Linking Motivation, Emotional Labor, and Service Performance From a Self-Determination Perspective

2020 ◽  
pp. 109467052097520
Author(s):  
Won-Moo Hur ◽  
Yuhyung Shin ◽  
Tae Won Moon
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Autonomous Motivation ◽  
Service Performance ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Flight Attendants ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Controlled Motivation ◽  
General Managers

Drawing on self-determination theory, which suggests that individuals’ autonomous and controlled motivations determine their behavior and performance, our research examined the relationship between motivation, emotional labor, and service performance. We predicted that autonomous motivation will be positively associated with service performance through deep acting and that controlled motivation will be negatively associated with service performance through surface acting. To test these hypotheses, we collected three-wave data from 282 hotel employees and 21 general managers over a 15-month period. As predicted, autonomous motivation was positively related to deep acting and negatively related to surface acting 1 year later, whereas controlled motivation was positively related to surface acting 1 year later. Deep acting was positively associated with supervisor-rated service performance 3 months later. Further, the indirect effect of autonomous motivation on service performance through deep acting was significant. The robustness of these findings was established by reanalyzing the data without controlling for potential confounds and conducting a validation study among 70 flight attendants across 5 consecutive days. The findings highlight the importance of service employees’ autonomous motivation in effective emotion regulation and resulting service performance.

scholarly journals Switching Expression or Emotion: Emotional Labor Strategy on Negative Word of Mouth Mediated by Customer Satisfaction

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-172
Author(s):  
Resekiani Mas Bakar ◽  
Riska Amaliah ◽  
Nurul Hidayati
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Negative Word ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Service Employees

This experimental study aimed to examine the effect of emotional labor strategy towards the negative WOM mediated by customer satisfaction. Research of emotional labor context has widely examined its impacts on service employees. The limitations in several studies proved that the opportunity in the indirect effect of emotional labor strategy on negative word of mouth (WOM) is still available. Sixty-two participants were involved in this study and divided into two groups (deep acting versus surface acting) by using videos. PROCESS model moderation proved that emotional labor strategy indirectly affects the negative WOM, mediated by customer satisfaction. This study showed that deep acting strategy can enhance customer satisfaction, therefore the negative WOM can be diminished. In contrast, surface acting strategy affects the decrease of customer satisfaction and thus it can raise the intention of the negative WOM. Emotion modification would be more effective through the deep acting strategy in transmitting the positive emotion for the customer, than modification the expression. The satisfaction felt by the customer will decrease the intention to spread negative information about the service provider to other customers.

A motivational approach to emotional labor: Examining the link between goal orientation and emotional labor strategies

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Mahsa Esmaeilikia ◽  
Markus Groth
Keyword(s):  
Goal Orientation ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Goal Orientations ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Goal Orientation Theory

AbstractDrawing on goal orientation theory, in this study, we examine how an individual's motivational approach relates to the use of two common emotional labor strategies: surface acting and deep acting. In addition, we examine the role of self-efficacy as a mediating mechanism through which different goal orientations are related to different emotional labor strategies. To test our hypotheses, 262 U.S. full-time working adults from a variety of service occupations were surveyed. Consistent with the predictions of goal orientation theory, our results show that learning-oriented service employees tend to use deep acting, while performance-oriented service employees use both emotional labor strategies. Our findings also show that emotional labor self-efficacy plays a mediating role in the relationship between motivational approach and emotional labor strategy use.

Influence of leader and employee emotional labor on service performance: A hierarchical linear modeling approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 1233-1244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiu-Li Tang ◽  
Ying-Kang Gu ◽  
Lijuan Cui
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Service Performance ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Labor Theory ◽  
Service Oriented ◽  
Leadership Context ◽  
The Relationship

Given the importance of emotional labor for service-oriented enterprises, it is highly valuable to explore how leader emotional labor affects the emotional labor strategy used by employees. This study was based on affective events theory and we used hierarchical linear modeling to explore cross-hierarchical relationships among leader emotional labor, employee emotional labor, and employee service performance. We tested the model with data from 534 employees and their immediate leaders working in 23 service-oriented enterprises in China. Results showed that leaders' surface acting positively influenced employees' surface acting, and leaders' deep acting positively influenced employees' deep acting and service performance. Employees' deep acting mediated the relationship between leaders' deep acting and employee service performance. Our findings enhance understanding of leader emotional labor and help to advance emotional labor theory in the leadership context.

