Regulatory emotional self-efficacy in preventing interpersonal strain in the healthcare sector

Most contributions within the Job Demands-Resources model framework have focused on health impairment. At the same time, few studies have thoroughly examined the determinants of social impair-ment, defined as difficulty in establishing or maintaining healthy and functional social relationships, namely interpersonal strain at work. This study, conducted with 357 healthcare professionals, aims to test the role of emotional exhaustion in translating workload into interpersonal strain at work. Addition-ally, it explores the moderating role of regulatory emotional self-efficacy, defined as the ability to regu-late negative emotions, in the relationship between workload and emotional exhaustion. Our findings confirm the hypothesized moderated mediation model, demonstrating that, specifically within highly de-manding healthcare contexts, emotional regulation is a crucial personal resource professionals can rely on to protect them from emotional exhaustion and subsequent social isolation as a maladaptive coping strategy. Theoretical implications for the Job Demands-Resources model, practical implications, and study limitations are discussed.