Differential effects of rude coworkers and patients on nurses' safety performance: an emotional labor perspective

PurposeThis paper examines how nurses differentially respond, both emotionally and behaviorally, to incivility from coworkers (i.e. other healthcare staff) and from their patients. Specifically, the authors explore how coworker and patient incivility distinctly influence the extent to which nurses engage in emotional labor, which in turn, may impact nurses' safety performance. The authors further examine how nurses' hostile attribution biases exacerbate and mitigate these effects.Design/methodology/approachA three-week longitudinal study was conducted with 187 nurses in which they reported their experiences with incivility, surface and deep acting, hostile attribution biases and safety performance (i.e. safety compliance and participation).FindingsPatient incivility led to more surface acting across all nurses. Further, the effects of coworker incivility on emotional labor strategies were conditional on nurses' hostile attribution biases (HAB). Specifically, coworker incivility led to more surface acting among nurses higher on HAB, and coworker incivility led to less deep acting among those lower on HAB. Finally, surface acting was associated with reduced safety participation, and deep acting was associated with greater safety compliance and safety participation.Originality/valueThe nursing context allowed the current research to extend understanding about how incivility affects an unexplored outcome—safety performance. The current research also offers a rare examination of the effects of incivility from multiple sources (i.e. coworkers and patients) and demonstrates the different processes through which incivility from these different sources impacts nurses' ability to perform safely.

THE EMOTIONAL LABOR AND BURNOUT IN MARRIED FEMALE DOCTORS OF PAKISTAN: THE MODERATING ROLE OF WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT

The current study aimed to investigate the moderating role of work-family conflict between emotional labor (surface acting) and burnout (emotional exhaustion) in married female doctors. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 200 married female doctors working in public and private hospitals. Data was collected using the three reliable and valid scales. Findings revealed that work-family conflict is the significant moderator. The results indicated that at the low level of work-family conflict, the association of surface acting and emotional exhaustion was not significant (B = .02, SE = .17, p > .05) whereas at a moderate level of work-family conflict (B = .46, SE = .12, p < .01) the association between the surface acting and emotional exhaustion is significant. When the level of work-family conflict is high then the association of surface acting and emotional exhaustion is highly significant (B = .91, SE = .19, p = >.001).The findings are discussed in light of existing literature.

Identifying aggressive versus ethical sales supervision in B2B service recovery: a multilevel perspective

PurposeThe current research provides a conceptual framework that explains how sales managers' aggression across business-to-business (B2B) sales organizations triggers salespeople's surface acting, deep acting and service recovery performance. It also investigates the moderating role of ethical leadership through sales managers' aggressiveness on service recovery performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors test the model using multilevel analysis with cross-sectional data of 367 salespeople from different sales organizations.FindingsThe study shows that the aggression of sales managers has an adverse influence on service recovery performance. Additionally, aggressiveness among sales managers is positively connected with surface acting while adversely affecting deep acting. The study’s findings also indicate that ethical sales leadership is positively moderate among sales managers' aggressiveness and service recovery performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors collected data from individual salespersons, which is the limitation; however, future studies could collect data using the dyadic approach, such as matching responses from both managers and salespersons. This method could enhance the model's internal validity.Originality/valueSeveral studies have mainly focused on positive supervision styles in the literature on service recovery. At the same time, building a negative supervision model in the B2B service recovery context, which has been persistently ignored, is noteworthy.

Emotional Labor and Burnout among Teachers: A Systematic Review

A significant amount of emotional labor takes place during teaching. Teaching is a multitasking profession that consists of both cognitive and emotional components, with teachers engaging in emotional labor on a daily basis as an instrumental part of achieving teaching goals and positive learning outcomes. The purpose of the present review was to explore the relationship between emotional labor and burnout in school settings. The review focused specifically on teachers from elementary and high schools, between January 2006 and August 2021, and 21 studies fit the inclusion criteria. Overall, the review of the literature supports the significant associations between burnout and emotional labor with the majority of results pointing to the consistent relationship between surface acting and burnout. However, the results regarding the association of deep acting and naturally felt emotions with burnout were mixed. There is considerable scope for improvement in our study of emotional labor in terms of the study designs we employ, the variables we study and our appreciation of the historical and cultural factors that moderate and mediate the relationship between emotional labor and burnout.

