The role of emotional intelligence and other individual difference variables in predicting emotional labor relative to situational demands.

This study found a significant positive relationship between emotional intelligence (MSCEIT) and deep acting (making an effort to feel emotions that are required in interpersonal interactions) in a sample of service workers. Surface acting (faking displayed emotions and hiding personal feelings) was positively associated with emotional awareness. Emotional intelligence did not add to the prediction of variance in emotional labor beyond situational demands, nor did it moderate the relationship between situational demands and emotional labor. Thus, workers' level of emotional intelligence did not appear to influence the nature of the emotional labor that was performed given situational demands. Rather, the key role of emotional intelligence seemed to be as a predictor of the perceived situational demands, which, in turn, predicted the nature of emotional labor that was performed. Workers with higher levels of emotional intelligence were found to be more likely to perceive the need to frequently display emotions as part of their work role and perform deep acting in response to these situational demands.