We introduce emotional preferences to management research, capturing the specific emotional states people want to feel at work. Integrating control theory with a resource-based perspective, we propose that emotional preferences reflect the ideal states that employees pursue when regulating their emotions at work and that the degree to which employees can experience their emotional preferences at work – what we call emotional fit – predicts how depleted employees become in the short (daily) and longer-term (over weeks). Specifically, we argue that daily emotional fit predicts task performance in the short term and that accumulated emotional fit predicts job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion in the long term. We further outline why these long-term effects of accumulated emotional fit depend on how consistently emotional preferences are experienced over time. Data from an experience sampling study generally supports our hypotheses and shows that the effect of emotional fit is different from happiness and general positive affect. Together, our findings demonstrate the importance of considering individual preference in theories of positive emotions and in doing so, spark new lines of inquiry to examine the nomological network of emotional preferences in management and beyond.
