PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine frontline employees' self-monitoring personality as an antecedent of their emotional exhaustion and how supervisor-rated performance mediates this relationship. In addition, the authors explored the moderating role of perceived competitive climate on the indirect relationship between self-monitoring and emotional exhaustion.Design/methodology/approachTwo hundred and thirty-seven frontline employees and their immediate supervisors working in hospitality organizations responded to the survey using time lagged research design. Measurement model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis to assess the distinctiveness of study constructs, and proposed moderated mediation model was tested using Process macro.FindingsResults show that high self-monitoring leads to high supervisor-rated performance, and this relationship is stronger in highly competitive work climate. The supervisor-rated performance was negatively related to emotional exhaustion.Originality/valueThis study is the first to examine the interaction effects of self-monitoring and perceived competitive climate on frontline employees' performance and emotional exhaustion, particularly in the frontline jobs. Supervisor-rated performance has not been previously theorized or researched as an underlying mechanism of the effect of self-monitoring on emotional exhaustion.