IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i8p4800-d794558.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Surface Acting in the Relationship between Job Stressors, General Health and Need for Recovery Based on the Frequency of Interactions at Work

Author

Listed:
  • Giulia Sciotto

    (Department of Psychology, Educational Sciences and Human Movement, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

  • Francesco Pace

    (Department of Economics, Business and Statistics, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

Abstract

The aim of the study was to verify whether the frequency of face-to-face interactions with the public at work can reveal differences in how people react to emotional regulation demands. In particular, we investigated the mediating role of surface acting (a strategy of dealing with emotional dissonance) in the relationship between two typical job stressors (workload and mental load) and two outcomes closely related to work-related well-being: employees’ general health and the need for recovery. Prior studies investigating the detrimental effects of emotional dissonance mostly focused on service workers. However, in light of a survey conducted by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2016) highlighting the growing psycho-social risk constituted by intense human interactions in the workplaces, even in unexpected categories of workers, we hypothesize that emotional demands may also be a concern for those who do not specifically interface with clients as part of their job duties. The results of the multi-group analysis of front-office ( N = 734) and back-office ( N = 436) Italian workers showed that surface acting fully mediates the relationship between workload and general health among back-office workers, while it only partially mediates this relationship among front-office workers. Furthermore, surface acting is positively associated with the need for recovery and negatively with general health, with higher values for back-office workers. The findings support the hypothesis that the emotional demands are not only a service worker issue and highlight the need to address emotional regulation strategies to enhance the quality of life in and outside the workplace for all employees.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulia Sciotto & Francesco Pace, 2022. "The Role of Surface Acting in the Relationship between Job Stressors, General Health and Need for Recovery Based on the Frequency of Interactions at Work," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-12, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:8:p:4800-:d:794558
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4800/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4800/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Miri Chung & Young-Hye Jang & Steven A. Edelson, 2021. "The path from role clarity to job satisfaction: natural acting and the moderating impact of perceived fairness of compensation in services," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 15(1), pages 77-102, March.
    2. Levine, Emma E. & Wald, Kristina A., 2020. "Fibbing about your feelings: How feigning happiness in the face of personal hardship affects trust," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 135-154.
    3. Anne-Kathrin Konze & Wladislaw Rivkin & Klaus-Helmut Schmidt, 2017. "Is Job Control a Double-Edged Sword? A Cross-Lagged Panel Study on the Interplay of Quantitative Workload, Emotional Dissonance, and Job Control on Emotional Exhaustion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-22, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nan Wang & Yuxiang Luan & Rui Ma, 2024. "Detecting causal relationships between work motivation and job performance: a meta-analytic review of cross-lagged studies," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Greta Mazzetti & Silvia Simbula & Chiara Panari & Dina Guglielmi & Alessio Paolucci, 2019. "“Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda”. Workers’ Proactivity in the Association between Emotional Demands and Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Cindy Yunhsin Chou & Yung-Cheng Shen & Po-Han Wu & Heng-Yu Lin, 2022. "Employee perceived meaning of work and service adaptive behavior: a psychological resourcefulness perspective," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 16(4), pages 1035-1063, December.
    4. Marcela-Sefora Nemteanu & Dan-Cristian Dabija, 2021. "The Influence of Internal Marketing and Job Satisfaction on Task Performance and Counterproductive Work Behavior in an Emerging Market during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Ahmet Yavuz Çamlı & Türker B. Palamutçuoğlu & Nicoleta Bărbuță-Mișu & Selin Çavuşoğlu & Florina Oana Virlanuta & Yaşar Alkan & Sofia David & Ludmila Daniela Manea, 2022. "The Moderator Effect of Communicative Rational Action in the Relationship between Emotional Labor and Job Satisfaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-25, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:8:p:4800-:d:794558. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.