Abstract
Building on cognitive appraisal theory of stress, we examined the direct relationship between the emotional labor strategies of employees (i.e., surface and deep acting) and outcomes (i.e., psychological strain and creativity). In addition, we investigated the indirect relationship between emotional labor strategies and outcomes via job stressors (i.e., challenge and hindrance stressors). We collected time-lagged data from service sector employees in Italy and tested the data using path analysis. We found that surface acting predicted psychological strain and creativity, and the indirect relationship between surface acting and outcomes via hindrance stressor was significant. Whereas, deep acting predicted psychological strain but not creativity and the indirect relationship between deep acting and psychological strain via challenge stressor was significant. Our data failed to support the indirect association between deep acting and creativity. Our study highlighted that emotion regulation strategies of employees were related to challenge and hindrance stressors and thus underlines that employees should carefully manage their emotional displays at work. Implications and future research directions are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The data which supports the findings of this study is available from corresponding author on request.
References
Abbas, M., & Raja, U. (2019). Challenge-Hindrance Stressors and Job Outcomes: the Moderating Role of Conscientiousness. Journal of Business and Psychology, 34(2), 189–201. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9535-z
Agnihotri, R., Rapp, A. A., Andzulis, J. ‘Mick,’, & Gabler, C. B. (2014). Examining the Drivers and Performance Implications of Boundary Spanner Creativity. Journal of Service Research, 17(2), 164–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670513506494
Allen, J. A., Pugh, S. D., Grandey, A. A., & Groth, M. (2010). Following Display Rules in Good or Bad Faith?: Customer Orientation as a Moderator of the Display Rule-Emotional Labor Relationship. Human Performance, 23(2), 101–115. https://doi.org/10.1080/08959281003621695
Amabile, T. M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J., & Herron, M. (1996). Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 39(5), 1154–1184. https://doi.org/10.5465/256995
Anderson, N., Potočnik, K., & Zhou, J. (2014). Innovation and Creativity in Organizations. Journal of Management, 40(5), 1297–1333. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206314527128
Antwi, C. O., Fan, C., Aboagye, M. O., Brobbey, P., Jababu, Y., Affum-Osei, E., & Avornyo, P. (2019). Job demand stressors and employees’ creativity: a within-person approach to dealing with hindrance and challenge stressors at the airport environment. The Service Industries Journal, 39(3–4), 250–278. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2018.1520220
Ashkanasy, N. M., & Dorris, A. D. (2017). Emotions in the Workplace. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4(1), 67–90. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032516-113231
Bakker, A. B., & Sanz-Vergel, A. I. (2013). Weekly work engagement and flourishing: The role of hindrance and challenge job demands. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83(3), 397–409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2013.06.008
Bernerth, J. B., & Aguinis, H. (2016). A Critical Review and Best-Practice Recommendations for Control Variable Usage. Personnel Psychology, 69(1), 229–283. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12103
Brislin, R. W. (1980). Translation and content analysis of oral and written material. In: Triandis, H.C. and Berry, J. W., Eds., Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: Methodology, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 389–444.
Brotheridge, C. M., & Grandey, A. A. (2002). Emotional Labor and Burnout: Comparing Two Perspectives of “People Work. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60(1), 17–39. https://doi.org/10.1006/JVBE.2001.1815
Cavanaugh, M. A., Boswell, W. R., Roehling, M. V., & Boudreau, J. W. (2000). An empirical examination of self-reported work stress among U.S. managers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(1), 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.85.1.65
Clarke, S. (2012). The effect of challenge and hindrance stressors on safety behavior and safety outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 17(4), 387–397. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029817
Coelho, F., Augusto, M., & Lages, L. F. (2011). Contextual Factors and the Creativity of Frontline Employees: The Mediating Effects of Role Stress and Intrinsic Motivation. Journal of Retailing, 87(1), 31–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JRETAI.2010.11.004
Coelho, F. J., Evanschitzky, H., Sousa, C. M. P., Olya, H., & Taheri, B. (2020). Control mechanisms, management orientations, and the creativity of service employees: Symmetric and asymmetric modeling. Journal of Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JBUSRES.2020.10.055
Diefendorff, J. M., Croyle, M. H., & Gosserand, R. H. (2005). The dimensionality and antecedents of emotional labor strategies. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66(2), 339–357. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JVB.2004.02.001
Espedido, A., & Searle, B. J. (2021). Proactivity, stress appraisals, and problem-solving: A cross-level moderated mediation model. Work & Stress, 35(2), 132–152. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2020.1767723
Fay, D., Bagotyriute, R., Urbach, T., West, M. A., & Dawson, J. (2019). Differential effects of workplace stressors on innovation: An integrated perspective of cybernetics and coping. International Journal of Stress Management, 26(1), 11–24. https://doi.org/10.1037/str0000081
Fisher, D. M., Kerr, A. J., & Cunningham, S. (2019). Examining the moderating effect of mindfulness on the relationship between job stressors and strain outcomes. International Journal of Stress Management, 26(1), 78–88. https://doi.org/10.1037/str0000090
Geng, Z., Liu, C., Liu, X., & Feng, J. (2014). The effects of emotional labor on frontline employee creativity. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26(7), 1046–1064. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-12-2012-0244
Goldberg, D., & Williams, P. (1988). A user’s guide to the GHQ. Windsor: NFER-Nelson
