This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Most employees aren't discussing the latest political polls during meetings or debating hot-button issues around the coffee maker. But that doesn't mean politics isn't affecting the workplace.
A study from Texas A&M University found that the political information employees consume outside of work can influence how they feel and behave on the job. For a study published in Computers in Human Behavior, a team of researchers led by Dr. Ian Hughes, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences, followed workers over nine consecutive weeks to explore whether political information consumed during personal time spills over into the workplace.
The team tracked 308 full-time U.S. workers during the 2024 presidential primary season and found that weeks filled with more negatively perceived political information were associated with higher anxiety and lower work engagement. Weeks that included more positively perceived political information, meanwhile, were associated with greater hope, stronger engagement and a greater willingness to help coworkers. "We know experiences from one part of life often carry over into another," Hughes said.
"What hasn't received much attention is whether political information works the same way. People consume a tremendous amount of political content outside work, especially during election seasons, and we wanted to understand whether that has consequences that extend into the workplace." Hughes and his colleagues surveyed participants every week during the primaries, focusing on the news, social media posts, podcasts and other political content the participants consumed at home. Participants reported how often they consumed political information, as well as how engaged, anxious, hopeful and helpful they felt at work.
Importantly, the researchers didn't attempt to determine whether political information was objectively positive or negative. Instead, participants reported whether they personally perceived the information they consumed as positive or negative. The study found a consistent pattern when employees consumed more negatively perceived political information than was typical for them: higher levels of anxiety during the same week.
That anxiety, in turn, was associated with lower workplace engagement, a measure that reflects employees' energy, enthusiasm and investment in their work. "Political information is designed to capture attention and provoke emotional reactions," Hughes said. "The challenge is that those reactions don't necessarily disappear once people close an app or turn off the TV—they can continue influencing how people experience the rest of their day." Rather than viewing political content as something separate from work, Hughes said organizations may need to recognize that employees often arrive carrying concerns generated elsewhere.
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