The performativity and politics of emotions in NHS boards

ABSTRACT This paper highlights the performative value and political power of emotions in public sector board governance. We explore how board members display, manage and (re)negotiate emotions both purposefully and unconsciously through interactions in a UK National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust. This topic is investigated through an ethnonarrative approach and a performative perspective to understand the role and value of emotions in this particular organizational setting. Our data, captured through interviews and participant observations, highlight the inherent performative and political nature of emotions established through ritualized practice, impromptu displays, emotion norms, and power dynamics. We also highlight the purposeful instigation and manipulation of emotions to pursue individual or collective agendas. This paper thus contributes to both performance theory and the study of emotions management in organizations by exploring how the politics of emotions and emotion norms are experienced as valuable resources in the context of public board governance.