Abstract
Frontline service employees (FSEs) in the service industry play an important role as they are the medium through which companies interact with customers. Organizations nowadays start paying attention to the idea that “Happy Employees Produce Happy Customers.” Following that concept, workplace fun becomes positive organizational culture that can be used to enhance the goals of the organization while increasing an employee’s commitment and job satisfaction. However, the relationship between workplace fun and emotional labor, the performance of various forms of emotion work, has seldom been mentioned. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to examine the impact of workplace fun on emotional labor strategies (surface acting and deep acting) and job satisfaction among frontline employees in the service industry. This study also considers gender as a potential moderator on the impact of workplace fun on emotional labor strategies. With a survey sample of 260 frontline service employees in Taiwan, workplace fun was found to have a negative relationship with surface acting and a positive relationship with deep acting. This study contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between workplace fun and emotional labor, and provides insights for service firms in employee management practices.