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PPMXXX10.1177/0091026020946476Public Personnel ManagementLu et al.

Original Article
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The Dynamic Role of

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Emotional Labor and Job

Satisfaction: A Comparison
Study of Public Service in
China and South Korea

Xiaojun Lu1, Hyun Jung Lee2 , Seung-Bum Yang3,

and Min Hye Song3

Abstract
Today, research on emotional labor in public service has been growing both in China
and South Korea; however, few studies have explored the management–performance
relationship between countries with similar cultures. This study provides a new case
for the comparative public management domain by conducting empirical research
on two countries with similar cultures and clarifying the existing literature on the
relationship between the dimensions of emotional labor and job satisfaction with
emotional intelligence as the mediating role. Samples from public service employees
were collected. The findings reveal that, among the dimensions of emotional
intelligence, emotional self-regulation emerges as the sole important mediating
variable in the relationship between the two countries.

Keywords
emotional labor, job satisfaction, emotional intelligence, eastern culture countries,
comparative studies

1
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
2
MyongJi University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
3
KonKuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Corresponding Author:
Hyun Jung Lee, Department of Public Administration, MyongJi University, 2912, Geobookgolro 34,
Seodaemoongu, Seoul 120-728, Republic of Korea.
Email: tweety06@mju.ac.kr
2 Public Personnel Management 00(0)

Over time, an increasing number of researchers in the field of public administration

have emphasized the importance of emotional labor in public service. Compared with
the private sector, where the goal of service is to maximize customer satisfaction for
organization profit, public service work tends to be more emotionally intense. For
example, administrative workers at the Department of Motor Vehicles, police officers
who arrest criminals, and child protection workers who help abused children might
serve hundreds of people daily with a pleasant demeanor. Therefore, suppressing and
expressing emotions are much more common activities for public service workers than
for private-sector workers (Lee, 2018b).
Although many studies have found harmful outcomes (e.g., burnout, absenteeism,
and turnover intention) associated with jobs entailing high levels of emotional labor,
some studies have disagreed regarding workers in the public sector. Yang and Guy
(2015) and Lee (2018b) found positive associations between surface acting and job
satisfaction among public service employees in South Korea, and Stenross and
Kleinman (1989) found a positive relationship between surface acting and job satisfac-
tion among police detectives. However, although many researchers have found posi-
tive relationships that are associated with emotional labor (Hsieh et al., 2012; Jin &
Guy, 2009; Lopez, 2006), Cheung et al. (2011) found no significant relationship
between emotional labor and job satisfaction in a sample of Chinese public teachers.
These inconsistent results on emotional labor among public service workers make it
difficult to draw reliable conclusions about the relationship and impede the ability to
make suggestions for public service management practices (Hülsheger & Schewe,
2011). Studies, including particular parameters or variables, are necessary to conclude
emotional labor outcomes successfully.
One factor that might influence the relationship between emotional labor and job
satisfaction is emotional intelligence. Although some service workers attempt to be
emotionally involved in their work, as opposed to faking their emotional displays,
many of them seem unable to avoid surface acting because they lack or are not aware
of emotive skills, which might lead to job dissatisfaction or burnout. Service work-
ers require emotive skills, such as the ability to perceive others’ emotions and man-
age their own emotions, which combined are often referred to as emotional
intelligence when they provide services. Individuals with high levels of emotional
intelligence can code and decode their personal and others’ emotions and manage
their emotional states to correspond to their work’s emotional demands. Consequently,
when individuals possess and use their emotive skills successfully, they tend to feel
comfortable serving people, which might mitigate the disadvantages of emotional
labor and promote job satisfaction.
Emotional intelligence has become a popular topic for in-service training (Guy &
Lee, 2015); however, its use in public service is underexplored. Understanding
which emotional intelligence skills influence employees’ emotional labor and job
satisfaction might guide researchers and practitioners’ efforts to enhance employees’
work performance and personal wellbeing. Generally, very little is known about the
relationships among emotional labor, emotional intelligence, and job satisfaction
among public service employees, and even less is known about these associations in
Lu et al. 3

China and South Korea. To the best of our knowledge, one study has examined the
relationship between emotional labor and job satisfaction with emotional intelli-
gence as a mediator (Guy & Lee, 2015), which was conducted on a sample of U.S.
public service workers. However, this first attempt to investigate those relationships
did not find an important mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship
between emotional labor and job satisfaction.
Studies on emotional labor in public service have been increasing in China and
South Korea. Although both countries have collective cultures, where group cohe-
siveness and vertical relationships are emphasized, the discourse is unresolved about
whether South Korea and China form a cultural cluster or unit as Confucian Asians,
or if they are culturally distinct (Kwon et al., 2013). This unresolved issue may be
affected by different cultural histories, which may build distinct cultural values and
norms that govern thoughts and the perception of the self and environment (Kwon
et al., 2013; Matsumoto, 2007; Scherer, 1997). For example, according to Hofstede’s
dimension of individualism, where a score of 0 indicates complete collectivism and
100 indicates complete individualism, Hofstede assigns a score of 18 to South
Korea, as compared with 91 to the United States. Although South Korea has been
represented as a strong collectivist society, modern society become westernized
because many college graduates, middle-aged individuals who live in the Seoul
Metropolitan Area, and people who work for large companies have adopted indi-
vidualist cultural values, which has reduced the collectivist ideology.
In China, Confucianism is an important perspective in understanding the national
characteristics and spiritual world of Chinese people. The core value of Confucianism
is benevolence, which motivates people to achieve social harmony and tranquility by
helping others and restraining their own desires. As Hofstede’s theory acknowledges,
China has a culture with strong hierarchies and collectivism tendencies.
Although culture includes social norms and values that govern people’s attitudes
and perceptions about the self and others (Davis & Humphrey, 2012; Tsai, 2001), simi-
larities and differences in the ways these two cultures influence emotional intelligence
or emotional labor have not been explored. In light of the mixed research results on the
relationship between emotional labor and job satisfaction, emotional intelligence
might have a role in that relationship in China and South Korea. It is logical to hypoth-
esize that culture plays a part in the ways that service workers respond to emotionally
intense situations (Mastracci & Adams, 2019).
To enrich our knowledge about emotional labor and emotional intelligence in
public service and better understand how these activities relate to job satisfaction,
this study separately examined those relationships in China and South Korea, which
provides a cross-cultural comparison. One goal was to extend Guy and Lee’s (2015)
findings on the relationships between emotional labor, emotional intelligence, and
job satisfaction to help find new ways for public service organizations to manage
emotional labor. Last, understanding employees’ behaviors and processes in mul-
tiple countries might contribute to cross-cultural understandings that reduce inter-
national friction.
4 Public Personnel Management 00(0)

