The link between perceptions of leader emotion regulation and followers’ organizational commitment

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between perceptions of leader emotion regulation strategies and followers’ organizational commitment. In particular, this study using social exchange theory as a framework examines the association between leader surface and deep acting and followers’ affective, normative and continuance organizational commitment. Design/methodology/approach: Survey data were collected from 323 employees of five service sector organizations in Anhui province, China. Further, PLS-SEM technique was used to perform quantitative analysis. Findings: The findings suggest that leader surface acting has a negative influence on followers’ affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment. In contrast, leader deep acting has a positive influence on followers’ affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment. Practical implications: The findings suggest that leaders should be careful in managing their affective display. They may like to improve their followers’ affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment by using deep acting. In contrast, leader surface acting may weaken their followers’ affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment. Originality/value: This study extends the social exchange theory in the context of emotional labor by examining the link between perceptions of leader surface and deep emotional strategies and followers’ affective, normative and continuance organizational commitment.