Can “bad” stressors spark “good” behaviors in frontline employees? Incorporating motivation and emotion

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaxin (Sylvia) Wang ◽  
Xiaoxiao Fu ◽  
Youcheng Wang

Purpose This study aims to investigate the antecedents of frontline employees’ boundary-spanning behaviors in the hospitality industry. Anchored in transactional stress theory, affective events theory and motivation theories, a conceptual model was built to explore the impacts of hindrance stressors on boundary-spanning behavior. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from frontline employees in the hospitality industry in the USA. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used. Findings The findings revealed that despite hindrance stressors’ negative indirect impact on frontline employees’ boundary-spanning behaviors, intrinsic motivation worked effectively to reduce hindrance stress and influence subsequent emotions leading to boundary-spanning behaviors. Practical implications This study provides substantial and detailed strategies for hospitality practitioners who are pressed to alleviate the hindrance stressors from which frontline employees frequently suffer, foster employees’ positive emotions and ease negative emotions while promoting boundary-spanning behaviors. Cultivation of employees’ intrinsic motivation and emotional management is encouraged, as is effective organizational structure and management intervention. All of these are deemed helpful in buffering employees’ work-related stress while motivating them to go above and beyond their nominal duties. Originality/value Very few studies have examined how “bad” hindrance stressors affect boundary-spanning behaviors. Rather than suggesting that hindrance stressors are relevant only to counterproductive behaviors, this study extends both the stress and boundary-spanning literature by uncovering the impact of hindrance stressors on frontline employees’ boundary-spanning behaviors while accounting for the roles of workers’ motivation and emotion.

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 243-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ila Mehrotra Anand ◽  
Sanjaya Singh Gaur

PurposeA government’s green initiatives are meant to prevent or reduce harm to society. Such initiatives can elicit positive emotions that may lead to generating a supportive public response to the government. The purpose of this paper is to understand the consumers’ emotional response to government’s actions toward making the society sustainable.Design/methodology/approachThe scenario-based experimental design is used in this study where one between-subjects manipulation is created for the government’s green actions, and one between-subjects control condition is created. A total of 140 respondents were assigned to experimental and 121 respondents were assigned to control groups using judgmental sampling. Partial least squares based structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis was used for the testing of both structural and measurement model.FindingsPositive emotions (i.e. gratitude, pride and happiness) that are evoked by the manipulated scenario are found to have a direct impact on the consumers’ outcome behavior (i.e. positive word of mouth, identification with the government, interest in green initiatives of the government and interest in the government’s actions to grow the nation).Originality/valueThe research contributes to the literature on the social sustainability by examining the impact of emotional responses to the government’s green initiatives. This study shows that positive emotions can be evoked in the context of environmental quality by sending the right message to the consumers (i.e. the general public in this case).


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 509-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samaan Al‐Msallam

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of tourists' emotional responses toward a particular destination on tourists' satisfaction and destination loyalty. Perceived quality adds as a moderator variable.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a quantitative data collection method, with distributing the questionnaire to 346 tourists of 43 nationalities in four main tourist attractions in Switzerland. The structural equation modeling approach and bootstrapping technique were used to empirically test the study hypotheses.FindingsThe results confirm the negative impact of negative emotions. The mediating role of the tourists' satisfaction was documented. As expected, perceived quality dampened the negative effect of negative emotions on tourists' satisfaction. However, surprisingly, it does not serve as a moderator in the relationship between positive emotions and tourists' satisfaction.Practical implicationsThis study resulted in a set of practical marketing recommendations. Tourism marketers are encouraged to keep positive emotions high among tourists, aimed to increase their satisfaction toward the destination and revisit it again in the future and also, pay more attention to the quality of the destination as an essential tool to reduce the impact of negative emotions.Originality/valueMany studies in tourism literature studied associations between positive emotions and tourists' behavior. The present study is drawing more attention to negative emotions. In addition, this study tries to address the gap in the tourism literature regarding the modified impact of perceived quality on the relationship between emotions and tourists' satisfaction.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Belal Albashiti ◽  
Zeeshan Hamid ◽  
Mohammed Aboramadan

