Linking Creative Self-Efficacy and Emotional Exhaustion: Mediation Through Cognitive Reappraisal

Drawing from the motivational emotion regulation perspective and self-verification theory, this study demonstrates the mechanism linking creative self-efficacy and emotional exhaustion in which cognitive reappraisal serves as a mediator. Study 1 (N = 137) conducted in an experimental setting provided evidence for a causal relationship between creative self-efficacy and cognitive reappraisal. Individuals who have higher creative self-efficacy are more likely than those who have lower creative self-efficacy to engage in cognitive reappraisal because they reinterpret potentially emotion-eliciting situations in a way that reduces their emotional impact. Study 2 (N = 206), a survey study, revealed the indirect effect of creative self-efficacy on emotional exhaustion such that creative self-efficacy drives a mechanism that reduces emotional exhaustion by fostering the use of cognitive reappraisal as an emotion regulation strategy. Finally, Study 3 (N = 210) verified the mediation mechanism in the experimental setting, suggesting that creative self-efficacy can reduce momentary emotional exhaustion through the mediating effect of cognitive reappraisal. The findings provide implications for the research and practices on emotional exhaustion by highlighting the motivational process underlying emotion regulation.