All that glitters is not gold: A critically-constructive analysis of positive organizational behavior

Positive Organizational Behavior (POB) is taking its momentum in management studies, but it is far from its fullest potential as it is not yet developing integrative comprehensive explanatory models of organizational behavior. This article discusses the biased character of POB revealed in its focus on the positive outcomes of positive psychological capabilities and lack of consideration for the negative side of positive capabilities. We argue that this results from a confirmatory bias also featured in mainstream psychology towards the negative outputs of negative psychological states. We discuss counterintuitive empirical evidence that positive psychological capabilities can produce either positive or negative outputs the same way negative psychological states do. On that basis, we propose three new avenues for further advancement of POB: exploring nonlinear frameworks, focusing on contextual relations, and adopting counterintuitive research techniques.