The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship amongst emotional labor, communication competence, resilience, and clinical nursing performance of university hospital nurses, and to identify the influencing factors on job performance of clinical nurses who work at two university hospitals. The data was collected using questionnaires from 216 nurses in February 2016. Data was analyzed using one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and stepwise multiple regression using IBM SPSS 22. There were differences in communication competence (F=3.679, p=.003), resilience (F=7.909, p<.003), and nursing performance (F=2.331, p=.044) correlates with the frequency of leisure activity. The significant relationships were found among age (r=.242, p<.001), years of service (r=.278, p<.001), emotional labor (r=.211, p=.002), communication competence (r=.585, p<.001), and resilience (r=.431, p<.001) with nursing performance in university hospital nurses. The result of the stepwise multiple regression indicates that communication competence and years of service predict 40.9% (F=75.356, p<.001) in nursing performance of university hospital nurses. The most powerful predictor was communication competence (β=.581, p<.001), followed by years of service (β=.268, p<.001). In conclusion, to enhance nursing performance for university hospital nurses, it is necessary to develop and utilize educational programs that enhance the communication competence and to develop strategies to support leisure activities for university hospital nurses.