Literature Review
Emotional Labor
Hochschild (1983b) proposed that the service sector created a new form of labor,
named “emotional labor,” in which service workers manage their interactions. The
goal of public services is to pave the way for people to live their fullest possible lives
in environments of safety, health, and security, and thus, public service jobs are more
emotionally intense than private-sector jobs (Lu & Guy, 2019).
Surface acting and deep acting are internal emotive strategies to maintain external
expressions while performing emotional labor. Surface acting refers to inauthentic
expressions toward customers or clients when the display rules differ from a worker’s
personal feelings (Allen et al., 2010; Brotheridge & Grandey, 2002; Lee, 2018b). To
manage their expressed emotions according to the display rules without modifying
their feelings, service workers either suppress or fake their emotions (Allen et al.,
2010; Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993; Brotheridge & Grandey, 2002).
However, deep acting refers to display emotions that are as congruent as possible
with personal emotions. The purpose of deep acting is for an individual to feel sincere
in her or his externally displayed emotions so that customers feel satisfied and happy.
Consequently, problems associated with emotional dissonance are less likely in cases
of deep acting. Although both strategies result in compliance with the display rules,
surface acting is similar to emotional inhibition, and deep acting is closer to control-
ling personal emotions because deep acting uses thoughts and memories to induce the
desired emotions (M. J. Kim & Han, 2009).
Based on the theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957), it is likely that sur-
face acting and job satisfaction are negatively related and that deep acting and job
satisfaction are positively related. As surface acting is a pretense and the unexpressed
feelings remain unchanged, it involves a high level of cognitive dissonance. As a
result, employees might feel dissatisfied with their jobs (e.g., Adil et al., 2013; Z. Chen
et al., 2012; M. J. Kim & Han, 2009). In contrast, deep acting is an attempt to make the
emotional display more authentic (Allen et al., 2010), which is likely to be self-
enhancing in ways that help workers to be satisfied with their jobs (e.g., Z. Chen et al.,
2012; Scott et al., 2012). The findings on deep acting in the public administration lit-
erature suggest that authentic expressions of emotion increase job satisfaction and
personal fulfillment (Jin & Guy, 2009; Lee, 2018b) while reducing work-related burn-
out (Guy et al., 2008). These effects are possible as public service employees may be
strongly motivated to help the public or feel that they are making a positive difference
to the public that they serve.
However, previous studies conducted in countries with Eastern cultures have dem-
onstrated different results. For instance, Yang and Guy (2015) and Lee (2018b) found
positive relationships between surface acting and job satisfaction among South Korean
public service employees, and Hsieh et al. (2016) found emotional labor and job satis-
faction to be positively related in a Taiwanese sample. Moreover, Mastracci and
Adams (2019) found weaker relationships between surface acting and burnout in col-
lectivist countries compared with individualist countries and inverse relationships
Lu et al. 5

between deep acting and burnout in collectivist countries. Lu et al. (2016) examined
the characteristics of emotional labor from a person-focused approach and found that
deep acting and surface acting were positively related to job satisfaction. Mastracci
and Adams (2019) confirmed that workers in interdependent cultures might consider
emotional labor less stressful and less costly than workers in independent cultures.
People in collectivist cultures, where politics and management practices are influ-
enced by Confucian values, encourage norm conformity and discourage in-group dis-
harmony (Lee, 2018b). In other words, people in collectivist cultures employ emotional
management on a day-to-day basis to achieve and sustain group harmony, which
requires fewer cognitive resources to execute while interacting with people (Butler
et al., 2007; Mastracci & Adams, 2019). Thus, emotional labor is relatively easier for
workers in collectivist cultures compared with those in individualist culture (Mastracci
& Adams, 2019).

Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence originated from the concept of social intelligence introduced
by Thorndike (1920), whose work received little attention until Salovey and Mayer
highlighted it in 1990. Currently, Wong and Law’s (2002) approach to emotional intel-
ligence has been widely adopted and verified as the most valid (Karim, 2010; Lee,
2018a; Wong et al., 2005). They first attempted to apply the theory of emotional intel-
ligence empirically to organizational outcomes in the following four dimensions: (a)
appraisal and expression of emotion in the self (emotional self-awareness), (b)
appraisal and recognition of emotion in others (emotional other-awareness), (c) regu-
lation of emotion in the self (emotional self-regulation), and (d) using emotion to
facilitate performance. These four dimensions fit Mayer and Salovey’s (1997) defini-
tion of emotional intelligence.
Emotional self-awareness refers to the extent to which people identify their per-
sonal feelings and understand the reasons for those feelings (Guy & Lee, 2015; Lee,
2018a; Mayer & Salovey, 1997). As emotional self-awareness enables individuals to
be attuned to the feelings of others and to foster recognition of others’ needs (Koman
& Wolff, 2008; Lee, 2013), service workers need to be aware of their personal emo-
tions before they can adequately interact with clients (Daus & Ashkanasy, 2005).
Emotional others’ awareness refers to an individual’s ability to perceive and under-
stand emotions and environments (Guy & Lee, 2015; Lee, 2018a). Particularly, in
emotionally intense situations when an individual’s life is in a public service worker’s
hands, these workers must be aware of their clients’ emotional states of mind and be
able to make instantaneous adjustments to what they say and their body language (Jin
& Guy, 2009). Emotional self-regulation refers to regulating personal emotions by
suppressing, expressing, or quieting strategies to achieve goals (Guy & Lee, 2015;
Lee, 2018a). When service workers are unable to regulate their personal emotions and
display uncaring or cold attitudes toward clients, the clients might criticize the ser-
vices being rendered and stop using them. Last, using emotion is an individual’s abil-
ity to align their emotions to perform tasks and achieve goals (Law et al., 2004). This
6 Public Personnel Management 00(0)

