Abstract

This study aimed to examine the mediating effect of positive psychological capital in the relationship between emotional labor and Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) of librarians belonging to the Widely Representative Library. From February 13, 2023 to February 24, 2023, 159 librarians working in 17 Widely Representative Libraries nationwide were surveyed for general characteristics, emotional labor, ProQOL, and positive psychological capital through questionnaires. For statistical analysis, frequency analysis, descriptive statistics analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and measurement model analysis were conducted using SPSS Statistics 24.0 and Amos 25.0. In addition, the mediating effect of positive psychological capital in the relationship between emotional labor and ProQOL of librarians in the Widely Representative Library was analyzed using a bootstrapping analysis method. The results of this study are summarized as follows. First, it was found that there was a significant effect among librarians’ emotional labor, ProQOL, and positive psychological capital in the Widely Representative Library. Second, the indirect effect of positive psychological capital in the relationship between Emotional Labor and ProQOL of Widely Representative Library librarians was found to be statistically significant. In other words, considering the direct effect of emotional labor on ProQOL, it can be inferred that there is a partial mediating effect. Therefore, it is suggested to develop a program that can improve the quality of professional life by reducing emotional labor and strengthening the positive psychological capital of librarians in further studies.