This study examined the effect of organizational justice perception on service employees' positive psychological capital and the influence of positive psychological capital on surface and deep acting. Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and the literature on positive work environment, the indirect effects of perceived distributive and procedural justice on surface and deep acting through service employees' psychological capital were hypothesized. Using data from 263 flight attendants of the largest airline company in South Korea, the results indicated that perceived distributive and procedural justice were positively related to service employees' psychological capital, which, in turn, fostered deep acting but not surface acting. Deep acting was negatively related to emotional exhaustion, while surface acting showed a positive relationship. Emotional exhaustion, in turn, increased turnover intention. This study offers contributions to our understanding of positive psychological capital and implications for emotional labor in service management. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between employees’ perceptions of organizational virtuousness and task crafting, and to test the mediating roles of organizational identification and work engagement in this relationship.Design/methodology/approach: The authors collected questionnaires from 175 Korean flight attendants and conducted structural equation modeling analyses.Findings: Employees’ perceptions of organizational virtuousness were positively associated with task crafting. While organizational identification was not solely responsible for mediating this relationship, it intervened in the relationship between organizational virtuousness perceptions and task crafting by affecting work engagement.Research limitations/implications: While this study provides important insights into the roles of organizational virtuousness, organizational identification, and work engagement in promoting task crafting, the use of self-reported, cross-sectional data limits causal inferences between variables.Practical implications: Based on the present findings, managers can better understand the antecedents and mediating processes affecting employees’ task crafting.Originality/value: This study adds value to the positive organizational psychology literature by revealing crucial intermediary processes linking organizational virtuousness perceptions and task crafting, thus suggesting reciprocity and social identity-based motivation as potential underlying mechanisms of task crafting.

Despite an enduring interest in emotional labor, the effects of social capital on the emotional regulation process remain relatively underexplored. Using the job demands-resources model, we propose that social capital provides employees with the job resources required for deep acting. We also propose a double-mediation effect of deep or surface acting and job engagement, through which employee social capital can increase organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Empirical results using data from 330 employees selling financial or insurance products in South Korea support our hypotheses that deep acting by sales employees and job engagement sequentially mediate the positive relationship between social capital and OCB.

Despite an enduring interest in the effect of high-performance work practices (HPWP) on organizational outcomes, relatively little is known about how the human resources practices that engage employees in a coordinated effort foster relational coordination competencies, and further enhance organizational innovativeness. Drawing on the relational model of HPWP, this study examined the impact of HPWP on organizational innovativeness through employees’ relational coordination competencies, and the moderating effect of environmental volatility on the relationship. Using two-wave panel data from 301 manufacturing companies in South Korea, the results showed that HPWP positively influenced organizational innovativeness, as measured by the number of patent applications with a 6-year time lag, and that the link was partially mediated by employees’ relational coordination competencies. The positive effect of HPWP on organizational innovativeness was more pronounced when market turbulence was high. This study adds value to the HPWP literature by revealing the importance of human resource practices that develop employees’ relational coordination and communication competencies in achieving organizational innovativeness. Such practices are becoming even more crucial in today’s complex business environment, which necessitates task integration and employee cooperation.