Emotional intelligence, emotional labor, perceived organizational support, and job satisfaction: A moderated mediation model

This study examined the effects of emotional intelligence and emotional labor on job satisfaction in a moderated mediation model, which posits surface and deep acting strategies as mediators between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction and perceived organizational support as a moderator to the mediation effects. Based on a sample of 279 Chinese hotel employees, results showed that: 1) while deep acting partially mediated the effect of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction, surface acting did not mediate; 2) Perceived organizational support effectively moderated the mediation of deep acting between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction; but the moderated mediation was not found with surface acting as a mediator. This study contributes to a better understanding of the roles of emotional intelligence and emotional labor strategies in affecting hotel employees' job satisfaction and how organizational support can function as an organization resource in changing the psychological mechanisms underlying emotional labor and job satisfaction.