Collective Emotions: Do you feel like everyone else?
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Collective Emotions

1. Beyond Individual Emotions: The Rise of Collective Phenomena

Traditional research on emotions has largely focused on individuals. However, the three sources emphasise the need to consider collective emotions as distinct phenomena arising from social interactions.

"As soon as these customers have knowledge of each other’s emotions, emotional dynamics between them lead to mutual influence and a development of a sense of identity, which contributes to unique macro-level processes that deserve consideration." - Goldenberg et al. (2019, p. 6)

This shift in focus acknowledges that emotions are not solely internal experiences but can be shared, amplified, and regulated within a collective.

2. Emergent Properties of Collective Emotions

Goldenberg et al. (2020) describe several emergent properties of collective emotions, including:

• Consolidation & Polarisation: Shared emotional experiences can lead to greater homogeneity within a group, intensifying shared emotions and potentially leading to extreme views.

• Amplification: The presence of others can intensify individual emotions, leading to a collective emotional response that is greater than the sum of its parts.

• Emotional Cascades: The expression of emotion by one person can trigger a chain reaction, leading to widespread emotional contagion within a group.

3. The Impact of Collective Emotions on Customer Experience

Understanding collective emotions is crucial for businesses. Manthiou et al. (2020) demonstrate that customers can regulate their emotions based on social cues and that interactions with other customers influence their overall experience. This suggests that:

• Managing social interactions within the CX is critical, as negative experiences witnessed by other customers can have a ripple effect.

• Companies must understand the emotional climate among their customer base, particularly in online communities and social media, where collective emotions can rapidly spread.

• Businesses should leverage the amplifying effect of collective emotions to create positive shared experiences that foster brand loyalty and advocacy.

• Positive and negative emotions can coexist during a CX, leading to mixed experiences (Manthiou et al. 2020).

• Traditional links between emotions and outcomes are not always consistent, meaning positive emotions don't always lead to positive results (Manthiou et al. 2020).

• Emotions towards employees may not transfer to the company as a whole, highlighting the importance of considering different targets of emotional experience (Manthiou et al. 2020).

• Customers are not passive recipients of emotions; they can actively regulate their experiences (Manthiou et al. 2020).

• Collective emotions can be influenced by factors like social identity, group norms, and shared goals (Goldenberg et al. 2019).

• Regulating collective emotions may require different strategies than regulating individual emotions (Goldenberg et al. 2019).

• "Experiencing a delightful service encounter in a social context that allows and promotes communication with friends will cause very different emotions than a similar encounter in a private setting." - Manthiou et al. (2020, p. 3)

• "In cases of amplification, the presence of other people contributes to increased emotions." - Goldenberg et al. (2020, p. 4)

• "What type of collective identity, culture, or climate is formed in response to negative collective emotions compared to positive? And how do such processes contribute to group behavior?" - Goldenberg et al. (2019, p. 13)