What seals the I-deal? Exploring the role of employees' behaviours and managers' emotions

Idiosyncratic deals (I-deals) are work arrangements between an employee and a manager, aimed at meeting the employee's specific work-related needs (Rousseau, I-deals: Idiosyncratic deals employees bargain for themselves, M. E. Sharpe, New York, NY). Studies to date have focused on the effects of successful I-deal negotiations, but have paid little attention to what determines whether negotiated I-deals are also obtained. We propose that managers play a crucial role in this process, and explore the role of managers' emotions in translating negotiation into obtainment. We suggest that I-deals are more likely to be obtained when managers feel more positive and less negative about an employee's I-deal process in the aftermath of the negotiation. We then aim to determine what shapes managers' emotions about the I-deal process. Given that I-deals are intended to be beneficial for the entire team (Rousseau, I-deals: Idiosyncratic deals employees bargain for themselves, M. E. Sharpe, New York, NY), we expect that managers feel more positive about the I-deal process of employees who engage in socially connecting behaviours following their I-deal negotiation. In contrast, managers feel more negative about the I-deal process of employees who engage in socially disconnecting behaviours. Results from a two-wave study of employees and their managers supported our hypotheses. Our findings contribute to research on I-deals by distinguishing between the negotiation and obtainment of I-deals and by highlighting the role of managers' emotions in translating negotiated I-deals into obtainment and the importance of employees' socially connecting and disconnecting behaviours following I-deal negotiations. Practitioner points: I-deals are individually negotiated work agreements between an employee and an employer about parts of their jobs or specific tasks. Previous research has predominantly focused on the negotiation of I-deals. Yet, negotiated I-deals may not always materialize. How managers feel about the I-deal process of employees in the aftermath of the negotiation is a crucial factor in translating successfully negotiated I-deals into obtained I-deals. When managers feel more positive and less negative about the I-deal process, they are more likely to facilitate the obtainment of employees' deals. Because I-deals are supposed to benefit the entire team, managers' emotions about the I-deal process are influenced by employees' behaviours following the negotiation. Managers are likely to feel more positive about an employee's I-deal process if he/she displays socially connecting behaviours and more negative when the employee disconnects from others in the aftermath of I-deal negotiations.