self-emotional appraisal (SEA) and others’ emotional appraisal (OEA) relate to carryover patterns of CB. Employees from Greece (N = 602) completed a quantitative diary over five consecutive workdays. Results from multilevel autoregressive analysis revealed moderate, positive day-to-day CB carryover with significant between-person variation. Both mean levels of SEA and OEA predicted carryover strength, controlling for mean CB and trait affectivity. SEA showed comparable effects on baseline levels and carryover, whereas OEA showed much stronger effects on levels than carryover, suggesting functional differentiation. Baseline CB strongly negatively related to carryover, indicating that behavioral level and temporal carryover represent distinct constructs. The study contributes to both theory and practice by clarifying how distinct emotional competencies support the maintenance of change-directed effort over time.