Emotional job resources and emotional support seeking as moderators of the relation between emotional job demands and emotional exhaustion: A two-wave panel study

In the present study, the relation between emotional job demands and emotional exhaustion was investigated, as was the moderating role of emotional job resources and emotional support seeking on this relation. We hypothesized a positive lagged effect of emotional job demands on emotional exhaustion, and proposed that this relation is weakened by the availability of emotional job resources. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that this stress-buffer effect of emotional job resources would be stronger for employees high on emotional support seeking (3-way interaction). A 2-wave survey study with a 1-year time lag was conducted among 711 employees in the technology sector. Results showed that emotional job demands are least likely to result in emotional exhaustion when employees are provided with high emotional job resources and score high on emotional support seeking.