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Abstract

The research investigated the relationship of emotion work directed towards customers and towards coworkers with job satisfaction in Saudi Arabia. Emotion work means the requirement to display particular emotions as part of the job and includes surface acting where actual emotions differ from displayed emotions and deep acting where displayed and felt emotions are congruent. Participants were 147 flight attendants (31 men, 116 women; mean age = 36.9 years, SD = 7.5) employed by a major Saudi Arabian airline, who were either Saudi nationals or nationals of other Gulf Arab countries. Data were collected with questionnaires. Analysis was based on the General Linear Model and indicated that deep acting towards customers and towards coworkers was positively related to job satisfaction. On the other hand, the hypothesized negative relationship between surface acting and job satisfaction was not supported. Organizational trust moderated the relationship of emotion work with job satisfaction. The findings indicate the importance of considering emotion work in interactions with coworkers along with the influence of national culture in the relationships of emotion work with key variables.

Keywords

emotion work surface acting deep acting employee attitudes job satisfaction organizational trust

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