Emotional labor and employee well-being: a matter of perceived authentic leadership?

Abstract

A within-person design was used to examine the theoretical theorem that authentic leadership moderates the relationship between emotional labor (surface acting, deep acting, and automatic regulation) and emotional exhaustion and work engagement. Daily diary data were collected from 86 employees working in the service sector. The participants completed a general questionnaire, after that they completed daily questionnaires that were sent out for fourteen days. The conducted multilevel analysis showed a significant relationship between automatic regulation and emotional exhaustion, but a non-significant relationship between surface acting and emotional exhaustion. Additionally, surface-, deep-acting, and automatic regulation were significantly related to work engagement. Contrary to the hypotheses, the moderating effect of authentic leadership on the relationship between emotional labor and employee well-being was not found significant. Overall, this study showed the importance of using a within-person design and the moderating effect of authentic leadership on employee emotional labor and well-being relationships.