Buffering the Harmful Effects of Surface Acting: A Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

To date, the majority of research in emotional labor has focused on the positive and negative outcomes in the workplace, however, many fundamental questions still remain unanswered. The research has yet to consider what factors buffer the negative outcomes of emotional labor? Accordingly, we examined the influence of surface acting as a mediator on the relationship between job demand and employee well-being and further investigated the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between surface acting and employee well-being. We used two- wave data from a sample of 207 emergency medical technicians to test our hypotheses. We found that job demand has an indirect effect on job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion via surface acting. The results of moderated mediation shows that the negative relationship between surface acting and job satisfaction was low when emotional intelligence was high and the positive relationship between surface acting and emotional exhaustion was low) when emotional intelligence was high. The research has important theoretical and practical implications for service organizations who wish to buffer the negative outcomes of surface acting on employees.