ability might be about choosing the most appropriate emotion to display to clients
(Giardini & Frese, 2006).
It is important to recognize that public service workers need to be better skilled than
private-sector workers at cognitively and emotionally managing their own emotion at
work because the emotive demands in public service jobs are more intense than in the
private sector (Guy & Newman, 2004; Lu & Guy, 2019). Workers with high levels of
emotional intelligence can positively use their emotions, which promotes emotional
growth and help them to be satisfied with their jobs (Gunkel et al., 2013). To improve
public service workers’ emotive skills at work, the workers must realistically perceive
themselves and their tasks, which require self-reflection and the ability to take criti-
cism (Sarah et al., 2016).

Chinese and South Korean Culture

National culture. China and South Korea have Confucian cultures, but there are as
many variations in collectivism as there are collectivist cultures (Triandis, 2001). For
example, regarding individualism and collectivism (Triandis, 1995, 2001), South
Korea’s culture represents horizontal collectivism (HC), in which people merge with
in-groups, whereas Chinese culture is a blend of HC and vertical collectivism (VC), in
which people submit to in-groups’ authorities and are willing to sacrifice themselves
for the group (Triandis, 1995). South Korea’s traditional collectivism, with a high
value placed on collectivistic group obligations, hierarchy, and devotion to superiors
(VC), has shifted toward HC, in which the traditional hierarchical structure is weaker,
but people still value the in-group above the out-group. Whereas in China, economic
reform meant that many people migrated within China and changed Chinese culture
into a mixture of HC and VC.
Another example can be found in Project GLOBE (House & Javidan, 2004), which
divides Hofstede’s collectivism dimension into institutional collectivism and in-group
collectivism. Institutional collectivism refers to “the degree to which organizational
and societal institutional practices encourage and reward collective distribution of
resources and collective action” (House & Javidan, 2004, p. 12), and in-group collec-
tivism refers to “the degree to which individuals express pride, loyalty, and cohesive-
ness in their organizations or families” (p. 12). In response to the project, Mastracci
and Adams (2019) found that China has the highest collectivism culture in both soci-
etal collectivism and in-group collectivism among six countries (Australia, China,
Bolivia, India, South Korea, and the Philippines), whereas South Korea was the fourth-
highest collectivist country. Consequently, although China and South Korea are rooted
in Confucianism, they embrace their national culture differently, leading to culturally
distinct nations.

The systems of public administration

South Korea.  Historically, the administrative system of the South Korean govern-
ment was influenced by the yangban ruling class during the Joseon dynasty (1392–
1910). The yangban was an educated class in the Joseon dynasty who were eligible
Lu et al. 7

to enter the officialdom as part of the ruling elite (P. S. Kim, 2010). In general, the
yangban included literary/martial officials and scholars who were the highest social
class at the time. To become government officials, the yangban must pass civil ser-
vice examination for the state’s bureaucracy, and the modern civil service examination
system for selecting government employees also indirectly evolved from this tradition
(Elman, 2000; P. S. Kim, 2012). When the Joseon dynasty ended, so did the yangban
tradition; however, the influence of the yangban tradition remains in South Korean
society (P. S. Kim, 2010). For example, the number of people who attempt to take the
civil service examination increases every year in South Korea, because being a gov-
ernment official has a high social status.
The South Korean civil service is managed by the Ministry of Personnel
Management (MPM), which is an independent organization under the Office of the
Prime Minister of South Korea, and MPM is responsible for the human resource
management of the executive branch of the government. To gain a position in the civil
service, South Koreans need to pass the civil service entrance examinations. The
structure of the Korean civil service is arranged in a nine-tiered system from Grade 9
(basic entry-level and the lowest in the career civil service) to Grade 1 (assistant min-
ister level and the highest in the career civil service), and the civil service entrance
examinations are provided for Grade 9, Grade 7, and Grade 5 positions. As of
December 31, 2015, there are over one million public servants in South Korea, of
whom 670,000 are national public officials (about 62%) and 370,000 are local offi-
cials (36%), not including armed forces personnel. Local governments, such as a
chief executive and local council members, are all elected directly by local residents,
and the central government cannot intervene in the personnel management of a local
authority (P. S. Kim, 2010). However, as South Korea has a unitary government sys-
tem, the local government follows the general framework of the national civil service
system (P. S. Kim, 2010).

