Performance Pressure and Work Meaningfulness: The Role of Emotional Exhaustion and Emotional Labour.

Abstract

This study examines the relationships among performance pressure, emotional exhaustion, and work meaningfulness, with emotional labour as a moderating variable. Grounded in the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) framework and a self-regulatory capacity perspective, the study proposes that performance pressure contributes to emotional exhaustion, which in turn relates to work meaningfulness. Data were collected from 308 employees working in private banks in Pakistan. The hypotheses were tested using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM). The results show that performance pressure is positively related to emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion is also positively associated with work meaningfulness, contrary to the hypothesized negative relationship. Further analysis indicates that emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between performance pressure and work meaningfulness. In addition, emotional labour moderates the relationship between emotional exhaustion and work meaningfulness, such that the relationship becomes stronger at higher levels of emotional labour. Overall, the findings indicate that emotional exhaustion functions as an intervening mechanism linking performance pressure to work meaningfulness, while emotional labour conditions this relationship