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.

scholarly journals Emotional Labor Strategies And Service Performance: The Mediating Role Of Employee Creativity

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 1583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Liu ◽  
Xinmei Liu ◽  
Zizhen Geng
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Service Industry ◽  
Service Performance ◽  
Role Performance ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Employee Creativity ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Frontline Employee ◽  
Mediating Role

This paper theoretically and empirically investigates the effects of different emotional labor strategies on frontline employee creativity in the context of service industry, and it also studies the mediating role of frontline employee creativity in the relationships between frontline employees emotional labor strategies and the two aspects of customer service performance. Based on the data of 424 employeesupervisor dyads in China, the empirical results indicate that surface acting decreases employee creativity and extra role performance, while deep acting increases employee creativity, role-prescribed performance and extra role performance; employee creativity mediates both the negative influence of surface acting on extra role performance and the positive influences of deep acting on role-prescribed and extra role performances. The results have some theoretical and practical implications on service creativity and emotion management in service industry.

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.

Emotional Labor and Organizational Commitment Among South Korean Public Service Employees

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 1191-1200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun jung Lee
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Commitment ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
South Korean

I examined the relationship between emotional labor and organizational commitment with 208 South Korean public service employees and used structural equation modeling to analyze the data. The results indicated that deep acting was positively associated with the 3 components of organizational commitment, namely, identification, affiliation, and exchange, and the identification commitment component in particular. However, no significant relationship was found between surface acting and the 3 components of organizational commitment. Thus, South Korean public service employees with a strong sense of organizational identity and who feel valued by their organization may generate positive emotions and engage in deep acting, leading to a high level of organizational commitment.

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.

Employees' Emotional Labor and Emotional Exhaustion: Trust and Gender as Moderators

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 733-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenlan Wang ◽  
Shenghua Huang ◽  
Hongbiao Yin ◽  
Zheng Ke
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Trust Relationships ◽  
Men Managers ◽  
And Gender

In order to obtain a comprehensive insight into the nature of service employees' emotional labor, we examined the effect of gender and employees' trust in colleagues on the relationship between their emotional labor and emotional exhaustion. We focused on two emotional labor strategies: surface acting and deep acting. Participants comprised 679 Chinese service employees. The results showed that trust in colleagues strengthened the negative relationship between employees' deep acting and emotional exhaustion but also exacerbated the positive relationship between employees' surface acting and emotional exhaustion. The exacerbating effect of trust was especially strong for female surface actors. The findings suggest that women have a propensity for risk aversion and are more sensitive to the establishment of trust relationships than are men. Managers should consider surface acting as part of the makeup of the psychological well-being of employees.

scholarly journals THE YEARS SPENT IN AIRLINE INCREASE THE DEEP ACTING EXPERIENCE OF TURKISH CABIN CREW

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-64
Author(s):  
SAVAŞ MUTLU ◽  
Z.BENAN BÖKE
Keyword(s):  
Marital Status ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Flight Attendants ◽  
Years Of Experience ◽  
Flight Attendant ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Cabin Crew ◽  
One Way Anova

The aim of this study is to find out the possible effects of demographic characteristics of cabin crew on their emotional labor experiences. Emotional labor concept has been identified by Hochschild’s notorious research on Delta Airline’s cabin attendants and was published in her book “The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling” as the first time in the year 1983. In this study, 36 years after Hochschild’s work, the effects of demographic characteristics on the emotional labor experiences of 265 flight attendants who are working for airline companies in Turkey are investigated. In the literature, there are only a few studies on the effects of demographic factors on emotional labor experiences of cabin crew. So, this study provides an important insight into the subject. The emotional labor scale consists of three dimensions; deep acting, surface acting and genuine emotions. For the emotional labor, a total of 13 questions were answered by participants in 5-point Likert type scale through the Internet. Also, six questions related to demographic characteristics were answered. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed to verify the item distribution on each factor (i.e. deep acting, surface acting and genuine emotions). And, to analyze the differences between the emotional labor experiences of the groups according to age, gender, position, marital status, total working experience and education, independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVA tests were applied. Independent samples t-tests were used to compare the differences of two groups such as married-single, male-female, flight attendant-flight attendant supervisor. One way ANOVA tests were used to compare the differences of three or more groups according to age, total working experience and education. Tukey HSD tests were performed after one way ANOVA tests to distinguish the statistically different groups. The results show that there are no statistically significant differences between the expressions of emotional labor, deep acting, surface acting and genuine emotions of groups according to gender, marital status, education and age. Yet, there are statistically significant differences between the emotional labor and surface acting experiences of flight attendants and flight attendant supervisors. Also, a statistically significant difference is found between the deep acting experiences of the cabin crew with 4–7 years of experience and those with 8–22 years of experience.

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