Purpose Previous studies have provided valuable insights into workers' coping reactions to physical dirtiness. However, the intricate role of clients in the coping process has been overlooked in most previous studies. Addressing this limitation from a relational perspective, the aim of this research is to investigate physical dirtiness in the medical and nursing professions. Design/methodology/approach Three waves of data were collected from 203 hospital doctors and nurses. Mplus was used for hypothesis testing. Findings Physical dirtiness affects healthcare workers' compassion to patients and their subjective career success through emotional exhaustion. Profession moderates the mediating role of emotional exhaustion in those relationships. Patient reciprocity moderates the mediating role of emotional exhaustion in the relationship between physical dirtiness and subjective career success but not in the relationship between physical dirtiness and compassion toward patients. Originality/value The results of this study advance the literature on dirty work by demonstrating, from a relational perspective, that the negative impacts of physical dirtiness depend on healthcare workers' interactions with patients and their professional roles.
Mao et al. (Wed,) studied this question.