China.  With the development of the social economy, China has established a civil
service system that comports with Chinese culture and governance. It has evolved in
three stages; 1978 to 1986, 1993 to 2005, and since 2006. From 1978 to 1986, a human
resource management system with a classification and compensation schedule was
developed. In 1993, the promulgation of the “Provisional Regulations on State Civil
Servants” marked the implementation of the national civil service system in China and
further standardization of personnel categories. Since 2006, the promulgation of the
civil service law signified a substantive development for government human resource
management in China (Xiao et al., 2016). As the first comprehensive law on the man-
agement of the civil service, the law is a milestone in moving the management of civil
servants toward a scientific, standardized, and legalized approach.
Like South Korea, workers in China also need to pass the civil service entrance
examinations to become civil servants. However, the structure of the Chinese civil
service has more levels than South Korea. The management of civil servants is classi-
fied into three categories, such as comprehensive management, administrative law
enforcement, and professional technology, which represent a 27-tiered system. The
8 Public Personnel Management 00(0)

ranks of civil servants are determined by their performance, morality, and tenure.
According to the China New Civil Service Law (2018), Chinese civil servants have a
double ranking system; in addition to 27 grades, there are 11 position levels for the
categories of administrative law enforcement and professional technology, and eight
position levels for the category of general management without leadership authority.
The positions on either career path can be switched from one to the other, or concur-
rently held.
In conclusion, civil servant jobs are both professional and prestigious in China and
South Korea,

Emotional Labor and Job Satisfaction

This study focused on emotional intelligence as an influence on the relationship
between emotional labor and job satisfaction in the context of public service work in
China and South Korea. First, we considered two dimensions of emotional labor (sur-
face acting and deep acting) in relation to job satisfaction (Hypotheses 1 and 2). Then,
we analyzed the mediating influences of three aspects of emotional intelligence on the
relationship between surface acting and job satisfaction (Hypotheses 3, 3a–3c), and
deep acting and job satisfaction (Hypotheses 4, 4a–4c). The hypotheses were sup-
ported by the theoretical and empirical research described below.
Job satisfaction is an assumed positive emotional state derived from individuals’
subjective experiences with their job (Locke, 1976). According to Gross (1998), there
are two emotional regulation strategies; response-focused and antecedent-focused.
Surface acting is response-focused, meaning that individuals perform emotional labor
by modulating their expressed emotional displays by metaphorically putting on a face-
mask to meet organizational expectations. Service employees who use surface acting
lack emotive harmony because of incongruence between their felt emotions and their
expressed emotions, which ultimately leads to emotive dissonance. When individuals
are in a state of dissonance for an extended period, their wellbeing is threatened and
they begin to dislike their jobs, which leads to low job satisfaction (Ashforth &
Humphrey, 1993).
In contrast, deep acting is an antecedent-focused strategy, meaning that individu-
als perform emotional labor by regulating their internal cognition and felt emotions
congruently with the required emotional displays. These workers are less likely to
have feelings of dissonance. When individuals successfully use deep acting during
their interactions with customers, their internal emotions match with their expressed
emotions, which may bring emotional harmony and job satisfaction (Rafaeli &
Sutton, 1987).
The relationships between emotional labor and job satisfaction have somewhat
been confirmed in previous studies set in China (Cheung et al., 2011) and South Korea
(Guy & Lee, 2015; Lee, 2018b). For example, the role of culture in organizational
policy and employee behaviors influenced job satisfaction and its determinants (de
Juana-Espinosa & Rakowska, 2018). In China, the core value is the relationships
among interdependent individuals, meaning that individuals are connected to others
Lu et al. 9

and the self in ways defined by important social relationships (Markus & Kitayama,
1991). Socialization develops attentiveness and sensitivity to others from a very young
age. However, in South Korea, the culture is institutionally oriented, and workers tend
to display their emotions to conform to institutional standards (Wilding et al., 2015).
Because of this difference, it seems reasonable that Chinese workers are more likely
than South Korean workers to have an intrinsic drive to suppress negative emotions to
obtain harmonious relationships. Therefore, the degree and characteristics of the rela-
tionship between emotional labor and job satisfaction might differ between the two
countries. Based on this logic, the following two hypotheses were proposed:

Hypothesis 1: Surface acting negatively relates to job satisfaction among public

service employees in China and South Korea.
Hypothesis 2: Deep acting positively relates to job satisfaction among public ser-
vice employees in China and South Korea.

Emotional Labor, Emotional Intelligence, and Job Satisfaction

Researchers have focused on emotional intelligence in the emotional labor process for
many years and have acknowledged a negative relationship between emotional intel-
ligence and surface acting (Austin et al., 2008). Individuals with high emotional intel-
ligence are likely to use deep acting with customers to alleviate feelings of burnout and
somatic complaints (Mikolajczak et al., 2007). Some previous studies examined the
mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between emotional labor
and burnout/job satisfaction in the U.S. public service sector (Guy & Lee, 2015), but
the mechanisms are unclear. Furthermore, previous research on emotional labor from
the perspective of culture is scant, and there are very few cross-cultural comparisons.
Individuals with high emotional intelligence have a relatively good understanding
of the consequences of various emotive strategies compared with those with lower
levels of emotional intelligence because they are more likely to know how to effec-
tively use their emotions (Cheung et al., 2011; Lee, 2013, 2018a; Opengart, 2005).
They can recognize the negative consequences of surface acting and can manage their
emotions to engage in deep acting to provide high-quality services (Coté & Miners,
2006), which, in turn, increases job satisfaction (Ramachandran et al., 2011). Ashforth
and Humphrey (1993) argued that emotional self-management is critical for workers
in the service sector because those who effectively manage their emotions can direct
their behaviors and express their emotions to fit their organization’s demands.
Individuals with high emotional intelligence can also sense the conditions in the work-
place environment and perceive the option of engaging in deep acting to lessen emo-
tional dissonance, create a positive work environment, and increase job satisfaction
and commitment (Opengart, 2005; Wong & Law, 2002). Furthermore, Johnson and
Spector (2007) proposed that individuals with high emotional intelligence can under-
stand the emotional display rules and their personal emotions sufficiently to under-
stand how to adjust their feelings to align with their expressed emotions, which, in
turn, reduces emotional conflicts and ultimately increases job satisfaction. Guy and
10 Public Personnel Management 00(0)

