AUTHOR=Popucza Tímea Zsuzsanna , Eriksson Lars , Eriksson Mårten 

TITLE=Emotional demands, burnout, and mental wellbeing in healthcare, care, and service work: the mediating role of surface acting across age

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Organizational Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/organizational-psychology/articles/10.3389/forgp.2025.1628713

DOI=10.3389/forgp.2025.1628713

ISSN=2813-771X

ABSTRACT=This study examines how emotional demands and surface acting contribute to burnout and mental wellbeing among professionals in healthcare, care, and service roles. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 1,506 participants involved in frequent patient, care-receiver, or customer interactions. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), we tested a serial mediation model. Surface acting mediated the relationship between emotional demands and burnout, defined as exhaustion and disengagement. In turn, these burnout dimensions mediated a negative association with mental wellbeing. These effects were consistent across professional groups, indicating the widespread impact of emotional demands and surface acting across occupations. We found no significant linear or curvilinear age moderation effects in the relationships between emotional demands and surface acting, nor between surface acting and burnout. Only workers aged 60+ showed a slightly stronger reliance on surface acting in response to perceived (but not contact-related) emotional demands compared to those aged 50–59. The absence of broader age effects suggests that emotional demands and surface acting contribute to burnout and mental wellbeing similarly across ages. These findings underscore the importance of recognising emotional demands as key occupational hazards affecting workers across professions and throughout the working lifespan.