Supporting managers’ emotion regulation in virtual leadership: a qualitative study of HRD and workplace learning conditions

Purpose This study aims to examine how workplace learning and human resource development (HRD) conditions shape managers’ emotion regulation (ER) capacity in virtual leadership. Rather than treating ER as a stable individual competence, it focuses on workplace learning processes and organizational support through which managers develop and sustain ER capacity. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on 45 semistructured interviews conducted in Germany in 2022 with managers who had led employees virtually or in hybrid settings during the pandemic period. It uses abductive qualitative content analysis, with job demands-resources theory as the primary organizing framework, workplace learning/HRD as the developmental perspective and affordance theory as a supporting lens. Findings The findings show that virtual leadership creates reduced emotional observability, making it harder for managers to perceive mood, strain and relational tension. Managers’ ER capacity was shaped by organizational resources such as trust, autonomy and cultural permission, while HRD support varied considerably. Reflective and social learning spaces emerged as a developmental condition. The study also identifies ambivalent emotional affordances: virtual work can reduce cues and create distance but can also enable safety, disclosure and new forms of closeness. Practical implications The findings suggest that organizations consider a broader organizational approach extending beyond individual resilience training, including senior leadership commitment, integrated HRD, peer reflection, communication norms and workload-sensitive well-being practices. Originality/value The paper’s main integrative contribution is emotional development infrastructure, connecting organizational conditions, HRD practices, learning spaces and work design in shaping managers’ ER capacity. Reduced emotional observability and ambivalent emotional affordances provide complementary empirical contributions.