Does emotional labor color service actions in customer buying?

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 683-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tali Seger-Guttmann ◽  
Hana Medler-Liraz
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Lower Surface ◽  
Joint Effect ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Buying Behavior ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Customer Delight ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Service research has highlighted the role of emotional labor in service delivery but has neglected service employees’ actions. This study aims to distinguish between the recurrent in-role and extra-role actions of service employees and to examine the joint effect of service employees’ actions and their emotional labor, which may color these actions on customer buying behavior (number of purchased items and total bill). Design/methodology/approach Phase I comprised two studies: Study 1 examined 70 service interaction videos to identify employees’ service actions, and Study 2 quantitatively validated the most frequent employee actions, used for further study, by examining 40 employee–customer interactions in fashion stores. For Phase II, Study 3 derived data from 60 service employees’ diaries to predict the joint effect of performed emotional labor and service actions on customer buying behavior. Findings Findings revealed that emotional labor moderated the relationship between service actions and customer buying behavior. The relationship between in-role/extra-role actions and buying behavior was stronger in the lower surface-acting (less emotional faking) condition, whereas the relationship between in-role/extra-role actions and buying behavior was stronger for the higher deep-acting (more emotionally authentic) condition. Practical implications Service organizations should not limit training to the more easily attained service actions. This possibility may be lacking if it ignores the emotional component that accompanied the action. This may shift the focus from customer satisfaction to customer delight. Originality/value This study is a pioneering effort to examine the specific circumstances in which service employees’ actions (regardless of in-role or extra-role status) will not produce the desired customer-related outcome in the presence of emotional labor.

Are employees' emotional labor strategies triggering or reducing customer incivility: a sociometer theory perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojun Zhan ◽  
Wenhao Luo ◽  
Hanyu Ding ◽  
Yanghao Zhu ◽  
Yirong Guo
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Service Climate ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Customer Perception ◽  
The Relationship

PurposePrior studies have mainly attributed customer incivility to dispositional characteristics, whereas little attention has been paid to exploring service employees' role in triggering or reducing customer incivility. The purpose of the present study is to propose and test a model in which service employees' emotional labor strategies affect customer incivility via influencing customers' self-esteem threat, as well as examine the moderating role of customer's perception of service climate.Design/methodology/approachBased on a matched sample consisting of 317 employee-customer dyads in China, multiple regression analysis and indirect effect tests were employed to test our model.FindingsThe study shows that employee surface acting is positively related to customer incivility, whereas deep acting is negatively associated with customer incivility. Moreover, customer self-esteem threat mediates the relationship between both types of emotional labor and customer incivility. Customer perception of service climate moderates the relationship between deep acting and customer self-esteem threat.Originality/valueThe current research broadens the antecedents of customer incivility from the employee perspective and sheds more light on the role of customer self-esteem in the interactions between employees and customers. It also demonstrates a complementary relationship between service climate and individual employees' emotional labor strategies, thereby expanding the existing understanding of the management of employees' emotional labor.

Perceived customer participation and work engagement: the path through emotional labor

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1009-1024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaewon Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Customer Participation ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Frontline Employees ◽  
Perceived Fit ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Employees