Gong, Y., Cheung, S. Y., Wang, M., & Huang, J. C. (2012). Unfolding the Proactive Process for Creativity. Journal of Management, 38(5), 1611–1633. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310380250
Gong, Y., Huang, J. C., & Farh, J. L. (2009). Employee Learning Orientation, Transformational Leadership, and Employee Creativity: The Mediating Role of Employee Creative Self-Efficacy. Academy of Management Journal, 52(4), 765–778. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2009.43670890
Grandey, A. A. (2000). Emotional regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize emotional labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(1), 95–110. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.5.1.95
Grandey, A. A. (2003). When “The Show Must Go On”: Surface Acting and Deep Acting as Determinants of Emotional Exhaustion and Peer-Rated Service Delivery. Academy of Management Journal, 46(1), 86–96. https://doi.org/10.5465/30040678
Grandey, A. A., & Gabriel, A. S. (2015). Emotional Labor at a Crossroads: Where Do We Go from Here? Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2(1), 323–349. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032414-111400
Grawitch, M. J., Barber, L. K., & Justice, L. (2010). Rethinking the Work-Life Interface: It’s Not about Balance, It’s about Resource Allocation. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 2(2), 127–159. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2009.01023.x
Gross, J. J. (2009). Handbook of emotion regulation. Guilford Press
Gross, J. J. (1998). The Emerging Field of Emotion Regulation: An Integrative Review. Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271–299. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.271
Gross, J. J., & Levenson, R. W. (1997). Hiding feelings: The acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106(1), 95–103. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.106.1.95
Groth, M., Hennig-Thurau, T., & Walsh, G. (2009). Customer Reactions to Emotional Labor: the Roles of Employee Acting Strategies and Customer Detection Accuracy. Academy of Management Journal, 52(5), 958–974. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2009.44634116
Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44(3), 513–524. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513
Hobfoll, S. E. (2001). The Influence of Culture, Community, and the Nested-Self in the Stress Process: Advancing Conservation of Resources Theory. Applied Psychology, 50(3), 337–421. https://doi.org/10.1111/1464-0597.00062
Hobfoll, S. E., Halbesleben, J., Neveu, J. P., & Westman, M. (2018). Conservation of Resources in the Organizational Context: The Reality of Resources and Their Consequences. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5(1), 103–128. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032117-104640
Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press
Hon, A. H. Y., & Kim, T. Y. (2007). Work overload and employee creativity: the roles of goal commitment, task feedback from supervisor, and reward for competence. In M.A. Rahim (Ed.), Current Topics in Management (pp. 193–211). New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers
Hon, A. H. Y. (2012). Shaping Environments Conductive to Creativity. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 53(1), 53–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965511424725
Hon, A. H. Y., & Chan, W. W. (2013). The Effects of Group Conflict and Work Stress on Employee Performance. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 54(2), 174–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965513476367
Hon, Alice, H. Y. (2012). When competency-based pay relates to creative performance: The moderating role of employee psychological need. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(1), 130–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJHM.2011.04.004
Hon, Alice, H. Y. (2013). Does job creativity requirement improve service performance? A multilevel analysis of work stress and service environment. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 161–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJHM.2013.06.003
Hon, A. H. Y., Chan, W. W. H., & Lu, L. (2013). Overcoming work-related stress and promoting employee creativity in hotel industry: The role of task feedback from supervisor. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 33, 416–424. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJHM.2012.11.001
Horan, K. A., Nakahara, W. H., DiStaso, M. J., & Jex, S. M. (2020). A Review of the Challenge-Hindrance Stress Model: Recent Advances, Expanded Paradigms, and Recommendations for Future Research. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 3065. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.560346
Kern, M., Trumpold, K., & Zapf, D. (2021). Emotion work as a source of employee well- and ill-being: the moderating role of service interaction type. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 30(6), 850–871. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2021.1873771
Kern, M., & Zapf, D. (2021). Ready for change? A longitudinal examination of challenge stressors in the context of organizational change. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 26(3), 204–223. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000214
Khan, A. N., Moin, M. F., Khan, N. A., & Zhang, C. (2022). A multistudy analysis of abusive supervision and social network service addiction on employee's job engagement and innovative work behaviour. Creativity and Innovation Management, 1–16.https://doi.org/10.1111/caim.12481
Koh, D., Lee, K., & Joshi, K. (2019). Transformational leadership and creativity: A meta-analytic review and identification of an integrated model. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(6), 625–650. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2355
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. Springer Publishing Company
Lin, W., Ma, J., Wang, L., & Wang, M. (2015). A double-edged sword: The moderating role of conscientiousness in the relationships between work stressors, psychological strain, and job performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(1), 94–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1949
Lin, W., Wang, L., & Chen, S. (2013). Abusive Supervision and Employee Well-Being: The Moderating Effect of Power Distance Orientation. Applied Psychology, 62(2), 308–329. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2012.00520.x
