Virtual surface acting in workplace interactions: Choosing the best technology to fit the task.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 has suddenly hastened the ongoing transition to virtual work. The associated hardships during these times have highlighted the importance of being emotionally authentic, despite the potential difficulties of doing so at a distance. Even in normal times, a common requirement of workers is that they are expected to display certain emotions to customers, teammates, and supervisors, regardless of how they are actually feeling (e.g., "service with a smile"). However, the risks of being perceived as surface acting-displaying inauthentic emotions even when required by the job-can be severe, as people react negatively to those who are perceived as inauthentic. Utilizing 2 experiments and a matched parent-teacher survey of international schools in Vietnam, I examine the interpersonal consequences of communication media choice on perceptions of emotional inauthenticity. I find that there are opposing mechanisms in this process: Less rich communication media (e.g., e-mail) are beneficial for masking emotional leakage, yet richer communication media (e.g., face-to-face) are perceived to be a more authentic means of expressing emotion. In line with these mechanisms, for those communicating authentic emotion (i.e., when cue leakage is not relevant), I find richer media to be optimal. Alternatively, for surface actors, across longer-term relationships, I find medium richness communication media are optimal: Using telephone/audio results in improved interactional outcomes for surface actors because this mode masks nonverbal leakage better than face-to-face/video interactions, yet appears higher effort (and thus more authentic) than messages received via e-mail. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).