Emotional intelligence,emotional labor,perceived organizational support,and job satisfaction: A moderated mediation model

This study examined the effects of emotional intelligence and emotional labor on job satisfaction in a moderated mediation model, which posits surface and deep acting strategies as mediators between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction and perceived organizational support as a moderator to the mediation effects. Based on a sample of 279 Chinese hotel employees, results showed that: 1) while deep acting partially mediated the effect of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction, surface acting did not mediate; 2) Perceived organizational support effectively moderated the mediation of deep acting between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction; but the moderated mediation was not found with surface acting as a mediator. This study contributes to a better understanding of the roles of emotional intelligence and emotional labor strategies in affecting hotel employees’ job satisfaction and how organizational support can function as an organization resource in changing the psychological mechanisms underlying emotional labor and job satisfaction.     

Are you for real? An evaluation of the relationship between emotional labour and visitor outcomes

Emotional labour is the management of emotional display to satisfy organisational expectations and can be performed by faking emotions (surface acting) or by managing felt emotion to be ‘authentic’ (deep acting). Despite an assumed positive relationship between deep acting and a range of organisationally-desired visitor outcomes, no previous research has examined the relationship between the types of acting and those outcomes. The present study assessed this relationship in contrast to the effectiveness of surface acting. Drawing upon a sample of 688 visitors and 66 guided tours, the results of hierarchical linear modelling found no statistically significant relationship between guide-reported acting and visitor perceptions of acting. Visitor perceptions of deep and surface acting were related to visitor outcomes in the expected direction. Implications of the findings suggest tourism organisations should focus on managing perceptions of emotional authenticity to enhance visitor outcomes.     

Antecedents and outcomes of emotional labour in hospitality and tourism: A meta-analysis

This paper meta-analytically investigates a theoretical framework of emotional labour and its antecedents and outcomes in the hospitality and tourism literature with 57 correlation matrices from published journal papers. Adopting the psychometric meta-analytical methods and meta-structural equation modelling (meta-SEM) methods, the study finds that emotional labour is related to antecedents including personality, emotional intelligence, customer orientation, social support and display rules, as well as related to attitudinal, behavioural, and customer-related outcomes. In addition, strain mediates the relations between emotional labour and its outcomes. This paper is the first meta-analysis on the relations between emotional labour and the antecedents and outcomes in hospitality and tourism management.     

Moderating role of hotel employees’ gender and job position on the relationship between emotional intelligence and emotional labor

The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of deluxe hotel employees’ emotional intelligence on their emotional labor, and the moderating effects of employees’ diversity (gender and job position) on the relationship between emotional intelligence and emotional labor. The results showed that the use of emotion (UOE) had the largest effect on surface acting during emotional labor, and self-emotion appraisal (SEA) had the largest effect on deep acting. In addition, the study found moderating effects of employees’ diversity on the relationship between emotional intelligence and emotional labor, and the effects of others’ emotion appraisal (OEA) on surface acting were shown to be significantly higher among female employees than among males. Furthermore, the effects of the use of emotions (UOE) on deep acting were larger in the FOH than in the BOH. However, results showed that the effects of regulation of emotion (ROE) on deep acting were significantly stronger in the BOH than in the FOH.     

Managing emotional labor for service quality: A cross-level analysis among hotel employees

This study aims is to unify the concepts of emotional labor and service quality on the basis of job demands–resources theory, which is associated with engagement and burnout in working environments. This study draws upon a sample of data on 863 subordinate–supervisor dyads in 92 service teams at 46 international tourist hotels. The results of hierarchical linear modeling showed that emotional deep acting is positively related to work engagement and eventually leads to a high level of service quality. Conversely, emotional surface acting is positively related to work burnout and ultimately causes a low level of service quality. In addition, this study found cross-level interactions between perceived organizational support (POS) and abusive supervision on the relationships among emotional labor, engagement, burnout, and service quality. The positive effects of deep acting on work engagement and service quality were found to be significantly higher for the moderating effects of POS. However, the negative effects of surface acting on work burnout and service quality were found to be significantly higher for the moderating effects of abusive supervision. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of this study for the hospitality industry are also discussed.     

Hotel service providers’ emotional labor: The antecedents and effects on burnout

The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents and consequences of two emotional labor strategies (surface and deep acting) in the lodging industry. Variety, duration, and positive display rules are significant predictors of hotel service providers’ deep acting and negative display rules are related to service providers’ surface acting. Employees ohigh in neuroticism are more likely to fake their emotional expressions (surface acting) when dealing with guests and those high in extraversion are more likely to try hard to invoke the appropriate emotions (deep acting). Results further indicate that surface actors are more exhausted and cynical than deep actors and the mediating role of emotional labor between burnout and job and personality characteristics is found to be rather weak. Managerial implications for hotel operators are discussed.     

Relationship between HEXACO personality factors and emotional labour of service providers in the tourism industry

This study aimed to 1) explore to what extent service providers’ emotional labour is affected by personality as measured using HEXACO personality factors, 2) analyze the affect of emotional labour on the performance of required emotional display rules, and 3) investigate differences in emotional labour depending on service providers’ demographic characteristics. From a questionnaire survey of employees in different service sectors in Korea, four HEXACO personality factors, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness were found to have a positive influence on emotional labour. Deep acting has a positive influence on the requirement to display positive emotions and a negative influence on the requirement to hide negative emotions. Demographic variables generally do not affect emotional labour. This study provides practical information about employees to managers in the service industry. It could help in recruitment, the management of human resources, and enhance a company’s service assessment.     

Transformational leadership and service recovery performance: The mediating effect of emotional labor and the influence of culture

The current study examined the relationship between transformational leadership and service recovery performance and the mediating effect of emotional labor. To uncover potential cross-cultural differences, a sample of 217 front-line hospitality employees from the United States (Study 1) and 219 front-line hospitality employees from China (Study 2) were used. The results demonstrate transformational leadership was positively related to deep acting and negatively related to surface acting emotional labor strategies. Additionally, deep acting was positively related to service recovery performance, while surface acting was negatively related to service recovery performance. These findings were consistent between the U.S. and Chinese sample; however, the mechanisms and paths between transformational leadership and service recovery performance differed between the two samples suggesting culture influenced how transformational leadership is related to service recovery performance through deep acting (Study 1) or surface acting (Study 2) emotional labor strategies.     

Effects of organizational/occupational characteristics and personality traits on hotel manager emotional exhaustion

Emotional exhaustion is a type of burnout and a state of mental weariness. It is an important issue for hospitality organizations because customer contact employees and hospitality managers function in an environment that is particularly susceptible to the creation of the antecedents of burnout. Further, emotional exhaustion itself is costly to hospitality organizations and individuals because it has been shown to result in depersonalization, detachment, decreased service quality and job performance, and increased turnover. Using a sample of 544 hotel managers from 36 hotels located throughout the United States, this study examines whether emotional exhaustion is a function of organizational and occupational characteristics, including job demands, quality orientation, pressure to produce, and need for “face time.” In addition, this study analyzes whether personality traits of the managers themselves, including extroversion and neuroticism, are predictors of emotional exhaustion. This study found emotional exhaustion of hotel managers to be a function of not only job and organizational characteristics, but also personality characteristics.     

Reducing burnout and enhancing job satisfaction: Critical role of hotel employees’ emotional intelligence and emotional labor

Despite its strong theoretical relevance with emotional labor, employees’ ability to understand and regulate emotions (i.e., emotional intelligence, EI) has seldom been studied, especially how it affects hotel employees responding to the firm's display rules (i.e., emotional labor) and experiencing burnout and job satisfaction. Thus, this study investigated direct and indirect effects of employees’ EI on two different forms of emotional labor (i.e., emotional effort: EE; emotional dissonance: ED): burnout and job satisfaction. Data were collected from 309 customer-contact hotel employees and managers in the United States. Results of structural equation modeling showed that EI had a direct, positive effect on EE and personal accomplishment and a direct, negative effect on ED and depersonalization. EI was also found to indirectly affect job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion through the mediating roles of personal accomplishment and ED, respectively. Additionally, ED was found to directly affect depersonalization and indirectly affect job satisfaction through emotional exhaustion while EE directly affects personal accomplishment and indirectly affects job satisfaction through personal accomplishment. Finally, personal accomplishment was found to mediate the depersonalization–job satisfaction relationship. Managerial implications for human resource practices are provided.     

Explaining the Link Between Emotional Labor and Turnover Intentions: The Role of In-Depth Communication

This study investigates the relationships between three different emotional labor strategies (surface acting, deep acting, and genuine emotions) and turnover intentions and introduces the role of in-depth communication with colleagues as a potential moderator. This study was administered to employees in four Chinese hotel companies. Frontline employees were asked to participate in the survey and 216 valid responses were obtained for data analysis. The results showed that surface acting and deep acting were associated with turnover intentions, and in-depth communication with colleagues moderated the relation between deep acting and turnover intentions. Although there was not a direct effect of genuine emotions on turnover intentions, in-depth communication was a significant moderator of this relation. These findings extend previous literature by demonstrating the role of in-depth communication in shaping employees’ retention.     

