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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between emotional labor, emotions, and job satisfaction among nurses, and explore the mediating role of emotions in the relationship between emotional labor and job satisfaction.

A cross-sectional study was designed with 168 nurses in Korea. Structural equation modeling and path analysis were performed to analyze data.

Surface acting correlated positively with anxiety and frustration. Deep acting correlated positively with enjoyment and pride but correlated negatively with anxiety, anger and frustration. Enjoyment and pride correlated positively with job satisfaction; anger correlated negatively with job satisfaction. Deep acting correlated positively with job satisfaction, while surface acting did not show a significant relationship. Enjoyment, pride and anger mediated the relationship between deep acting and job satisfaction.

This research expands empirical findings on nurses’ emotional experiences, by considering their discrete emotions rather than general affect. It is the first study to empirically examine the relationships between emotional labor, discrete emotions and job satisfaction, as well as the mediating role of emotions in the relationship between emotional labor and job satisfaction in the nursing field. The mediating role of emotions suggests that not only nurses and nurse managers but also hospital administrators should take nurses’ emotions into account to increase nurses’ well-being and their job satisfaction. Finally, differential influences of surface acting and deep acting on nurses’ emotional experiences and job satisfaction highlight the need for practical interventions to promote the use of deep acting among nurses.

This study confirms the mediating role of emotions in the relationship between emotional labor and job satisfaction in the nursing field. It encourages future research to pay greater attention to nurses’ emotions themselves along with emotional labor. Findings add an interdisciplinary aspect to research on nursing by assimilating psychological perspectives of emotion and emotion management research to this field.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relations between emotion regulation (reappraisal and suppression), discrete emotions and emotional exhaustion among nurses.

A cross-sectional design was used with 168 nurses in South Korea. Structural equation modeling and path analysis were conducted for analysis.

Reappraisal correlated positively with enjoyment and pride and negatively with anxiety, anger and frustration, whereas suppression correlated negatively with enjoyment and positively with anxiety and frustration. Moreover, reappraisal was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion, whereas suppression was positively associated with it. Enjoyment was negatively related to emotional exhaustion, and anger and frustration were positively related to it. Enjoyment and frustration mediated the relation between emotion regulation and emotional exhaustion. Findings demonstrate the potentially beneficial influences of reappraisal as well as harmful impacts of suppression in the nursing context.

This paper expands research on nurses’ emotion management by applying Gross’s emotion regulation framework rather than Hochschild’s emotional labor framework. The mediating result suggests that not only nurses but also hospital administrators and nurse managers should pay attention to nurses’ emotional experiences to improve nurses’ well-being and ultimately better nursing practice. This research can provide the basis for developing practical interventions to efficiently regulate nurses’ emotions.

This is the first study exploring the mediating role of emotions in the link between nurses’ emotion regulation and emotional exhaustion. It contributes to interdisciplinary research by integrating perspectives from psychological emotion and emotion regulation research into the nursing field.