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how service employee’s perceived customer participation influences beneficial deep acting behaviors among service personnel while dampening the development of the less-beneficial surface acting, which subsequently affects service employees’ work engagement. Specifically, the current research explores how the personal factors of customer orientation (CO) and employee-customer fit interact with the customer participation to ultimately develop either surface – or deep-acting behaviors. Design/methodology/approach Data for the study were collected from a cross-sectional sample of retail bank and insurance companies in South Korea. Questionnaires were distributed to 750 frontline employees of several banks and insurance companies. Of these, 518 questionnaires were used for further analysis. Findings The results indicate that perceived customer participation exhibits the predicted negative influence on surface acting as well as the positive effect on deep acting. Using the hierarchical moderated regression approach, the interaction effect of customer participation and CO on the service employees’ surface acting was found. Finally, the positive moderating effect of employee’s perceived fit with customers in the relationship between perceived customer participation and employees’ deep acting was supported. Research limitations/implications First, the specific service sectors chosen for this study are retail banking and insurance. Furthermore, the study was conducted among the frontline employees of banks and insurance companies in South Korea. Second, the study used single-source data, which are prone to common method variance. While the survey instrument was structured carefully with this in mind and the results suggested that method bias may not have been an issue in this study, this problem can best be avoided by collecting data from multiple sources. Third, this study is limited by its cross-sectional approach. The cross-sectional nature of the present study does not allow causal inferences. Practical implications This study provides a practical implication for managers to understand the importance of customer participation for relieving the negative effects of employee emotional labor. From a practitioner standpoint, examining the relationship between customer participation and emotional labor is of great importance given the benefits and costs associated with managing customer participation. Thus, managers should magnify the positive effect of perceived customer participation on emotional labor by increasing frontline employees’ understanding of customer participation. Second, the finding that CO plays a more critical role in the reduction of surface acting has important managerial implications. The recruitment and selection of frontline employees should incorporate an assessment of the level of CO. The results of this study strongly suggest that service organizations can greatly benefit from hiring individuals with a higher CO for frontline positions because CO signals a better job-person fit. Originality/value The present study is the first to link employees’ perceived customer participation with their attempts at emotional labor at work and to study how those attempts lead to work engagement. This research also shows that understanding how service employees’ CO moderates the effects of customer participation on beneficial deep acting and on destructive surface acting is important in that emotional labor is a potential driver of customers’ emotional states and subsequent assessments of service interaction. A third contribution of this study is the use of a new concept, which will be called person-customer fit (PCF), to reflect employees’ perceived fit with customers. Although many researchers have investigated the relationship between customers and frontline employees, the research has primarily focussed on the employees’ perceived fit with their organization and members of the organization and overlooked the importance of PCF.

Emotional labor of customer service employees in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-16
Author(s):  
Yuyan Zhang ◽  
Alexandra Luong
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Chinese Sample ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Employees

Purpose The current study aims to examine the antecedents and outcomes of emotional labor strategies (i.e. surface acting and deep acting) among service employees in China. The study proposed employees’ perceived closeness with customers and customers’ socioeconomic status will predict deep acting and surface acting, respectively. It further examined the mediating role of emotional labor between perceived customer attributes and employee well-being (i.e. burnout and job satisfaction). Design/methodology/approach One hundred and one employees at a jewelry store in China completed a survey regarding their perceptions of customers, use of emotional labor and well-being (e.g. job satisfaction and burnout). Correlational and regression analyses were conducted to examine the predictors and outcomes of different emotional labor strategies. Findings Perceived closeness with the customer group predicted employees’ use of deep acting, whereas perceived customer socioeconomic status did not predict the use of surface acting. Deep acting was negatively related with burnout, whereas surface acting did not predict burnout. Deep acting mediated the relationship between perceived closeness with customers and burnout. Practical implications To maintain employee well-being, organizations can promote a service climate to enhance employees’ perceived relationship with customers. Originality/value The study specifies the interpersonal context in which employees use different emotional labor strategies; the perceived closeness with customers predicts less burnout via the use of more deep acting. This study also supplements the existing research on emotional labor based on a Chinese sample; deep acting predicts employee well-being.

Labors of love: service employees on customer participation

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 585-607
Author(s):  
Laee Choi ◽  
Charles A. Lawry
Keyword(s):  
Job Stress ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Customer Participation ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Impact

