Taking Home the Show: Effects of Emotional Labor on Non-work Based Outcomes


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Abstract

The emotional labor literature has focused on outcomes of emotional labor that occur in the workplace, promoting the implicit assumption that the effects of emotional labor are contained in the workplace. However, a large literature examining the spillover from work life to home life indicates that work experiences influence employees even after they leave the workplace (c.f. Eby, Maher, & Butts, 2010). Drawing from the work family conflict literature, we examine the influence of daily surface acting on emotional exhaustion experienced at home that evening, strain-based work to family conflict experienced that evening, and insomnia experienced that night. In an experience sampling field study of 78 bus drivers, we found that daily surface acting had the predicted effects on each of the non-work based outcomes noted above. Moreover, state anxiety mediated these effects.
 
Christopher M. Barnes (cmbarnes@vt.edu) is an assistant professor of management in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. Prior to becoming a professor he spent 4 years as a United States Air Force officer, focusing on project management and conducting research. His current research interests include 1) fatigue in the workplace, 2) team performance and decision-making, and 3) emotional labor. His research has been published in top research journals such as Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Applied Psychology. His research has also been covered in various media outlets such as ABC news, MSNBC news, the New York Times, and BBC radio.
 
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