Why Does Sense of Power Alleviate Emotional Exhaustion?

Abstract

Emotional exhaustion is known to negatively impact employees’ physical and mental health. Although personal psychological resources have been considered as critical alleviating factors, little is known about the relation between sense of power and emotional exhaustion as well as the underlying mechanisms. Building on conservation of resources theory and the psychology of power framework, this research aims to examine a dual mediation model to fill this gap. A three-wave survey was implemented to collect data among 227 employees in China. Mediation analysis was conducted to examine our hypotheses. The results showed that sense of power was negatively related to emotional exhaustion; both psychological safety and organizational embeddedness mediated this relationship. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.