The moderating role of psychological resilience in the relationship between emotional labor and self-compassion of academics

The aim of this study is to examine the moderating role of psychological resilience in the relationship between emotional labor and self-compassion among academics. The study sample consisted of academics working at Gaziantep University and Hasan Kalyoncu University. Data were initially collected from 242 participants; after outlier analyses, 239 valid responses were retained for statistical evaluation. The data were gathered using the Emotional Labor Scale, the Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form, and the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale. Statistical analyses were conducted through SPSS 25.0, including descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, Independent Samples T-Test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and moderation analysis. Findings indicated that self-compassion levels differed significantly according to academic title, with higher self-compassion scores observed among academics with higher titles. Moreover, self-compassion was found to be positively associated with age and professional experience, whereas self-compassion, emotional labor, and psychological resilience did not differ by gender. Pearson correlation analyses revealed a positive and significant relationship between self-compassion and psychological resilience, and a negative and significant relationship between self-compassion and emotional labor. Psychological resilience showed significant positive correlations with the self-compassion subdimensions of self-kindness, mindfulness, common humanity, and over-identification. Additionally, the subdimensions of emotional labor—surface acting and suppressed emotions—were negatively associated with the negative subdimensions of self-compassion, namely self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification. Moderation analysis demonstrated that psychological resilience had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between emotional labor and self-compassion. This result indicates that academics with higher psychological resilience are better able to maintain their self-compassion levels in emotionally demanding situations. Overall, the study highlights the importance of supporting self-compassion and psychological resilience skills to promote the professional well-being and emotional balance of academics.