Workplace Surface Acting and Employee Insomnia: A Moderated Mediation Model of Psychological Detachment and Dispositional Mindfulness

This study adopted a process-oriented approach to explore the mediating and moderating mechanisms surrounding the association between surface acting at work and sleep quality. Drawing on the stressor-detachment and transactional stress models, the current study proposed a moderated mediation model to examine whether surface acting would be associated indirectly with employee insomnia via lack of psychological detachment, and whether this indirect linkage is moderated by dispositional mindfulness. The study was conducted among 516 full-time employed hospital nurses in China over a one-year period. Results revealed that suppressed negative emotions, but not faked positive emotions, had a significant influence on employee insomnia over time, and lack of psychological detachment mediated the effect of suppressing negative emotions on insomnia. Tests of moderated mediation indicated that the mediated path was weaker for employees with higher levels of dispositional mindfulness. These findings advance our understanding of how and when surface acting negatively influences employee sleep, as well as point to implications for individual and organizational interventions.