This study investigated 150 university lecturers from the perspective of their emotional labour, focusing on the effect of a playful climate on lecturers' innovation intention and job engagement. A structural equation model analysis determined the following: is positively related to lecturers' strategies of deep acting and expression of natural emotions, but its effect on surface action is not significant; deep acting partially mediates between university playfulness climate and innovation intention, and the expression of natural emotions partially mediates between university playfulness climate and job engagement. This study expands our knowledge regarding the effect of emotional labour on lecturers' individual positive performance and enriches our understanding of the effect of playfulness climate on teaching activities.