The differential impact of interactions outside the organization on employee well-being

• Main Authors: BHAVE, Devasheesh P., HALLDÓRSSON, Freyr, KIM, Eugene, LEFTER, Alexandru M.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2019
• Subjects: surface acting; task significance; interactions outside the organization; relational work design; emotion regulation; employee well-being; emotional labour; Human Resources Management; Industrial and Organizational Psychology; Organizational Behavior and Theory
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5986; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/6985/viewcontent/Bhave_et_al_2019_JOOP_pv.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

We examine two different perspectives of interactions outside the organization: the relational work design perspective and the emotional labour perspective. The relational work design perspective suggests that interactions outside the organization have favourable outcomes for employees, whereas the emotional labour perspective suggests that such interactions have adverse outcomes for employees. Our goal is to reconcile findings from these two research streams. In Study 1, using data from employees working in diverse occupations, we find that interactions outside the organization have a positive indirect effect on employee well‐being via task significance, and a negative indirect effect on employee well‐being via surface acting. In Study 2, using data collected across two time points, we replicate these findings. In Study 3, we further extend these results and illustrate that interactional autonomy and interactional complexity are influential moderators that shape the strength of the mediated relationships. Our results aid in reconciling and extending findings from two different research streams, and enhance our understanding of the role of interactions outside the organization.