Qiang Qin, Wang Kaixin, Lai Jianxin
School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China.
School of Public Administration, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing, China.
PLoS One. 2025 Jul 17;20(7):e0327359. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0327359. eCollection 2025.
Red tape denotes valid rules or procedures that contribute nothing to achieving an organization's goals. How red tape affects corporate employees' emotional labor has received little attention. Therefore, this study recruited retail staff from Beijing after the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing the roles of negative emotions and customer orientation. Red tape negatively affected surface and deep acting among retail employees. Negative emotions mediated the relationships between red tape and surface and deep acting. Customer orientation moderated the relationship between negative emotions and surface acting as well as deep acting. Lastly, implications are provided for companies to promote employee emotional labor.While these measures were operationally necessary, their prolonged enforcement and administrative burden led employees to perceive them as bureaucratic obstacles rather than supportive regulations. Employees with high customer orientation may adopt alternative regulation strategies, such as cognitive reappraisal, instead of surface acting.
繁文缛节指的是那些对实现组织目标毫无帮助的有效规则或程序。繁文缛节如何影响企业员工的情绪劳动很少受到关注。因此，本研究在新冠疫情后从北京招募了零售员工，评估负面情绪和以客户为导向的作用。繁文缛节对零售员工的表层和深层表演产生了负面影响。负面情绪在繁文缛节与表层和深层表演之间起中介作用。以客户为导向调节了负面情绪与表层表演以及深层表演之间的关系。最后，为公司促进员工情绪劳动提供了启示。虽然这些措施在操作上是必要的，但它们的长期执行和行政负担使员工将其视为官僚障碍而非支持性规定。具有高客户导向的员工可能会采用替代调节策略，如认知重评，而不是表层表演。
