The influence of emotional intelligence and affectivity on emotional labor strategies at work

Abstract

We investigated how affectivity and emotional intelligence (EI) influence the use of emotional labor strategies at work among 486 Chinese employees. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that negative affectivity was a significant correlate for surface acting, while EI was a significant correlate for both deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotion. Positive affectivity and EI interacted with each other to influence the adoption of various emotional labor strategies. For instance, individuals with positive affectivity and regulation of emotion, a key facet of EI, tended to use more deep acting and the expression of naturally felt emotion but less surface acting than employees who were low in regulation of emotion. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed that EI was a mediator between positive affectivity and deep acting. We discussed limitations as well as practical and research implications of findings.