The missing links between emotional job demand and exhaustion and satisfaction: testing a moderated mediation model

Although emotional labor in the workplace has been of increasing interest to researchers, the complete process of emotional labor has seldom been systematically analyzed. This paper explores the links between emotional job demand and its psychological effects on employees, with a particular focus on the mediation of emotional labor strategies and the moderation of social support. The results of a survey of 679 Chinese employees in the service sector reveal that emotional job demand significantly increases emotional exhaustion and reduces job satisfaction. Two emotional labor strategies, surface acting and deep acting, partially mediate these associations. Social support significantly moderates the relationships between deep acting and emotional job demand and its psychological effects, but does not do so for surface acting. Suggestions are offered accordingly for organizations wishing to reduce the negative influence of emotional labor on employees and improve the efficiency of service enterprises.