The Influence of Emotional Labor on Work Engagement and Wellbeing Among Nursing Professionals

Posted: Sep 19, 2010

• Victor Banks
• Clara Romero
• Sawyer Allen

Abstract

This study investigates the complex relationship between emotional labor, work engagement, and wellbeing among nursing professionals through a novel methodological framework that integrates psychophysiological measures with qualitative phenomenological analysis. While previous research has predominantly focused on either the negative consequences of emotional labor or its surface-level manifestations, our approach examines emotional labor as a dynamic, multi-dimensional construct that can simultaneously serve as both a protective factor and a stressor depending on contextual and individual factors. We employed a mixed-methods longitudinal design with 245 registered nurses from diverse healthcare settings, collecting data through electrodermal activity monitoring, cortisol sampling, and in-depth phenomenological interviews over a six-month period. Our findings reveal three distinct emotional labor patterns—integrative, compartmentalized, and depleted—that significantly predict work engagement and wellbeing outcomes. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we found that nurses employing integrative emotional labor strategies demonstrated higher work engagement and better psychological wellbeing despite experiencing similar emotional demands. The study introduces the concept of 'emotional resonance capacity' as a key mediator in the emotional labor-wellbeing relationship and proposes a new theoretical model that reframes emotional labor not as a burden to be managed, but as a professional competency that can be developed. These insights have profound implications for nursing education, organizational support systems, and workplace interventions aimed at enhancing both professional fulfillment and personal wellbeing in high-emotion occupations.