Shake it off: The role of self-consciousness in dictating whether dirty work reduces satisfaction through emotional exhaustion

Existing research has primarily examined coping strategies for dirty work while giving less attention to employees’ satisfaction. Much of this work has considered the phenomenon from an identity perspective, despite its underlying connections to job demands and resources. Drawing on the Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) model, this study investigates the relationship between dirty work and employee satisfaction, with emotional exhaustion as a mediating variable and self-consciousness as a moderator. Data collected from 234 participants in dirty work occupations with a 4-week time lag show that dirty work is positively associated with emotional exhaustion, which negatively impacts job, career, and life satisfaction. The findings further indicate that employees with higher self-consciousness report greater emotional exhaustion, while those with lower self-consciousness experience less emotional exhaustion. These results provide theoretical contributions to the dirty work literature and offer practical implications for mitigating emotional exhaustion in these roles.