Lee (2015) found that emotional self-awareness and emotional self-regulation signifi-
cantly predicted job satisfaction and burnout in a sample of public service workers.
Guy and Lee (2015) and Lee (2013, 2018a) argued that emotional other-awareness
is an important skill in the service sector. Without the ability to sense customers’ emo-
tional needs, a service worker cannot use deep acting but rather use surface acting,
which may reduce job satisfaction. When service workers understand customers’
behaviors and emotional states, they are likely to respond using deep acting to express
empathy, which increases job satisfaction. In addition, Wong et al. (2005) found that
emotional intelligence and a job’s emotional demands are significantly related to
workers’ job satisfaction. Yin (2015) further found that emotional intelligence signifi-
cantly moderated the influence of a job’s emotional demands on surface acting, but it
did not moderate the effect on deep acting, in a sample of Chinese teachers.
Most previous relevant studies found that service workers who used deep acting
displayed more authentic emotions than those who engaged in surface acting (Allen
et al., 2010; Grandey, 2000; Hochschild, 1983a; Lee, 2013, 2018b; Lopes et al., 2005).
Engaging in deep acting positively influenced customer satisfaction in terms of service
quality (Grandey, 2003; Totterdell & Holman, 2003) and influenced job satisfaction
(Z. Chen et al., 2012; Hochschild, 1983a; Lee, 2018b; Scott et al., 2012). Hochschild
(1983b) argued that, because deep acting is closer to real feelings, it might create a
sense of satisfaction about the quality of services provided. Furthermore, because deep
acting expresses authentic emotions to customers, it encourages customers to feel sat-
isfied, which leads to higher overall customer satisfaction and employees’ job satisfac-
tion. However, surface acting tends to create a negative impression of service workers
because of the inauthenticity of the expressed emotions, which decreases customer
satisfaction and workers’ job satisfaction (Groth et al., 2009). Service workers tend to
lose interest in the customers and experience burnout from the emotional labor of
prolonged surface acting, which ultimately decreases their job satisfaction (Hennig-
Thurau et al., 2006). Based on this theoretical and empirical reasoning, two further
sets of hypotheses were proposed:

Hypothesis 3: Emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between surface

acting and job satisfaction in China and South Korea.
Hypothesis 3a: Emotional self-awareness mediates the relationship between sur-
face acting and job satisfaction in China and South Korea.
Hypothesis 3b: Emotional other-awareness mediates the relationship between sur-
face acting and job satisfaction in China and South Korea.
Hypothesis 3c: Emotional self-regulation mediates the relationship between sur-
face acting and job satisfaction in China and South Korea.
Hypothesis 4: Emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between deep act-
ing and job satisfaction in China and South Korea.
Hypothesis 4a: Emotional self-awareness mediates the relationship between deep
acting and job satisfaction in China and South Korea.
Hypothesis 4b: Emotional other-awareness mediates the relationship between
deep acting and job satisfaction in China and South Korea.
Lu et al. 11

Figure 1.  Framework of hypothesis.

Hypothesis 4c: Emotional self-regulation mediates the relationship between deep

acting and job satisfaction in China and South Korea.

The above hypotheses are illustrated in the hypothetical research model displayed
in Figure 1.

Method
Survey Respondents
The survey was administered in two settings: to a sample of workers in a Chinese
government department in Eastern Shanghai and to a sample of public service ward
officials in Seoul, Korea. We used convenience samples that were relatively easy to
access. To enable respondents to complete the questionnaire in their native language,
native Chinese and Korean speakers fluent in English used back-translation. Then, the
researchers had the questionnaire in both languages retranslated to achieve a smooth
translation.

China.  Located in Eastern China, Shanghai has 16 municipal districts (Qu) and a per-
manent urban population of more than 24 million. Under the district level, there are the
subdistricts (Jie Dao) or townships (Zhen). Each subdistrict manages residents’ com-
mittees (Ju Wei Hui), while each township governs villagers’ committees (Cun Wei
Hui). This three-level vertical organizational structure is the typical feature of China’s
urban governance system, which is widely accepted by local governments (Rong,
2018). Because of the consistency of the governance structure all over the country, the
job requirements of civil servants working in the community are similar. That is, the
work content and requirements of civil servants working in Shanghai are similar to
those in other cities. In this study, we collected data from the Pudong district, which
12 Public Personnel Management 00(0)

include 12 subdistricts and 24 townships. Among them, two subdistricts and two town-
ships were chosen for the questionnaires. Our participants were full-time community
employees working in front-line departments. In these front-line departments, civil
servants are required to conduct emotional labor to deal with many community issues.
From the perspective of work requirements, the sample represents a large number of
civil servants in China.
The survey was administered in June 2015 to workers in community development/
neighborhood services in which interpersonal interaction with residents (face-to-face
or voice-to-voice) was required daily. One of the researchers delivered 218 question-
naires and 211 valid responses were returned, which represented 96.8% response rate.
A total of 27.5% of the respondents were men and 72.5% were women with the mean
age was 44.78 years, the mean period of public sector work experience was more than
6 years, and almost one half of the respondents (46.9%) were college graduates, fol-
lowed by high school graduates (33.2%), and about 19.9% of the respondents had
bachelor’s degrees.