Is Familism a Motivator or Stressor? Relationships Between Confucian Familism, Emotional Labor, Work-Family Conflict, and Emotional Exhaustion Among Chinese Teachers

To reveal the cultural effect in the job demands-resources model, this study examined how Confucian familism, emotional labor, and work-family conflict (WFC) explain the variance in teachers’ emotional exhaustion, with a focus on the mediating roles of emotional labor and WFC. With a sample of 3,312 teachers in China, the results of this study revealed that surface acting and expression of naturally felt emotion (ENFE) and WFC mediated the relationship between familism and emotional exhaustion. Moreover, familism positively predicted deep acting, ENFE, WFC, and emotional exhaustion, while negatively predicted surface acting. These findings suggest that Confucian familism may play the dual role of motivator and stressor for Chinese teachers’ emotional labor and well-being. This study contributes to the job demands-resources theory by revealing the important role of cultural traditions and provides valuable information for interventions to sustain teacher well-being.

Differential Effects of Work and Family Support on the Relationship Between Surface Acting and Wellbeing: A Self-Determination Theory Approach

Surface acting—the management of emotional displays as part of a nurse’s work role—is increasingly getting scholars’ attention in organizational behavior. Previous research focused on the relationship between surface acting and outcomes (such as psychological well-being) on the basis of resource-centric theories, ignoring the subjective stance of surface acting provider. According to self-determination theory, surface acting affects an individual’s well-being through stimulating autonomous or controlled work motivation. Taking nurses as the subjects, the current study proposed that surface acting would affect job satisfaction and further psychological well-being through nurses’ controlled work motivation, and work and family support would moderate the above relationships in diverse directions. An online survey of n = 342 nurses working at a hospital in central China was conducted, evaluating surface acting, job satisfaction, psychological well-being, workplace support, and family support. Results indicated that surface acting negatively influenced nurses’ psychological well-being through job satisfaction. In addition, the results highlighted the two-faced aspect of social support, in which work support positively moderated the relationships between surface acting, job satisfaction, and psychological well-being, while family support intensified the abovementioned relationships negatively. These findings have important implications for surface acting, social support research, and managerial practices.

The way you make me abuse: impression management matters

PurposeDrawing on the perspectives of emotional labor, self-concept and impression management, this study presents two major findings: (1) employees' excessive reliance on impression management can bother supervisors, and (2) the effectiveness of impression management depends on how the management affects targets' attribution of characteristics to actors.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a cross-sectional design and a sample of 259 employees to investigate the antecedents of abusive supervision and, in this regard, the potential mediating effects of impression management. Through Mplus analysis, the authors specifically show that deep acting and surface acting affect impression management and that impression management activates abusive supervision.FindingsEmotional labor is critical in triggering abusive supervision through impression management. The study specifically shows that impression management mediates two types of relationships: (1) the relationship between deep acting and abusive supervision, and (2) the relationship between surface acting and abusive supervision. The findings contribute to the abusive supervision literature by clarifying how impression management functions.Originality/valueThis study, by addressing how emotional labor is a potential antecedent of abusive supervision, reveals that impression management can be a mixed blessing, insofar as emotional labor can contribute to abusive supervision.

Consumer effort in service encounters: the overlooked impact of surface acting

Purpose One shift in the retail landscape is the workload transfer from the retailer to the consumer. This study aims to explore consumer perceived effort and the consequences of this workload transfer. Design/methodology/approach Two scenario-based experiments were conducted. Partial least squares modeling was implemented on the experimental survey data to explore how different dimensions of effort (i.e. mental, physical and emotional) and surface acting contribute to perceptions of effort and value. Findings Surface acting increases consumer effort perceptions. Consumers’ value perceptions decline as perceived effort increases. Effort perceptions attenuate when consumers have a choice. The paper also brings attention to the shortcomings in the current conceptualization of surface acting and perceived effort, and reconceptualizes effort as a formative construct. Practical implications This paper cautions marketers about the potential negative implications of shadow work. Service marketers should provide a choice between face-to-face (F2F) and self-service technologies whenever possible. In addition, marketers should develop and implement strategies for reducing consumer surface acting. Originality/value This study includes an extended conceptualization and new operationalization of consumer surface acting, revised thinking about measuring consumer effort and a unique approach to accounting for effort perceptions of traditional F2F service vs SST.