Ma-Meme: The Cultural Reproduction of Anger in Organizations

This study theoretically examines how anger behaviors become culturally reproduced within organizations. Previous organizational research has largely explained anger as an individual emotional reaction, a failure of emotional regulation, or a leadership behavior. However, these perspectives do not sufficiently account for the phenomenon in which anger behaviors are imitated and reproduced as cultural practices within organizations. This paper conceptualizes anger as a culturally transmissible behavior embedded in social interaction and proposes an integrative framework explaining the persistence and diffusion of anger behaviors. First, the study introduces the Anger-as-Indulgence Model (AIM), which explains the repeated use of anger as a behavior associated with short-term psychological rewards, such as silencing others, gaining situational dominance, and enabling self-justification. Second, the rhetorical process through which anger behaviors are justified within organizational discourse is conceptualized as the Rage Authorization Reproduction Loop (RAR-Loop). RAR represents a self-reinforcing cycle in which anger is followed by organizational justification, exemption from responsibility, and the repeated use of anger. Third, the diffusion of anger behaviors through observation and imitation is described as Rage Pattern Reproduction (RPR). RPR reflects social learning processes in which individuals replicate behavioral patterns observed in authority figures or successful actors. By integrating these three mechanisms, the study theorizes the cumulative cultural reproduction of anger behaviors within organizations as the Ma-Meme. The Ma-Meme refers to a cultural phenomenon in which anger behaviors are reproduced through the interaction of psychological reinforcement (AIM), rhetorical justification (RAR), and social imitation (RPR). By reframing anger not merely as an individual emotional problem but as a culturally evolving behavioral pattern, this study provides a new theoretical framework for understanding the formation and reproduction of emotional cultures in organizations.