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Emotional labor and core self-evaluations as mediators between organizational dehumanization and job satisfaction

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Abstract

This study aimed to examine the mechanisms underlying the negative relationship between the feeling of being dehumanized by the organization and employees’ job satisfaction. More precisely, we argue that emotional labor (i.e., surface acting) and core self-evaluations act as mediators in this relationship. A total of 326 employees participated in our study. Firstly, the results showed that, independently of one another, both surface acting and core self-evaluations partially mediated the relationship between organizational dehumanization and job satisfaction. Secondly, surface acting and core self-evaluations were found to have serial mediation effects in this relationship. Accordingly, experiencing dehumanization from the organization leads employees to perform more surface acting with deleterious consequences for their core self-evaluations and finally their job satisfaction.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the “Fonds Spéciaux de la Recherche” of the Université catholique de Louvain and by ARC under grant n°16/20-071 of the French Community of Belgium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier, 10, L3.05.01, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Nathan Nguyen & Florence Stinglhamber

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  1. Nathan Nguyen
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  2. Florence Stinglhamber
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Correspondence to Nathan Nguyen.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Nguyen, N., Stinglhamber, F. Emotional labor and core self-evaluations as mediators between organizational dehumanization and job satisfaction. Curr Psychol 40, 831–839 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9988-2

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