The Impact of Daily Emotion on Emotional Labor: The Perspective of Affective Events Theory

Abstract

The present study adopted theoretical perspective of affective events theory to explain the relationship between emotion and emotional labor. Diary reports are conducted to examine the relationships between daily positive and negative emotion (PA and NA, respectively) and emotional labor. Self-monitoring theorized at a between-subjects level would moderate the within-subjects relationships. With a sample of 124 frontline sales employees and 3,261 observations across 25 working days, results show that daily PA and NA had a significant within-subjects main effect on daily emotional labor strategy. In addition, between-subjects self-monitor moderated the relationship between NA and deep acting. The current findings shed light on the daily emotion labor consequences of daily emotion and provide important theoretical and practical implications.