Long, C., Li, Z., & Ning, Z. (2015). Exploring the nonlinear relationship between challenge stressors and employee voice: The effects of leader–member exchange and organisation-based self-esteem. Personality and Individual Differences, 83, 24–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PAID.2015.03.043
Ma, J., Liu, C., Peng, Y., & Xu, X. (2021). How do employees appraise challenge and hindrance stressors? Uncovering the double-edged effect of conscientiousness. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 26(3), 243–257. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000275
Mackinnon, A., Jorm, A. F., Christensen, H., Korten, A. E., Jacomb, P. A., & Rodgers, B. (1999). A short form of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule: evaluation of factorial validity and invariance across demographic variables in a community sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 27(3), 405–416. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00251-7
Meng, L., Du, J., & Lin, X. (2022). Surviving bench stress: Meaningful work as a personal resource in the expanded job demands-resources model. Current Psychology, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02956-9
Moin, M. F. (2018). The link between perceptions of leader emotion regulation and followers’ organizational commitment. Journal of Management Development, 37(2), 178–187. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-01-2017-0014
Moin, M. F., Wei, F., Weng, Q., & Derek (2020). Abusive supervision, emotion regulation, and performance. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, ijsa.12301. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsa.12301
Moin, M.F., Wei, F., Khan, A.N., Ali, A., & Chang, S.C. (2021). Abusive supervision and job outcomes: a moderated mediation model. Journal of organizational change management, 35(3), 430–440. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-05-2020-0132
Moin, M.F., Omar, M.K., Wei, F., Rasheed, M.I., & Hameed, Z. (2020). Green HRM and psychological safety: how transformational leadership drives followers job satisfaction. Current issues in tourism, 24(16), 2269–2277.https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1829569
Moin, M.F., Wei, F., Weng, Q.D., & Bodla, A.A. (2021). leader emotion regulation, leader-member exchange (LMX), and followers task performance. Scandinavian journal of psychology, 62(3), 418–425. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12709
MR, T., CM, B. J. S., B., AH, W., & HR, W. (2015). Hindrances are not threats: advancing the multidimensionality of work stress. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20(2), https://doi.org/10.1037/A0038280
Muthen, L. K., & Muthen, B. (2012). (n.d.). Mplus User’s Guide (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA.
Nath, V. (2011). Aesthetic and emotional labour through stigma: national identity management and racial abuse in offshored Indian call centres. Work Employment and Society, 25(4), 709–725. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017011419726
Nguyen, T. P. L., Nguyen, T. T., Duong, C. D., & Doan, X. H. (2022). The effects of transformational leadership on employee creativity in Vietnam telecommunications enterprises. Management Decision, 60(3), 837–857. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-07-2020-0882
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
Raper, M. J., & Brough, P. (2021). Seeing into the future: The role of future-oriented coping and daily stress appraisal in relation to a future stressor. Stress and Health, 37(1), 186–197. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2984
Richards, J. M., & Gross, J. J. (2000). Emotion regulation and memory: The cognitive costs of keeping one’s cool. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(3), 410–424. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.3.410
Searle, B. J., & Auton, J. C. (2015). The merits of measuring challenge and hindrance appraisals. Anxiety Stress & Coping, 28(2), 121–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2014.931378
Tadić, M., Bakker, A. B., & Oerlemans, W. G. M. (2015). Challenge versus hindrance job demands and well-being: A diary study on the moderating role of job resources. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 88(4), 702–725. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12094
Taylor, C., Ivcevic, Z., Moeller, J., & Brackett, M. (2020). Gender and support for creativity at work. Creativity and Innovation Management, 29(3), 453–464. https://doi.org/10.1111/caim.12397
Van Dyne, L., Jehn, K. A., & Cummings, A. (2002). Differential effects of strain on two forms of work performance: individual employee sales and creativity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(1), 57–74. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.127
Wang, L., & Lin, W. (2011). Wording effects and the dimensionality of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Personality and Individual Differences, 50(7), 1056–1061. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PAID.2011.01.024
Wilder, K. M., Collier, J. E., & Barnes, D. C. (2014). Tailoring to Customers’ Needs. Journal of Service Research, 17(4), 446–459. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670514530043
Wood, S. J., & Michaelides, G. (2016). Challenge and hindrance stressors and wellbeing-based work–nonwork interference: A diary study of portfolio workers. Human Relations, 69(1), 111–138. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726715580866
Woodman, R. W., Sawyer, J. E., & Griffin, R. W. (1993). Toward a Theory of Organizational Creativity. Academy of Management Review, 18(2), 293–321. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1993.3997517
Zapf, D., Kern, M., Tschan, F., Holman, D., & Semmer, N. K. (2021). Emotion Work: A Work Psychology Perspective. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 8(1), 139–172. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-062451
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 82nd Annual Meeting of Academy of Management conference.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
None.
Ethical statement and informed consent
The study was approved by the approval board of the corresponding author. Also informed consent was sought from all participants of this study.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Moin, M.F., Spagnoli, P., Khan, A.N. et al. Challenge-hindrance stressors and service employees job outcomes. Curr Psychol 42, 24623–24634 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03531-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03531-y