Older worker, different actor? Linking age and emotional labor strategies

In this study, we examine how the age of service employees influences the emotional labor process. We integrate research on socioemotional selectivity theory and emotional labor to develop hypotheses concerning the relationships between age and specific emotional labor strategies (deep acting, surface acting, and expressing naturally-felt emotions). Consistent with our expectations, we found that age was positively related to the use of deep acting and the expression of naturally-felt emotions, and negatively related to surface acting. Further, we found that trait positive affect partially-mediated some of the age-strategy relationships. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.