ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze emotional labor factors influencing job satisfaction, intent to leave, and nursing performance of clinical nurses. METHOD: The participants were 384 clinical nurses working in a hospital. Study design was cross sectional survey. Subcategories of emotional labor (frequency of emotional labor, attentiveness of emotional display, mismatch of emotions) of emotional labor were dependent variables. Job satisfaction, intent to leave, and nursing performance were independent variables. Data were analyzed by hierarchial multiple regression. RESULTS: The strength of emotional labor of nurses was similar for all participants in spite of differences in age, position, and clinical career. Total score for emotional labor was 3.21, frequency of emotional labor 3.34, attentiveness of emotional display 3.41, and mismatch of emotions 2.87. Mismatch of emotions influenced job satisfaction (F=12.53, p<.001) R2 27%, intent to leave (F=8.51, p<.001) R2 19%, and nursing performance (F=5.80, p<.001) R2 15%, CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that the factor (mismatch of emotion) is an important variable for clinical nurses in human resource management. Therefore, nurse managers should consider this factor for the improvement of organizational effectiveness.