South Korea.  As of 2015, about 1,021,349 employees are working in South Korean
central and local governments. This study was conducted with a sample of public ser-
vice employees who were employed in the municipal government, gu, in Seoul, Korea.
Gu is similar to boroughs in New York City, and there are 25 gu in Seoul. Between
April and June 2015, the researchers visited five gu to distribute paper-based survey
questionnaires to a sample of 300 ward officials. Approximately 60 questionnaires
were distributed in each gu to public service employees who spent much of their time
interacting with citizens seeking administrative services (e.g., issuing and managing
official documents). About 2 weeks later, one of the researchers revisited the ward
officials, and 254 completed questionnaires were collected (84.6% response rate).
After dropping several incomplete responses, responses without marks, responses
mostly checked as N/A, and responses with only one number, the sample size was
reduced to 208. All of the respondents held full-time positions, and 68% worked in
administrative services where they had frequent contact with clients and engaged in
emotional labor at work most of the time. The mean age of the respondents was 37.6
years (ranging between 28 and 57 years), and there were slightly more women than
men (55.3% compared with 44.7%). Their mean number of years in the public sector
work was approximately 10, and most respondents were college graduates (63.4%).
More details of the descriptive statistics from both countries are illustrated in Table 1.

Measures
All the questions were adopted from scales developed by Yang et al. (2018). The
response options on all items comprising the measures of (1) emotional labor ([a] sur-
face acting and [b] deep acting), (2) emotional intelligence ([a] emotional self-aware-
ness, [b] emotional other-awareness, and [c] emotional self-regulation), and (3) job
satisfaction were 7-point Likert-type scales, where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 =
strongly agree. The respondents also provided personal data, including age, gender,
Lu et al. 13

Table 1.  Descriptive Statistics in South Korea and China.

Frequency Percent
Demographic characteristics—South Korea
Age
  Less than 30 years 48 23.3
  30–39 years 75 36.4
  40–49 years 53 25.7
  50–59 years 30 14.6
  60 years or more 0 0
 N/A 0 0
Gender
 Female 115 55.3
 Male 93 44.7
 N/A 0 0
Public service experience
  Less than 10 years 113 54.3
  10–19 years 30 14.4
  20–29 years 55 26.5
  30 years or more 3 1.4
 N/A 7 3.4
Educational level
  Less than high school 0 0
  High school graduate 19 9.1
  Some college 11 5.3
  2-year associate degree 18 8.7
  College graduate 134 64.4
  Some graduate school 7 3.4
  Master’s degree 10 4.8
  Law degree (JD, LLB) 0 0
Doctorate degree (PhD, MD, EdD, etc.) 1 0.5
  Other (please specify) 8 3.8
 N/A 0 0
Demographic characteristics—China
Age (item 10.01)
  Less than 30 years 10 4.7
  30–39 years 71 33.6
  40–49 years 45 21.3
  50–59 years 79 37.4
  60 years or more 6 2.8
 N/A 0 0.0

(continued)
14 Public Personnel Management 00(0)

Table 1. (continued)
Frequency Percent
Demographic characteristics—China
Gender
 Female 153 72.5
 Male 58 27.5
Public service experience (item 10.04)
  Less than 10 years 179 84.8
  10–19 years 32 15.2
  20–29 years 0 0.0
  30 years or more 0 0.0
 N/A 0 0.0
Educational level (item 10.05)
  Less than high school 0 0.0
  High school graduate 70 33.2
  Some college 0 0.0
  2-year associate degree 0 0.0
  College graduate 99 46.9
  Some graduate school 42 19.9
  Master’s degree 0 0.0
  Law degree (JD, LLB) 0 0.0
  Doctorate (PhD, MD, EdD, etc.) 0 0.0
  Other (please specify) 0 0.0
 N/A 0 0.0

and years of work experience. All the latent variables (constructs) were tested using a
factor analysis, and Table 2 describes all of the variable analyses regarding items and
internal reliabilities, which exceeded .70, except for the surface acting scale in the
Shanghai sample, which was .62. Although Cronbach’s alpha for surface acting in the
Shanghai sample is relatively lower than that of other variables, it is still acceptable.
First, the measurement of surface acting has only three items, and a short scale may
reduce the level of Cronbach’s alpha. Second, it depends on the sample characteristic;
when considering Chinese Confucianism and public service motivation, Chinese par-
ticipants tend to comply with organizational display rules with few complaints. As the
correlation data demonstrated, the correlation between surface acting and deep acting
was high for the Shanghai participants, meaning that Chinese people have no clear
distinction between surface acting and deep acting as in Western culture countries.

Results
Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive statistics and partial correlations among emotional labor, emotional intel-
ligence, and job satisfaction are presented in Table 3. Based on the data results, the
Lu et al. 15

Table 2.  Survey Items and Reliability Analysis.

Variables Survey items Cronbach’s α

Surface acting I hide my true feelings so as to appear pleasant at work. .73 (.62)
In my job I act confident and self-assured regardless of
how I actually feel.
I wear a “mask” in order to deal with clients/customers
in an appropriate way.
Deep acting I try to actually experience the emotions that I must .94 (.85)
show to clients/customers.
I work hard to actually feel the emotions that I need to
show to clients/customers.
I work at developing the feelings inside of me that I
need to show to clients/customers.
Emotional I have a good sense of why I have certain feelings most .91 (.86)
self- of the time.
awareness I have good understanding of my own emotions.
I really understand what I feel.
I always know whether or not I am happy.
Emotional I always know my friends’ emotions from their behavior. .86 (.89)
other- I am a good observer of others’ emotions.
awareness I am sensitive to the feelings of others.
I have good understanding of the emotions of people
around me.
Emotional I am able to control my temper and handle difficulties .91 (.91)
self- rationally.
regulation I am quite capable of controlling my own emotions.
I can always calm down quickly when I am very angry.
I have good control of my own emotions.
Job My job provides career development and promotion .73 (.70)
satisfaction opportunities.
I feel I am being paid a fair amount for the work I do.
I feel satisfied with my supervisor.
Overall, I am satisfied with my job.

