The Effect of Toxic Emotional Experiences on Affective Commitment in SME Employees

The negative effects of toxic emotion experiences, which can be seen in almost every organization, last a long time. Due to the possibility of re-experiencing these toxic events, employees may experience anxiety for a long time, become lonely, get tired emotionally and become exhausted. It is difficult for an employee who feels constantly in danger in an emotionally toxic organizational environment to act with a sense of belonging in that organization. In this context, affective commitment may weaken. Because it is thought that the loyalty of the employee to the organization who struggles with emotional toxicity will decrease. From this point of view, the relationship between the toxic emotion experiences of the employees and their affective commitment was investigated. Quantitative research method and survey technique were used in the research. For this purpose, data were collected from 258 individuals working in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Burdur province. As a result of the analyzes, it was determined that toxic emotion experiences have a negative relationship with the affective commitment of the employees. In addition, it has been revealed that toxic emotion experiences negatively affect affective commitment and reduce its level. As a result, it can be said that the presence of toxic emotion experiences, their repetition, damaging social relations and becoming tiring reduce the emotional commitment of employees to the organization.