The influence of emotional labour and emotional work on the occupational health and wellbeing of South Australian hospital nurses Sandra L. Pisaniello ⁎, Helen R. Winefield, Paul H. Delfabbro School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia article info abstract Article history: Received 22 October 2011 Available online 10 February 2012 Nursing is an emotionally complex occupation, requiring performance of both emotional la- bour (for the benefit of the organisation and professional role) and emotional work (for the benefit of the nurse-patient relationship). According to the Conservation of Resources Theory, such processes can have a significant effect on psychological wellbeing and occupational stress, although little is known about the factors that moderate their effects. This exploratory study investigated the relationship between emotional labour and emotional work on psychological wellbeing and occupational stress in 239 nurses sampled from a South Australian hospital. The multi-component questionnaire study focused on the emotional labour elements of emotion expression and suppression, as well as surface acting and deep acting, and examined the com- panionship, help, and regulation elements of emotional work. In a multivariate model, emo- tional work was found to be less strongly predictive of negative psychological outcomes than was emotional labour, but was more strongly predictive of positive outcomes. Social sup- port may moderate or be an antecedent to the performance of emotional labour and emotional work. The findings support the Conservation of Resources Theory with emotional work, rather than emotional labour, enabling the uptake of resources and leading to positive occupational health and wellbeing. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Nurses Emotional labour Emotional work Social support Occupational stress Job satisfaction Introduction An ageing nursing workforce in conjunction with an ageing population in developed countries have led to an increased nurs- ing workload and irregular working hours (Aiken et al., 2001). ‘People work’ such as nursing is emotionally demanding (Diefendorff, Erickson, Grandey, & Dahling, 2011; Hülsheger & Schewe, 2011) and may be more so under these conditions. The concepts of emotional labour and emotional work are often used interchangeably (Bolton, 2003; Zapf, 2002). There is some disagreement among researchers with respect to the definition of emotional labour, its theoretical underpinnings, and the measurement of the construct (Diefendorff et al., 2011; Mann, 1999; McClure & Murphy, 2007). The formulation of hypoth- eses and the interpretation of results remain a challenge (Grandey, 2000; Mann, 2005; Pugh, Groth, & Hennig-Thurau, 2011). Emotional labour is defined here according to Morris and Feldman's (1996, p. 987) definition: ‘the effort, planning, and control needed to express organizationally-desired emotion during interpersonal transactions’. This definition encompasses the notion that service providers perform emotional labour as part of their professional role largely for the benefit of the organisation. Facets of emotional labour include the emotional job requirements of expressing and hiding emotion, and the regulation strategies of surface and deep acting (Diefendorff, Croyle, & Gosserand, 2005). Journal of Vocational Behavior 80 (2012) 579–591 ⁎ Corresponding author at: School of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, North Terrace Campus, Level 4 Hughes Building, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia. Tel.: +61 8 8303 5693; fax: +61 8 303 3770. E-mail address: sandra.pisaniello@gmail.com (S.L. Pisaniello). 0001-8791/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2012.01.015 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Vocational Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jvb