The Differential Effect of Emotional Labour on Boundary Spanners

Purpose: The study sought to uncover the effect of emotional labour strategies (surface acting and deep acting) on job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. The study also purposed to analyse the moderating effect of organisational support (supervisory support and co-worker support) and the role of gender on emotional labour connotations. Research design, data and methodology: A conceptual framework was developed using extant literature which led to the examination of deep acting and surface acting, which are the two main strategies of emotional labour. The outcome variables were emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. Data was collected from front line employees of banks and was analysed using SEM-AMOS version 21. Results: It was revealed, in this study, that surface acting is inversely related to job satisfaction and positively related to emotional exhaustion, whereas deep acting was positively related to job satisfaction and inversely related to emotional exhaustion. The roles of gender and organisational support were also confirmed. Conclusions: The study therefore concluded that deep acting is the most ideal strategy of emotional labour as it leads to job satisfaction and reduced emotional exhaustion. Surface acting is a harmful emotional labour strategy.