Purpose Building on conservation of resources theory and unfolding theory of turnover, this paper aims to propose a model of the effects of despotic leadership on employees’ job satisfaction and turnover intention in the hospitality industry. In this model, the authors theorize psychological distress to play an intervening role among the aforesaid linkages. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected in three-waves from 212 employees working in Palestinian restaurants. A covariance-based matrix in structural equation modeling was used to verify the proposed linkages in the study. A marker variable was used to control the common method bias. Findings The results showed that despotic leadership has a direct negative effect on job satisfaction and a positive indirect effect on turnover intentions. Besides, psychological distress showed to play significant mediating effects among the aforementioned relationships. Practical implications This study gives insights to the hospitality industry on how despotic leadership can be destructive and lead to negative consequences. Originality/value This study is unique, as it is the first study conducted on despotic leadership in a hospitality setting. The study responded to scholarly calls made to enrich the literature pertaining to despotic leadership and its outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (13) ◽  
pp. 94-121
Author(s):  
Magnus Söderlund ◽  
Eeva-Liisa Oikarinen

Purpose Firms have begun to introduce virtual agents (VAs) in service encounters, both in online and offline environments. Such VAs typically resemble human frontline employees in several ways (e.g. the VAs may have a gender and a name), which indicates the presence of an assumption by VA designers – and by firms that employ them – that VA humanness is a positively charged characteristic. This study aims to address this assumption by examining antecedents to perceived humanness in terms of attribution of agency, emotionality and morality, and the impact of perceived humanness on customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire was distributed online to participants who had been interacting with existing VAs, and they were asked to focus on one of them for this study. The questionnaire comprised measures of antecedents to perceived humanness of VAs, perceived humanness per se and customer satisfaction. A structural equation modeling approach was used to assess associations between the variables. Findings Attributions of agency, emotionality and morality to VAs contributed positively to the perceived humanness of the VAs, and perceived humanness was positively associated with customer satisfaction. Research limitations/implications Additional humanness capabilities should be explored in further research. Practical implications Firms using VAs in service encounters should make attempts to maximize perceived VA humanness, and this study shows that it may be beneficial if such attempts comprise signals that VAs have agency, emotionality and morality. Originality/value By examining VAs in terms of a set of fundamental human capabilities, the present study contributes to existing research on human–VA service encounters, which to date has focused on more superficial VA characteristics (such as if the VA has a face and gender).


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Onyekachi Ugwu ◽  
Ernest Ike Onyishi ◽  
Okechukwu O. Anozie ◽  
Lawrence Ejike Ugwu

PurposeIn this paper, the impact of customer incivility on work engagement was investigated. The authors also explored whether supervisor positive gossip and workplace friendship prevalence moderated the impact of customer incivility on work engagement in the Nigerian context.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a time-lagged design to collect data from 258 frontline casual dining restaurant employees across city centers in South-eastern Nigeria who completed Time 1 and Time 2 paper surveys after a one-month interval.FindingsStructural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that while customer incivility was negatively lx`inked to work engagement, supervisor positive gossip and workplace friendship prevalence were positively linked to work engagement. It was also found that both supervisor positive gossip and workplace friendship prevalence moderated the negative connection between customer incivility and work engagement.Practical implicationsOne proactive way to forestall the negative impact of customer incivility on work engagement is for managers to devise approaches to decrease the impact of uncivil customer behaviors, such as developing an atmosphere that engenders friendship and speaking positively to subordinates about other employees' work behaviors.Originality/valueAlthough increased scholarly attention has been paid to workplace incivility, customer incivility has not been sufficiently addressed. Earlier research on workplace gossip is influenced by the widely-held belief that gossip is often negative, with far less attention given to the sunny side of gossip. This study is one of the earliest efforts to examine the moderating roles of supervisor positive gossip and workplace friendship prevalence in the negative link between customer incivility and work engagement in the hospitality industry.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Cong Thuan ◽  
Bui Thi Thanh

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate mediating mechanisms linking leaders’ developmental feedback with employee creativity and the moderating role of intrinsic motivation in the effects of employees’ skills on employee creativity. Design/methodology/approach Using data collected from 326 employees at information technology organizations in Vietnam, this study tested the hypotheses by using structural equation modeling. Findings The results show that leaders’ developmental feedback has a positive indirect relationship with employee creativity via creativity-relevant skills, domain-relevant skills and intrinsic motivation. There are no significant differences in the effects of developmental feedback on employee creativity through proposed mediators. Further, intrinsic motivation positively moderates the impact of domain-relevant skills on employee creativity. However, intrinsic motivation does not moderate the effect of creativity-relevant skills on employee creativity. Originality/value This research is one of the first efforts to investigate intrinsic motivation as a motivational mechanism as well as creativity-relevant skills and domain-relevant skills as cognitive mechanisms for understanding the relationship between leaders’ developmental feedback and employee creativity. This research also examines how intrinsic motivation moderates the effects of employees’ skills on employee creativity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 2847-2866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Weber ◽  
Graham L. Bradley ◽  
Beverley Sparks

