Shame predicts success: When and why shame proneness relates positively to job performance

Does a general tendency to experience shame facilitate performance? Extent research on moral emotions and the affective drivers of job performance give conflicting answers to this question. We contend the tendency to equate the affective core of shame proneness with behavioral avoidance can mask the facilitative effects of shame proneness for employee performance. We test this prediction in a field study of the job performance of contingent workers from the gig economy and in two-lab, based real-effort studies. In each study, we delineate the affective core of shame proneness from behavioral avoidance, and find a positive a positive relationship between it and effort-based performance. We find that this positive relationship holds while controlling for conscientiousness, guilt proneness, and basic demographics. We discuss the implication of these findings for understanding moral affect and its relationship to important organizational outcomes.