Surprise at Work
An Integrative Review of Engineering Surprises (Not Just Reacting to Them)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15735599 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephen H Harrison (0000-0001-5509-9085, INSEAD, corresponding author), Spencer H Harrison (1Organisational Behaviour Area, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France; email: [email protected]), Gabriel R Sala (0000-0003-3734-6120, University of Georgia), Jean M Bartunek (0000-0003-2627-8636, Boston College), Boram Do (0000-0001-8215-182X, Sahmyook University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 363-386 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2327-0608 • E-ISSN: 2327-0616 |
| Publisher | Annual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-110622-044243 |
| OpenAlex | W4414276010 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 93 |
Organizations rely on roles, routines, and other mechanisms to build systems of shared expectations. By definition, surprises occur when expectations are violated. Hence, surprise is inevitable in organizations. This matters because surprise threatens to undo the shared expectations that make organizations feel predictable and workable. Reacting to surprises can therefore feel unpredictable and threatening. Indeed, surprises can be seen as offering evidence of poor planning and bad management. However, in this review, we integrate literature on surprise that offers a contrasting perspective: that individuals in organizations do not just react to and experience surprises but also proactively engineer them. Our review explores who engineers surprises, why they choose to do so, how they structure situations to create surprises, what happens as individuals and collectives deal with the emotional impact of surprises, and what happens next as individuals and collectives either learn from or dismiss surprises. Our review provides an important corrective to research that focuses exclusively on surprises as negative events in organizational life and offers questions for future research that provide an agenda for developing theory on engineering surprise
Set (abstract data type · Surprise · Suspect · Undo · Unexpected events · Cognitive Science and Education Research · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Psychological and Educational Research Studies
Event System Theory
What's basic about basic emotions?
The Wick in the Candle of Learning
Flashbulb memories
Expecting the Unexpected? How SWAT Officers and Film Crews Handle Surprises
Socialization Tactics
Perspective—Making Doubt Generative
Newcomer adjustment during organizational socialization
Bayesian surprise attracts human attention
Implicit Voice Theories
Moves That Matter
Surprise is inevitable
Surprise as an Emotion
Are All “Basic Emotions” Emotions? A Problem for the (Basic) Emotions Construct
On Jon Snow’s death
Well, slap my thigh
Confronting Surprise
Well—That was a surprise
Creative idea generation
Switching Cognitive Gears
Blindsided? September 11 and the Origins of Strategic Surprise
Evidence for strong dissociation between emotion and facial displays
Constants across cultures in the face and emotion
Cultural psychology of surprise
When people ask "why" questions, and the heuristics of attributional search
Surprised-curious-confused
Suspense, curiosity, and surprise
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |