The nonwork-work spillover effects of leaders' spouse-directed surface acting: implications for self-alienation at work and the role of Machiavellianism

Purpose Guided by the work-home resources model while integrating basic needs theory, the present study examined how spouse-directed surface acting in the nonwork domain spills over into the work domain. Design/methodology/approach Three time-lagged waves of weekly data from 226 US leaders were analyzed using first-stage moderated mediation analysis with 5,000 bootstrapped resamples in R software. Findings Results from the bootstrapped moderated mediation model revealed that suppressing negative emotions with one's spouse at Time 1 was positively linked to self-alienation at work at Time 3 via the frustration of relatedness needs with one's spouse at Time 2. Moreover, this indirect effect (as well the direct effect between suppressing negative emotions and relatedness frustration) was, contravening our predictions, stronger for leaders higher in Machiavellianism. Originality/value This research is among the first to document the negative spillover effects of spouse-directed surface acting, revealing that suppressing negative emotions may be a catalyst for such spillover. Furthermore, our work builds upon extant knowledge of Machiavellianism in intimate partnerships, suggesting that while Machs may surface act with their partners more, they may particularly be vulnerable to the effects of negative emotion suppression.