The Relationship Between Emotional Labor and Job Motivation Among Nurses: A Descriptive and Correlational Study

Aim: This study uses a descriptive and correlational design to determine the relationship between nurses’ levels of emotional labor and job motivation. Material and Methods: A total of 239 nurses working at a training and research hospital in northeastern Türkiye were included in the study through proportional stratified random sampling. Data were collected using the Personal Information Form, the Scale of Emotional Labor Behavior for Nurses, and the Nurses Job Motivation Scale. Analyses were conducted with SPSS 22.0. Results: The mean age of the participants was 29 ± 7 years; 78.2% were female, and 69% were single. The nurses’ total emotional labor score was 4.02 ± 0.51, while their job motivation score was 64.76 ± 8.03. A moderate, positive, and statistically significant correlation was found between emotional labor and job motivation (r = 0.581, p < 0.01). Subscale analyses revealed significant positive correlations between motivation and surface acting (r = 0.40), deep acting (r = 0.57), and genuine acting (r = 0.51) (p < 0.01). Comparisons by demographic and professional characteristics revealed significant differences in emotional labor and job motivation levels across marital status, job title, workplace appointment, voluntary choice of profession, and difficulty managing emotions. In addition, significant differences in emotional labor and job motivation levels were found by unit (p < 0.05). Conclusions: This study demonstrated a significant relationship between nurses’ levels of emotional labor and their job motivation. Implication for nursing practice: The management of emotional labor is directly related to nurses’ job motivation levels; therefore, managerial practices should take emotional labor processes into account to effectively support job motivation.