Note. The reliability coefficient of each variable from Shanghai is in bracket.

mean differences of emotional labor, three dimensions of emotional intelligence, and

job satisfaction between the two countries are substantially different. To explore the
net relationship between emotional labor, emotional intelligence, and job satisfaction,
this study conducted a partial correlation by controlling the variables of age, gender,
public sector work experience, and educational background. As the data illustrates in
Table 3, in the China sample, surface acting is significantly and positively related to
deep acting and three dimensions of emotional intelligence, whereas no significant
correlation was found between surface acting and job satisfaction. However, deep act-
ing significantly correlated with both emotional intelligence and job satisfaction.
16
Table 3.  Descriptive and Partial Correlation Analysis.

Surface Deep Emotional Emotional Emotional Job

Variables Group M SD F acting acting self-awareness other-awareness self-regulation satisfaction
1. Surface acting 1 5.43 1.09 29.17*** 1 −.03 −.03 −.11 .07 .03
2 4.86 1.06
2. Deep acting 1 5.87 0.98 87.68*** .24** 1 .32*** .19** .30*** .20**
2 4.86 1.22
3. Emotional self-awareness 1 5.78 0.95 43.62*** .18* .47*** 1 .57*** .48*** .12
2 5.12 1.08
4. Emotional other-awareness 1 5.76 0.95 80.12*** .29*** .48*** .62*** 1 .46*** .08
2 4.92 0.96
5. Emotional self-regulation 1 5.89 0.90 149.48*** .20** .48*** .65*** .63*** 1 .19**
2 4.72 1.05
6. Job satisfaction 1 5.08 1.13 22.85*** .07 .20** .13 .17* .31*** 1
2 4.58 0.97

Note. Group 1 = China (N = 211), Group 2 = South Korea (N = 208). The lower triangular matrix is the correlation results of China. The upper is South
Korea. Controlled variables: age, gender, public sector work experience, and education background. SD = standard deviation.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Lu et al. 17

Compared with the Chinese sample, the data results on surface acting from South
Korea were different; surface acting did not correlate with deep acting, emotional
intelligence, and job satisfaction. However, the results of the correlations between
deep acting, emotional intelligence, and job satisfaction in both samples were similar,
which indicates that deep acting is positively associated with emotional intelligence
and job satisfaction.
Hypothesis 1 was not supported because surface acting was not negatively associ-
ated with job satisfaction in either sample, which was contrary to the results of previ-
ous studies. However, deep acting was significantly and positively related to job
satisfaction in both samples (p < .01), supporting Hypothesis 2. Regarding the rela-
tionships between emotional labor and emotional intelligence, deep acting signifi-
cantly correlated with all three measures of emotional intelligence in both samples;
surface acting significantly correlated with the three measures of emotional intelli-
gence in the Chinese sample, but it only significantly correlated with emotional self-
regulation in the South Korean sample.

The Mediating Influences of Emotional Intelligence on the Relationship

Between Surface Acting and Job Satisfaction
Following the proposal of Wen et al. (2004), Sobel tests were used to test whether the
changes in the effects of the independent variable after including the mediator in the
models were significant, and, therefore, whether the mediation effects were statisti-
cally significant. Compared with the traditional testing process, the current Sobel test
is better in terms of controlling type 1 and type 2 error rates and can be used to test
either partial or full mediating effects (Wen et al., 2004). As a result, the partial or full
mediating role of emotional intelligence could be verified based on the Sobel test.
As for the relationship between surface acting and emotional intelligence, all the
dimensions of emotional intelligence show a strong relationship with surface acting in
China, whereas only surface acting and emotional self-regulation significantly corre-
lated in South Korea. First, unlike the relationships of surface acting and job satisfac-
tion, which were not statistically significant in either sample, and therefore, did not
support Hypotheses 3, 3a to 3c, deep acting statistically correlated with job satisfac-
tion in all six mediation models, and had indirect effects in all models except for the
Chinese emotional self-regulation mediation model.
However, neither emotional self-awareness nor emotional other-awareness was a
significant mediator. Therefore, Hypotheses 4a and 4b were not supported by the data.
Regarding self-regulation’s mediating effects (Hypothesis 4c), it fully mediated the
direct effect of deep acting on job satisfaction in the Chinese sample (c′ = .229) and
partially mediated the direct effect of deep acting on job satisfaction in the South
Korean sample (c′ = .048). The significance of the indirect effects in both samples
was estimated by generating 1,000 bootstrap samples to obtain a 90% confidence
interval. Thus, Hypothesis 4 was partially supported because, although there were no
significant mediation effects to support Hypotheses 4a and 4b, Hypothesis 4c was sup-
ported. The significant results are illustrated in Figure 2.
18 Public Personnel Management 00(0)

Figure 2.  The verified mediation model.

Discussion and Conclusion

This study’s objective was to investigate whether emotional intelligence mediated the
relationship between emotional labor and job satisfaction among public service
employees in China and South Korea. Confucianism has become a topic of interest in
the public administration literature (e.g., Chan, 2014; C. A. Chen & Hsieh, 2017; Guy
et al., 2019; M. Y. Kim et al., 2016; Lee, 2018b; Moon & Im, 2016), and studies on
emotional labor in public service have been increasing in the Chinese and South
Korean contexts. Therefore, this study proposed a comparative approach to help pub-
lic administrators and researchers understand emotional labor in China and South
Korea. We found that the particular dimension of emotional intelligence is essential
for emotional labor. First, emotional self-awareness was important for the influence of
surface acting on job satisfaction only in the Chinese sample. Second, emotional self-
regulation significantly mediated the relationship of deep acting to job satisfaction in
both samples.
The important implications of the findings are as follows. First, surface acting did
not significantly relate to job satisfaction in either sample, which contradicts many
previous studies. Most studies that have been conducted in Western countries found
that surface acting led to job dissatisfaction due to emotional dissonance (Bhave &
Glomb, 2016). However, in Eastern cultures, individuals are likely to perceive surface
acting as an organizational norm, and its acceptance might mean that it has little rele-
vance to job satisfaction. Similarly, Chinese and South Korean employees might con-
sider emotional dissonance as nothing more than compliance with display rules; thus,
suppressing emotions might not create negative perceptions. Moreover, as Allen et al.
(2014) and Mastracci and Adams (2019) posit, emotional labor is easier for workers in
collectivist cultures compared with those in individualist cultures. Consequently, this
finding implies that performing emotional labor is different between cultures in the
way that people perceive themselves in relation to others. In collectivist cultures, peo-
ple tend to attune themselves to others for social cohesion and accept some degree of
sacrifice in the workplace.
Second, the findings regarding the mediating effects on the influence of deep acting on
job satisfaction are somewhat different in the two collectivist cultures. This study’s most
Lu et al. 19

