Effect of Emotional Labor on Job Engagement and Work Happiness: Mediating Role of Psychological Capital and Moderating Role of Trust from Leader

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effects of surface acting and deep acting on job engagement and work happiness of frontline service employees. Further, we scrutinize the mediating role of positive psychological capital among the relationships and the moderating role of trust from leader between the two types of acting and positive psychological capital. Based on conservation of resource theory and emotion regulation theory, we paid attention to the discriminatory influence of the two types of acting and the facilitating role of leader. The results showed that deep acting was positively related to psychological capital, while there was no significant relationship between surface acting and psychological capital. Also, the positive relationship between deep acting and psychological capital was stronger when trust from leader was higher, while there was no significant interaction effect between surface acting and trust from leader. Psychological capital was positively related to both job engagement and work happiness. Taken together, psychological capital fully mediated the positive relationships among deep acting, job engagement, and work happiness. However, surface acting had no significant effect on psychological capital, job engagement, and work happiness. The research findings offer beneficial theoretical and practical implications.