Fake it or make it to stay? A case of Pakistani frontline emergency rescue workers

Drawing from the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and job characteristics model (JCM), this study examined the relationship between emergency rescue workers’ surface acting and turnover intentions through emotional exhaustion. We hypothesized that task significance is a pertinent boundary condition that attenuates the surface acting–emotional exhaustion relationship. We also introduced job control as another boundary condition in the emotional exhaustion–turnover intentions relationship. Three-wave data gathered from 256 emergency rescue workers revealed that participants’ surface acting increased their emotional exhaustion which triggered their intention to quit. Task significance was found to moderate the surface acting–emotional exhaustion relationship, such that the interaction effect at medium and high levels drastically reduces the exhaustion level of emergency workers. Individuals with high job control show high turnover intentions in the case of those with medium and high emotional exhaustion. These findings have significant implications for human resource management research and practice, especially around job design for those emergency rescue workers likely serving as emotional laborers.