More and more people today are striving for purpose at work, so it makes sense that when we’re authentic in our job, we’re more likely to give our best and be more productive.  That’s precisely what new research from the University of Arkansas has found.

“We found that people who put forth effort to display positive emotions towards others at work – versus faking their feelings – receive higher levels of support and trust from co-workers,” the researchers say. “These people also reported significantly higher levels of progress on work goals likely due to the support they received.”

The researchers surveyed over 2,500 working professionals from a range of professions, including education, financial services and engineering.  They were especially keen to hone in on two specific types of emotion regulation we use at work.  The first of these is surface acting, which is when we fake positive emotions when engaging with colleagues at work.

The second is deep acting, which involves a more fundamental attempt to change how we’re feeling.  In essence, it’s an attempt to feel better so that our subsequent interactions with others are more positive.

Regulating our emotions

The researchers were hoping to discover whether people were regulating their emotions at work, and what impact this had if they did so.  Four distinct types of individual emerged from the analysis.  The first of these was classed as a nonactor, who seldom engaged in any kind of surface or deep acting.  Next were low actors, who engaged in slightly more of both forms, with deep actors then exhibiting high levels of deep acting, but low levels of surface acting.  Lastly, they found people classed as regulators, who engage in high levels of both deep and surface acting.

The data showed that non actors were the smallest group, with the remaining three groups largely of the same size.  Regulators would typically act as a form of impression management, with this often having strategic motives.  By contrast, deep actors were more motivated by prosocial concerns, so they would often regulate their behavior in order to smooth relationships at work.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the regulators, who acted the most, experienced high levels of emotional exhaustion, which led to reductions in performance in other aspects of their work.  The most productive were the deep actors, as they seemed to experience higher levels of wellbeing as a result.

While a growing number of us are searching for purpose and authenticity at work, the research reminds us that many of us have to fake it, at least to some extent.  It provides a timely reminder of the consequences, both for individuals and organizations.