How does daily performance affect next-day emotional labor? The mediating roles of evening relaxation and next-morning positive affect

J Occup Health Psychol. 2020 Dec;25(6):410-425. doi: 10.1037/ocp0000260. Epub 2020 Aug 31.

Abstract

The present study examined the daily relationship between job performance, relaxation, positive affect, and emotional labor. Drawing on the effort-recovery model and broaden-and-build theory, we proposed that job performance on a particular day fosters evening relaxation and next-morning positive affect and that this leads to increased deep acting and decreased surface acting the next day. To test our propositions, we conducted 2 diary studies using the experienced sampling method. In Study 1, 93 flight attendants participated in morning and end-of-workday surveys for 5 workdays. In Study 2, 98 hotel employees responded to morning, end-of-workday, and evening surveys for 5 workdays. In both studies, we found positive relationships between daily job performance, evening relaxation, next-morning positive affect, and next-day deep acting. We further found support for the indirect effect of daily job performance on next-day deep acting through evening relaxation and next-morning positive affect. Although next-morning positive affect had a marginally negative relationship with next-day surface acting in Study 1, this relationship became nonsignificant when next-morning negative affect was included in the model (Study 2). The robustness of these findings was validated in supplementary analyses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Emotions
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Industry
  • Male
  • Relaxation / psychology*
  • Republic of Korea
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Work / psychology*
  • Work Performance*
  • Young Adult