Purpose Owners, managers and employees may be criticized personally and professionally by consumers in online reviews, and may suffer emotional and burnout consequences. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of customer-generated negative online reviews on hospitality employees. Design/methodology/approach This research analyzed the effects of traditional face-to-face customer-related social stressors, as well as a newly added negative online review (NOR) stressor, on anger and burnout in a sample of 418 US hospitality workers. Findings Structural equation modeling revealed that, after taking into account the contribution of customer-related social stressors, receipt of NORs predicts anger and anger mediates the relationships between NOR-receipt and two indices of burnout. Practical implications This research extends our understanding of social stressors that apply to workers in the hospitality industry. It offers strategies for managing the threats and optimizing the opportunities, provided by negative online reviews. Originality/value This study is one of the first studies that provide evidence of the personal impact of NORs on hospitality industry employees, thereby extending our understanding of social stressors that apply to workers in this industry.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 1447-1467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-Ki Lee ◽  
Soon-Ho Kim ◽  
Min-Seong Kim ◽  
Ho-Seok Kim

Purpose Seeking to build a deeper understanding of a higher level of hospitality in terms of employee task performance, this study aimed to explore different person–environment (P–E) fit types and the corresponding effects on hotel employees’ emotions and task performance, evaluated by both the employees themselves and their supervisors. Design/methodology/approach Frequency analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis and structural equation modeling method. Findings The results indicated that person–organization fit was associated with emotions toward the organization, the team and the job. However, this study did not provide empirical support for hypotheses that person-team fit affected emotions. Person–job fit was also associated with positive emotions toward the organization and the job, unlike with the team. Organization emotion had positive effects on both task performances, whereas no effect was reported between team emotion and task performances. Practical implications The study suggests that hotels’ human resource administrators may want to focus on developing and strengthening P–E fit and emotional responses. Originality/value This research illustrates the impact of three types of P–E fit on self-rated and supervisor-rated performance and examines the significant mediating role of three types of emotion.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1793-1813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsin-Hui“Sunny” Hu ◽  
Hsin-Yi Hu ◽  
Brian King

Purpose The study aimed to investigate the impact of customer misbehaviors on airline in-flight customer contact personnel. A theoretical framework was proposed to test the meditating role of role stress and emotional labor in the relationship between consumer misbehaviors and emotional exhaustion. Design/methodology/approach In all, 336 cabin crew members employed by international airline companies participated in the study. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling with AMOS 20.0. Findings The results provide evidence that customer misbehaviors relate positively to employee role stress, emotional labor and emotional exhaustion. Moreover, role stress and emotional labor play important roles in enhancing the impacts of customer misbehaviors and thereby influence employee emotional exhaustion. Practical implications The findings potentially impact on employers both within and beyond the airline industry by demonstrating how frontline employees can be provided with support to reduce stress or exhaustion, leading ultimately to increased satisfaction. Originality/value This study has provided deeper theoretical insights into customer misbehaviors and their effects on employee role stress, emotional labor and emotional exhaustion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3832
Author(s):  
Gao Wei ◽  
Wang Lin ◽  
Wu Yanxiong ◽  
Yan Jingdong ◽  
Sadik Yusuf Musse

Prior literature has largely addressed corporate social responsibility (CSR) from outcomes related to organizational themes. However, its importance for achieving consumer-related outcomes is something that has been largely ignored by contemporary researchers. Likewise, how CSR communication through social media can create positive emotions on the part of consumers has to date been under-explored. Hence, the present study aims to fill these gaps by investigating the impact of CSR communication of an organization through social media on consumer loyalty. The study also proposes electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) as a potential mediator between this relationship. The proposed model of the present study was tested in the banking sector of a developing country. The data were collected from a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed through the structural equation modeling technique (SEM). The results of the present study validated that CSR communication of a bank through social media directly and indirectly, through e-WOM, influences consumer loyalty in a positive manner. The results of the present study will be helpful for policymakers to better understand how well-planned CSR communication of an organization on social media can lead towards better consumer-related outcomes such as consumer loyalty and e-WOM.


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