New research shows how political news affects work performance

A study by a group of American scientists led by Ian M. Hughes was published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.

Over nine weeks during the 2024 US presidential primaries, the authors tracked the behavior of 308 workers. Participants weekly reported how often they consumed negative or positive political information via social media, television, podcasts, and newspapers. This allowed scientists to track how short-term deviations from the usual level of reading news, content unrelated to work, affect daily emotional state and working life.

It was found that weeks when people consumed more negative political news than usual led to increased anxiety. During such periods, employees sought to conserve their emotional resources and significantly reduced their engagement in work. In addition, anxiety made people more carefully filter their language and watch every word to avoid potential conflicts and additional stress.

At the same time, positive political content shows the opposite effect: reading news that carries positive emotions evokes a sense of hope.

Hope becomes a psychological resource that stimulates people to invest their energy in work, increases engagement, and encourages them to help their colleagues with work tasks more often. Moreover, the effect of hope and positive news turned out to be more stable and long-term than short-term surges of anxiety from negativity.

The authors of the study based their findings on the resource conservation theory and explained that emotional stress from politics outside of work does not disappear when a person comes to the workplace. Although the consumption of negative and positive news did not differ significantly in volume on average and gradually decreased during the study period, it was personal weekly surges of negativity that most depleted human resources.

Scientists emphasize that working in conditions of political tension requires communities and employers to pay attention to mental health, but without attempting to control or prohibit what employees read.

To neutralize the impact of negative news, experts advise balancing information consumption with positive content, ensuring adequate rest and sleep, and seeking support and a sense of control through volunteering or community activities.

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