Longitudinal Relationships between Emotional Dissonance, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover : Moderated by Work Engagement and Lack of Reciprocity?

Abstract

Emotional dissonance is a workplace stressor emerging when employees emotional display does not match their actual feelings. In this study, longitudinal relationships between the experience of emotional dissonance and job satisfaction as well as voluntary turnovers were investigated. Furthermore, the moderating roles of individual work engagement (i.e., working with vigor, absorbed, and dedicated) and perceived lack of reciprocity (i.e., feeling rewarded inadequately by the organization) where examined. Questionnaire data from 356 caregivers working in shelters for disabled or mentally ill persons were gathered at two measurement times with a 6-month-interval in between. Hierarchical linear regressions showed Time 1 work engagement to predict later job satisfaction. Neither emotional dissonance nor lack of reciprocity nor any interaction of emotional dissonance and the hypothesized moderator variables predicted job satisfaction at Time 2. In logistic regression models turnover was significantly predicted by the interaction of high emotional dissonance and high work engagement. However, neither main effect nor the interaction of emotional dissonance and lack of reciprocity reached significance. These findings suggest that a) known associations of emotional dissonance and the examined dependent variables do not exist within the sample of caregivers who participated in this study; b) work engagement plays an important, yet not fully understood role for job satisfaction; c) perceived lack of reciprocity in this sample is neither an impetus to leave one s job nor to like it less.