REGULATION OF EMOTION DURING MISINFORMATION EVENTS IN ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTED BY HR STRATEGIES

Abstract

Misinformation events in an organization, including but not limited to, rumors, policy miscommunications, and erroneous reporting have the potential to evoke emotions that will jeopardize the cohesion, trust, and overall performance of a team. This paper examines the ways in which strategic human resource (HR) management can intervene during such events to manage emotions and, in turn, mitigate psychological and cognitive strain as well as social friction. As part of a mixed-methods study in four mid-sized companies, we scrutinized the emotions of 120 employees in response to simulated misinformation events. The applied HR interventions included emotional framing, correction policy transparency, facilitated debriefs, and evaluation. Findings indicate emotion regulation interventions designed and guided by HR markedly improve negative emotions and enhance organizational climate. This study proposes a structured, HR-guided, misinformation crisis response intervention based on the principles of emotion regulation. The response is designed to manage the crisis in a systematic, compassionate, and trust-preserving approach.