Cultural Effects on Emotional Labor: A Case of South Korea

Culture is considered to be psychological in nature and may directly or indirectly influence emotional labor. Maintaining harmony among group members and prioritizing group goals are characteristics of collectivist culture. People in South Korea are highly collectivist and tend to be self-effacing and submissive to ingroup members. In the public sector, the culture of in-group collectivism as an ideology is also widespread among street-level bureaucrats and drives them to act in this manner. In order to conform to the work demands of the public organization, public employees will suppress their "discordant" emotions or expressions in order to prioritize and remain loyal to the organization’s goals. In this study, we examine the effects of collective culture, specifically in-group collectivism, on positive (job satisfaction) and negative (burnout) outcomes for individuals, and the mediation effect of deep acting. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 208 street-level bureaucrats in South Korea, and regression analysis was conducted to quantify the results. The results indicated that in-group collectivism is a particularly important predictor of deep acting and job satisfaction among street bureaucrats. Also, deep acting mediated the relationship between in-group collectivism and job satisfaction. Contrary to expectations, the study did not find any effect of in-group collectivism on job burnout.