Shake it off: The role of self-consciousness in dictating whether dirty work reduces satisfaction through emotional exhaustion
Sodiq O. Babatunde, Scott Dust, Ben Fagan
Journal of Management & Organization · Vol. 31(6), pp. 2605–2624
Drawing on Job Demand-Resource theory and a four-week time-lag survey of 234 workers in stigmatized 'dirty' occupations, this study shows that self-consciousness shapes whether dirty work erodes satisfaction. Dirty work is positively associated with emotional exhaustion — which reduces job, career, and life satisfaction — but workers less preoccupied with how society judges them experience lower exhaustion.