Department of Psychology, Educational Sciences and Human Movement, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
Department of Economics, Business and Statistics, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr 15;19(8):4800. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19084800.
The aim of the study was to verify whether the frequency of face-to-face interactions with the public at work can reveal differences in how people react to emotional regulation demands. In particular, we investigated the mediating role of surface acting (a strategy of dealing with emotional dissonance) in the relationship between two typical job stressors (workload and mental load) and two outcomes closely related to work-related well-being: employees' general health and the need for recovery. Prior studies investigating the detrimental effects of emotional dissonance mostly focused on service workers. However, in light of a survey conducted by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2016) highlighting the growing psycho-social risk constituted by intense human interactions in the workplaces, even in unexpected categories of workers, we hypothesize that emotional demands may also be a concern for those who do not specifically interface with clients as part of their job duties. The results of the multi-group analysis of front-office ( = 734) and back-office ( = 436) Italian workers showed that surface acting fully mediates the relationship between workload and general health among back-office workers, while it only partially mediates this relationship among front-office workers. Furthermore, surface acting is positively associated with the need for recovery and negatively with general health, with higher values for back-office workers. The findings support the hypothesis that the emotional demands are not only a service worker issue and highlight the need to address emotional regulation strategies to enhance the quality of life in and outside the workplace for all employees.
本研究旨在验证与公众在工作中的面对面互动频率是否可以揭示人们对情绪调节需求的反应差异。具体来说，我们调查了表面行为（一种应对情绪不和谐的策略）在两个典型工作压力源（工作量和心理负荷）与两个与工作相关的幸福结果（员工的一般健康和恢复需求）之间的关系中的中介作用。先前研究情绪不和谐的不利影响主要集中在服务人员上。然而，鉴于欧洲工作场所安全与健康管理局（2016 年）进行的一项调查强调了高强度人际互动在工作场所中构成的日益增长的心理社会风险，甚至在预期之外的工人类别中也是如此，我们假设情绪需求也可能是那些不专门作为其工作职责一部分与客户进行交互的人员的关注点。意大利前勤（n = 734）和后勤（n = 436）工作人员的多组分析结果表明，表面行为完全中介了后勤人员工作量与一般健康之间的关系，而在前勤人员中，这种关系只是部分中介。此外，表面行为与恢复需求呈正相关，与一般健康呈负相关，后勤人员的数值更高。这些发现支持了这样一种假设，即情绪需求不仅是服务人员的问题，并强调需要解决情绪调节策略，以提高所有员工在工作场所内外的生活质量。