important finding was the implication of how culture influences individuals’ emotional
strategies for performing emotional labor and job satisfaction. Although emotional self-
regulation was the key mediating role in the relationship between deep acting and job sat-
isfaction in both samples, the influence in the Chinese sample was stronger than in South
Korean samples. Such a difference may imply that emotional labor, emotional intelligence,
and job satisfaction are actions that are caused by individual feelings. Consequently, the
finding confirms the idea that China and South Korea are culturally distinct.
Chinese cultures have developed from traditional Confucianism to a blend of
HC (30%) and VC (40%); however, Chinese public service employees are still
obligated to authority and have a deep sensitivity to others (VC). This can be
explained by China’s hierarchy-based culture and strong collectivism. As the nation
was influenced by the process of socialization, and people retain harmonious rela-
tionships even within an unequal interaction, Chinese respondents still accept the
tolerance of inequality (high power distance) in the workplace. Furthermore,
Chinese public service employees are accustomed to emotional restraint in their
interpersonal interaction to sustain harmony and work-based emotional labor (high
collectivism and Confucianism; Mastracci & Adams, 2019), which yields more
emotional moderation than emotional expression. As summarized by Eid and
Diener (2001), “in China, there is a general attitude to consider emotions as danger-
ous, irrelevant, or illness causing . . . [and] the moderation or suppression of emo-
tion is generally highly valued in China (p. 883).”
Compared with China, South Korea has a less traditional hierarchical structure
because Koreans have quickly embraced individualistic cultural values, and society
has become westernized. Thus, South Korean respondents may not regulate or sup-
press their emotions as much as the Chinese respondents. Furthermore, the findings
confirm the work of Hofstede’s IBM studies (Hofstede et al., 2010) and Project
GLOBE (House & Javidan, 2004) which demonstrated that Chinese culture embraces
more collectivism culture than in South Korea.
Besides the cultural perspective, the finding supports Grandey’s (2000) argument that
performing emotional labor requires emotional and behavioral rules to confirm the rele-
vant display requirements. Service workers tend to regulate their emotional and cognitive
states to display appropriate emotions at work and provide an effective service. Thus,
emotional self-regulation is the most effective way to help Chinese and South Korean
public service workers to develop and sustain emotional labor jobs successfully.
Third, the results revealed that emotional self-awareness and emotional other-
awareness did not mediate the relationship between emotional labor and job satisfac-
tion in both countries. It is possible that emotional self-awareness and emotional
other-awareness might be preconditions of emotional self-regulation or that public
service workers have strong desires to serve the public interest and thus, they focus
more on serving people than on how they feel about it.
Last, this study responds to Grandey et al.’s (2005) call to consider cultural factors
and differences in emotional labor research and confirms Triandis’ (2001) argument
about variations of collectivism among collectivist cultures, that is, individual cul-
tures influence job performance more than do national cultures.
20 Public Personnel Management 00(0)

Limitations and Future Directions

Although the study makes contributions to the domain of emotional labor, it has some
limitations. First, the participants were selected from the public service sectors in
Seoul and Shanghai. In terms of current sample characteristics, the generalization of
the research results needs to be carefully considered. The specific job characteristics
and demands of the work settings can be the key variables that may influence the pro-
cess of emotional labor. Researchers collected the data from developed cities in both
countries, which might not represent other regions. Future studies should pay more
attention to the method of random sampling. Second, although this study analyzed
emotional labor from the perspective of cultural dimension theory, it did not consider
the measurement of culture into the hypothesis model. This study discussed the deep
acting difference between two countries based on the cultural background. However,
a more robust framework needs to be considered, such as cultural values as the mod-
erator variable, which will verify the role of culture empirically. Finally, because of the
cross-sectional design in this study, causality cannot be firmly established. Those con-
ducting further researches on this topic are encouraged to reexamine these findings
through longitudinal design.

Authors’ Note
Min Hye Song is also affiliated to The Policy Research Center at the Seoul 50 plus foundation,
Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.

ORCID iD
Hyun Jung Lee https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9632-379X

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Author Biographies
Xiaojun Lu is a Professor at the Department of Public Administration, School of International
and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Her research interests are in the areas of
organizational behavior and human resource management, with a special focus on emotional
labor, work engagement, and work-family interface.
Hyun Jung Lee (correspondent author) is a professor in the Department of Public Administration
at MyongJi University, Seoul, Korea. Her research interests are emotional labor, emotional
intelligent, and culture and currently focuses on comparative studies about emotional labor and
emotional intelligence among public service employees in Western countries and Eastern
countries.
Seung-Bum Yang is a professor in the Department of Public Administration at Konkuk
University, Seoul, South Korea. His research interests include organizational behavior, public
personnel management, emotional labor and comparative public administration.
Min Hye Song is a research fellow in the Policy Research Center at the Seoul 50 Plus
Foundation, Seoul, South Korea. Her research interests include emotional labor, workforce
diversity, organizational behavior, public personnel management and research methods.

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