Interactive Effects of Emotional Labor and Occupational Identity on Job Attitudes

Abstract

Our study examined how occupational identity moderates the effects of surface acting, a form of emotion management, on job attitudes. We applied social identity theory (SIT) to explain differences in how individuals are affected by engaging in surface acting. At Time 1 (start of the work week), we collected measures of identity and emotional labor. We also assigned people to one of two experimental conditions: an experimental condition in which they reflected on the meaning of their occupational identity, or a control condition. At Time 2 (end of the work week), we measured feelings of authenticity at work and job satisfaction. We found that surface acting did not affect authenticity among employees with high measured occupational identity. Surface acting had detrimental effects on employees with low measured occupational identity, unless they were in the experimental condition that elicited thoughts about the meaning of their occupational identity. These findings suggest that measured and manipulated occupational identity can mitigate some of the negative effects associated with surface acting.