"Implicit motives, perceived organizational culture, and emotional regulation in service workers"

Abstract

Integrating implicit motives and emotional regulation literatures, we explored the relationship between multiple implicit motives (i.e., need for achievement, need for power, and need for affiliation), assessed by a semi-projective measure, and emotional regulation (surface vs. deep acting), contingent upon perceived organizational culture in service workers. Survey results from 420 Chinese flight attendants showed that the avoidance-oriented achievement (i.e., fear of failure) and affiliation motives (i.e., fear of rejection), relative to their approach-oriented counterparts (i.e., hope for success, hope of affiliation), were associated with higher levels of surface acting, but lower levels of deep acting. The approach-oriented power motive (i.e., need for power), relative to the avoidance-oriented power motive (i.e., fear of loss of power), was associated with a higher level of deep acting. Importantly, consistent across the three motives domains, perceived innovation organizational culture weakened the implicit motives-surface acting relationships. Finally, perceived organizational culture did not modify the effect of any domain of implicit motives on deep acting.