An Empirical Analysis of Surface Acting in Intra-Organizational Relationships.

Abstract

Prior research analyzing surface acting-employees' regulation of emotional expressions-has mostly focused on the interactions between front-line employees and their customers in service industries and paid very little attention to intra-organizational relationships. With an aim to shed light on this important yet relatively unexplored area, I developed a theoretical model analyzing the antecedents and outcomes of surface acting within organizations, by drawing on the sociometer theory and self-presentation theory frameworks. To test the model, I conducted a cross-level field study in a sample of 65 work groups and 478 employees in two organizations, located in a large city in Northern California. I have collected the data from two sources, including employees and their supervisors who rated their performance. Results indicated that employees were more likely to engage in surface acting when their affective traits and personal goals were less congruent with work environment. Surface acting was also positively related to perceived organizational politics and self-monitoring. As for outcomes, surface acting was positively related to emotional exhaustion and negatively to performance. I discuss limitations, implications, and future research direction.

Emotional Labor at a Crossroads: Where Do We Go from Here?

“…Traits that are congruent with the positive requirements of service jobs (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness) tend to be linked to perceptions of positive emotional requirements, suggesting either self-selection or self-confirming biases (Diefendorff & Richard 2003, Kammeyer-Mueller et al 2013. Once on the job, extraversion and self-monitoring (i.e., sensitivity to social cues and willingness to change the self to match such cues) each predict both forms of acting and emotional performance, regardless of the emotional requirements or target of the emotional regulation (Mesmer-Magnus et al 2012, Ozcelik 2013.…”

“…Emotional labor was originally defined as emotion regulation for the goal of publicly observable expressions in a paid exchange, prototypically with customers. Today, emotional labor is being studied as surface and deep acting with coworkers (Ozcelik 2013) and leaders (Ashkanasy & Humphrey 2011, Gardner et al 2009), and even with marital partners (Yanchus et al 2010). To what extent do the main distinctions and assumptions of emotional labor change when we move away from the labor required of low-status service providers with one-time customers to more intimate/equal-status relationships or higher-status actors with more resources (Diefendorff et al 2010, Tschan et al 2005?…”

“…Employees who have a strong prosocial or customer orientation (i.e., a propensity to want to give outstanding customer service) are more likely to use deep acting in response to emotional requirements (Allen et al 2010, Gabriel et al 2015b. Surface acting is more likely from those who do not share the overall work goals of the organization (Ozcelik 2013), consistent with it being a bad faith approach to emotional labor (Ashforth & Humphrey 1993). However, employees who were more committed 21.8 Grandey Gabriel Changes may still occur before final publication online and in print to emotional requirements used both surface acting and deep acting in response to requirements, suggesting they are both seen as effective .…”

Buffering the Negative Effects of Surface Acting: The Moderating Role of Supervisor Support in Librarianship

“…Many different consequences have been posited to result from emotional labor (e.g., Bono & Vey, 2005;Morris & Feldman, 1996;Ozcelik, 2013). Prior studies have highlighted several detrimental organizational outcomes of surface acting such as reduced job satisfaction and lower levels of job performance (e.g., Brotheridge & Grandey, 2002;Hülsheger, Lang, & Maier, 2010;Hülsheger & Schewe, 2011;Liu et al, 2008;Mahoney et al, 2011).…”

“…The above reasons could result in psychological distress and let employees treat their jobs unfavorably. Employees' willingness and ability to engage in efforts requiring focus and volition may be reduced by prolonged surface acting (Ozcelik, 2013). Depletion of self-regulatory resources by engaging in surface acting may make it more difficult for employees to practice discretionary service behaviors (Chi et al, 2011;Muraven & Baumeister, 2000), such as those involved in contextual performance.…”