PurposeVery few studies have considered how customer participation (CP) influences service employees' well-being. CP may lead employees to engage in emotional labor strategies (surface/deep acting), which can elevate their job stress. Whereas surface acting involves falsifying emotions, deep acting involves empathizing with others. Therefore, the current article examines how these emotional labor strategies arise from CP and create job stress.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1 is an online survey of service employees' wellbeing during CP (n = 509). Study 2 compares service employees' responses within hedonic and utilitarian service settings through a scenario-based experiment (n = 440). PROCESS was used to analyze the data in both studies.FindingsFirst, study 1 supports that perceived CP increases job stress. Secondly, surface acting mediates the link between CP and job stress, but deep acting does not. Thereafter, Study 2 shows that the link between CP and job stress decreases as employee-customer identification (ECI) increases only during surface acting. Additionally, the impact of surface acting on job stress during CP is greater for hedonic services than utilitarian services, but there is no significant difference for deep acting.Originality/valueThis article contributes an original perspective by comparing models of service employees' responses to CP and job stress in hedonic versus utilitarian settings. Moreover, the intervening effects of ECI and emotional labor strategies on job stress, as demonstrated through these employee-facing models, offer added value to the CRM and co-creation literature.

The way you make me abuse: impression management matters

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan-Ling Chen ◽  
Ting Yi Chu
Keyword(s):  
Impression Management ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Abusive Supervision ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cross Sectional Design ◽  
Management Functions ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeDrawing on the perspectives of emotional labor, self-concept and impression management, this study presents two major findings: (1) employees' excessive reliance on impression management can bother supervisors, and (2) the effectiveness of impression management depends on how the management affects targets' attribution of characteristics to actors.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a cross-sectional design and a sample of 259 employees to investigate the antecedents of abusive supervision and, in this regard, the potential mediating effects of impression management. Through Mplus analysis, the authors specifically show that deep acting and surface acting affect impression management and that impression management activates abusive supervision.FindingsEmotional labor is critical in triggering abusive supervision through impression management. The study specifically shows that impression management mediates two types of relationships: (1) the relationship between deep acting and abusive supervision, and (2) the relationship between surface acting and abusive supervision. The findings contribute to the abusive supervision literature by clarifying how impression management functions.Originality/valueThis study, by addressing how emotional labor is a potential antecedent of abusive supervision, reveals that impression management can be a mixed blessing, insofar as emotional labor can contribute to abusive supervision.

The moderating role of perceived organizational support on the relationship between emotional labor and job-related outcomes

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 605-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Won-Moo Hur ◽  
Su-Jin Han ◽  
Jeong-Ju Yoo ◽  
Tae Won Moon
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Job Performance ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Organizational Support ◽  
Perceived Organizational Support ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to attempt to investigate how emotional labor strategies (i.e. surface acting and deep acting) affect job performance through job satisfaction. Another important objective of this study was to see whether perceived organizational support (POS) moderates the relationship between emotional labor strategies and job-related outcomes (i.e. job satisfaction and job performance). Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling analysis provided support for the hypotheses from a sample of 309 South Korean department store sales employees. Findings – The results revealed that surface acting had a negative effect, whereas deep acting had a positive effect on job satisfaction. In addition, the relationship between emotional labor strategies (i.e. surface acting and deep acting) and job performance was significantly mediated by job satisfaction. Finally, POS significantly moderated the relationship between surface acting and job satisfaction, as well as the relationship between deep acting and job performance. Originality/value – The findings of this study contributed to the literature by identifying the relationship between surface and deep acting on organizational outcomes (i.e. job satisfaction and job performance), especially in a collectivist society (i.e. South Korea). In addition, this study also confirmed the important role of POS based on the norm of reciprocity between an organization and its members.

The role of service relationships in employees’ and customers’ emotional behavior, and customer-related outcomes

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hana Medler-Liraz
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Emotional Behavior ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Service Relationships ◽  
Loyalty Intentions

Purpose This paper aims to explore service encounters from a social behavior perspective. By proposing that employees’ emotional labor strategies are influenced by customer displays of emotion, this paper answers calls to investigate the reciprocal nature of service interactions and the importance of taking both customers and service providers into account when delivering high-quality service is the goal. Design/methodology/approach The sample consisted of 121 dyads of customers and service employees from hairstyling salons. Data were collected from observations of the customers’ emotional displays, self-report surveys administered to the service employees measuring strategies of emotional labor and self-report surveys administered to the customers to assess their rapport with the service providers and their loyalty intentions. Findings Length of acquaintance was positively related to customers’ positive display, which mediated the relationship between length of acquaintance and employee-customer rapport. Customers’ positive display was negatively related to employees’ deep acting (i.e. modifying inner feelings) but not to surface acting (i.e. modifying superficial expressions). Customers’ positive display and employees’ surface acting were related to loyalty intentions through the mediation of rapport. Originality/value This study provides a better understanding of the customer’s role as the target, and a possible cause of emotional regulation among service employees. It underscores the role of service relationships in customers’ emotional behavior and customer-related outcomes.

