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Emotional labor, strain, and performance: Testing reciprocal relationships in a longitudinal panel study
Ute R Hülsheger1, Jonas W B Lang, Günter W Maier
1Department of Work and Social Psychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands. ute.hulsheger@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology
|November 10, 2010
Summary
Emotional labor strategies like surface acting increase strain, while deep acting boosts job performance. This study confirms emotional labor causally impacts well-being, not the reverse.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Organizational Behavior
- Occupational Health
Background:
- Emotional labor is theorized to cause strain and affect job performance.
- Previous research primarily used cross-sectional designs, limiting causal inference.
- The causal direction between emotional labor, strain, and performance remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the causal direction of the relationship between emotional labor strategies and outcomes.
- To examine whether emotional labor influences strain and job performance over time.
- To test for reverse causation from strain and performance to emotional labor.
Main Methods:
- A two-wave longitudinal panel study design was employed.
- Structural equation modeling was used to analyze lagged effects.
- The study sample comprised 151 trainee teachers.
Main Results:
- Surface acting significantly predicted increases in subsequent strain.
- Deep acting significantly predicted increases in subsequent job performance.
- No significant lagged effects were found from strain or job performance on subsequent emotional labor strategies.
Conclusions:
- Surface and deep acting causally precede strain and job performance.
- Findings support theoretical models where emotional labor impacts well-being.
- The direction of effects is from emotional labor strategies to outcomes, not vice versa.
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