The moderating effect of perceived organizational support in the relationship between emotional labour and job attitudes: A study among health professionals

Abstract

Aim The present study was set out to establish the link between emotional labour (surface and deep acting) and job attitudes (job satisfaction organizational commitment) by introducing perceived organizational support as a moderating variable. Design The study made use of a cross‐sectional design by sampling three hundred and forty‐two (342) nurses and midwives from six health facilities in Ghana. Methods The study employed a quantitative approach to examine the relationships between the study variables. Results The study disclosed that whereas surface acting related negatively with job satisfaction but not with organizational commitment, deep acting did not relate significantly with both job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Perceived organizational support as a moderating variable showed a significant moderating effect between surface acting and job attitudes. However, Perceived organizational support moderated the relationship between deep acting and organizational commitment but not job satisfaction. The findings pose much contextual relevance to health professionals where emotional regulations are core responsibilities of health care.

Perceived Organizational Support, Alternative Job Opportunity, Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention: A Moderated-mediated Model

“…The present finding contradicts what scholars highlighted, that POS and job satisfaction have negative impacts on turnover intention (Eisenberger et al, 1990;Samad, 2006;Terason, 2018) and positive impact on organizational commitment (Eisenberger et al, 2002;Kang et al, 2018). Similar findings were reported by Lartey et al (2019) who observed the variables inversely, where POS failed to moderate the relationship between deep acting and job satisfaction. Our outcome adds to the inconsistent findings in the literature, we attributed this to our approach and context, more research is needed to uncover why such association exist.…”

Emotional experiences and coping strategies of nursing and midwifery practitioners in Ghana: a qualitative study

“…The present study is a follow-up to a previous study in Ghana that revealed that while surface acting was significantly related with job attitudes, deep acting did not [14]. Furthermore, the same study showed that perceived organisational support moderated the relationship between deep acting and job attitudes but did not play a moderating role in the relationship between surface acting and job attitudes [14].…”

“…The present study is a follow-up to a previous study in Ghana that revealed that while surface acting was significantly related with job attitudes, deep acting did not [14]. Furthermore, the same study showed that perceived organisational support moderated the relationship between deep acting and job attitudes but did not play a moderating role in the relationship between surface acting and job attitudes [14]. Even though empirical studies on emotional labour is emerging especially, in the African context, a study among media practitioners in Ghana asserted that emotional labour is conceptualised as faking (pretense and emotional enhancement) [12].…”

“…The methodology used in the present study should be understood as a sequence and a follow-up to an earlier study see [14]. The study employed an explorative and a multiple case study design with the purpose of unravelling the nuisances and contradictions that emerged in the earlier quantitative study [25].…”

“…There is much evidence in support of the argument that since surface acting requires suppression of internal feelings, there exists an inner tension or emotional dissonance when employees engage in surface acting [12][13][14][15]. This, in turn, has a negative bearing on employee work-related issues, including their job attitudes (job satisfaction and organisational commitment) [16].…”