scholarly journals The effects of interpersonal character strength on service employees’ happiness in the emotional labor context

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-232
Author(s):  
SunHee Park ◽  
JeeYoung Lee
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Character Strengths ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Character Strength ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Emotional Aspect ◽  
The Relationship

This study examined the effect of interpersonal character strength of service employees on their emotional aspect of happiness. Interpersonal character strength has been shown to be a critical skillset required for service encounter employees, thus is expected to increase the levels of employee happiness, as well as to moderate the relationship between emotional labor strategies (e.g. deep acting and surface acting) that employees useand their positive emotion. The results from a sample of 129 receptionists working at imported electronics show rooms and service centers showed that interpersonal character strength indeed had a significant positive effecton happiness, even after controlling demographic variables and other character strengths. Furthermore, interpersonal character strength moderated the relationship between deep acting and happiness so that emotional laborers with high interpersonal character strength experienced more positive emotion when using deep acting strategy, as compared to those with low interpersonal character strength. These findings offer suggestions for organizations and their employees to develop both deep acting strategy and interpersonal character strength in order to enhance the level of happiness of employees.

The bright side and dark side of co-production: a dyadic analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 614-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Wei Wu
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Employee Satisfaction ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Dyadic Analysis ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Employees

Purpose Much research has emphasized the importance of service employees as boundary spanners that interact with customers by co-production. Service employees frequently engage in emotional labor in response to co-production requirements. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework that explores the links between co-production, emotional labor, employee satisfaction, value co-creation, co-production intensity, and their effects on customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach This study involved collecting and analyzing 322 questionnaires from the dyads of service employees and customers of the financial service industry in Taiwan. The hypothesized relationships in the model were tested by using a structural equation model. Findings The results of this study indicate that co-production influences deep acting, surface acting, value co-creation, and co-production intensity. Deep acting and surface acting have different effects on employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, employee satisfaction and value co-creation increase customer satisfaction, whereas co-production intensity decreases customer satisfaction. Originality/value The findings provide interesting theoretical insights and valuable managerial implications regarding the positive and negative aspects of co-production and encourage service employees to perform deep acting while minimizing surface acting.

Customer response to employee emotional labor: the structural relationship between emotional labor, job satisfaction, and customer satisfaction

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Won-Moo Hur ◽  
Tae-Won Moon ◽  
Yeon Sung Jung
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Employee Job Satisfaction ◽  
Regulation Strategies ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – This study aims to extend emotional labor theories to the customer outcomes by examining a theoretical model of how emotional labor performed by the service worker affects customer satisfaction in a mediated way. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling analyses partially support for our hypotheses from 282 dyadic survey data [i.e. service interactions customers (seniors) and service employees (caregivers)] from a home caregiver firm in South Korea. Findings – The results of our study found that employee’s emotional regulation strategies of deep acting and surface acting differentially affect customer satisfaction, and that employee’s job satisfaction mediates the relationship between employee’s emotional regulation strategies and customer satisfaction. More specifically, the relationship between surface acting and customer satisfaction is fully mediated by employee’s job satisfaction, whereas the relationship between deep acting and customer satisfaction is partially mediated by employee’s job satisfaction. Originality/value – Our study is the first to provide an empirical test of how employee job satisfaction mediates the relationship between employee emotional labor and customer satisfaction in service interactions. This research sheds light on the crucial role of employee job satisfaction that can be an important consideration to boost service quality and customer satisfaction by facilitating employee emotional labor.

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