How do generalized reciprocity and negative reciprocity influence employees’ task performance differently? the mediating role of social exchange and the moderating role of emotional labor

Generalized reciprocity and negative reciprocity have been demonstrated to influence employees’ psychological states and outcomes differently. Drawing upon social exchange theory and emotion regulation theory, we develop a model that specifies whether and how generalized reciprocity and negative reciprocity influence employees’ task performance. A cross-sectional survey study (N = 584) reveals that generalized reciprocity is positively related to task performance, whereas negative reciprocity is adversely related to task performance, and both of these relationships are mediated by social exchange. Interestingly, the findings also indicate that emotional labor moderates the associations between generalized reciprocity and social exchange and between negative reciprocity and social exchange. Specifically, individuals with high deep acting or low surface acting can experience higher social exchange after perceiving generalized reciprocity, whereas individuals with high surface acting or low deep acting can experience lower social exchange after perceiving negative reciprocity. These results provide significant implications for academic research and managerial practice.