Negative affectivity and tipping: The moderating role of emotional labor strategies and leader-member exchange

Negative affectivity (NA) is a personality trait that is likely to impede hospitality employees’ ability to perform service due to their tendency to experience negative emotions that are inconsistent or even contrary to normative display rules.This study examined whether emotional labor strategies and the quality of the relationship with the manager (i.e., LMX) could help NA employees to perform service (expressed as financial gains measured in tip size).The sample was composed of 304 Israeli restaurant servers. The findings show that NA had a positive effect on tip size when engaging in high surface acting or deep acting; however, this effect was not significant for employees who were less engaged in emotional labor strategies. LMX moderated the relationship between NA and tips such that NA was positively related to tips for employees with a high quality LMX relationship but was negatively related to tips for employees with a low quality LMX relationship.     

Conflict,exhaustion, and motivation: A study of frontline employees in Northern Cyprus hotels

This study develops and tests a model that investigates the effects of work-family conflict, emotional exhaustion, and intrinsic motivation on affective job outcomes using data from frontline employees in Northern Cyprus hotels. Results show that work-family conflict is positively related to emotional exhaustion. Work-family conflict was found to be negatively associated with job satisfaction. However, the study results demonstrate that work-family conflict did not depict any significant relationships with affective organizational commitment and intention to leave. Results indicate that emotional exhaustion leads to job dissatisfaction, decreased affective organizational commitment, and high levels of intention to leave. Results reveal that intrinsic motivation is significantly related to emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, and affective organizational commitment. In addition, the study results provide empirical support for the positive impact of job satisfaction on affective organizational commitment and the negative effects of job satisfaction and affective commitment to the organization on intention to leave. Discussion and implications of the results are presented in the study.     

Going the extra (s)mile: Countermeasures to emotional labour dysregulation in Australian reef tourism

Emotional labour is important to the performance of interactive service work in the tourism industry. However, emotional labour dysregulation, defined as a difficulty in managing emotions in daily routines, may lead to negative outcomes. This study aimed to fill an important gap by gaining a better understanding of perceived countermeasures for effectively managing emotional labour dysregulation in tourism workers. Using snowball sampling to recruit participants, eight focus groups were conducted with 42 reef workers in Cairns (Australia), using a novel scenario-based technique for knowledge elicitation. Findings outline countermeasures to emotional labour dysregulation according to two themes: (1) individual-level strategies, and (2) broader system factors. Both themes deal with the demands of emotional labour. Knowledge about countermeasures to emotional labour dysregulation has the potential to support employees and in turn influence positive tourism experiences which can help the industry to achieve business success and positive customer reviews.     

Individual and group level antecedents and consequence of emotional labor of restaurant employees

The purposes of this study is two-fold: it examines antecedents and consequence of choosing an emotional labor strategy from the basis of the conservation of resource theory and it sub-divides preceding factors of emotional labor into an individual level (emotional intelligence [EI] and psychological contract) and a restaurant level (service under pressure). The research supported all the hypotheses proposed. Employees with high EI tend to select deep acting (DA), which is a driver of higher service performance. Service under pressure is a significant driver of employee surface acting (SA), which leads to poor service performance. In addition, DA enhances service performance, while SA impedes the effective delivery of services.     

The effect of economic anxiety and occupational burnout levels of tour guides on their occupational commitment

This study aims to reveal the effects of economic anxiety and burnout levels of active tour guides in Turkey on their occupational commitment. A questionnaire survey was conducted for this purpose on 370 active tour guides. Data were analysed using the path analysis and structural equation modelling. A negative relationship was found between the occupational commitment and burnout levels of tour guides and a strong positive relationship was found between the burnout and economic anxiety levels; it was also observed that the economic anxiety level only had a slight positive impact on continuance commitment.     

Hospitality service employees’ coping styles: The role of emotional intelligence,two basic personality traits,and socio-demographic factors

This study examines the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and three coping strategies (task-, emotion-, and avoidance-oriented coping) using an adult, hospitality industry population specifically in hotel and restaurant work environments. The hierarchical regression indicates that EI is by far the most dominant predictor of task coping among all selected explanatory variables; EI does not have much influence on emotion coping after the entry of two basic personality traits (neuroticism and extraversion); and EI is significantly related to avoidance coping encompassing distraction and social diversion. In addition, this study reveals the role played by age and work experience in individual coping efforts and a high possibility of female workers as a task-oriented coper in hospitality work settings.     

Abusive supervision and emotional labour on a daily basis: The role of employee mindfulness

This study examined the relationships between abusive supervision, subordinates' work engagement and their emotional labour on a daily basis. Based on an experience sampling study of 95 frontline hospitality employees over 10 working days, the results revealed the complex consequences of abusive supervision on subordinates in the hospitality industry. The results showed that daily abusive supervision was positively related to employees' daily surface acting through their daily work engagement, but it was not significantly related to daily deep acting. In addition, subordinates' mindfulness moderated the relationship between daily abusive supervision and subordinates' daily work engagement. These findings reveal employees’ daily responses to abusive supervision and can help tourism and hospitality managers develop relevant training programmes and policies to reduce the negative impact of abusive supervision and thus protect employee well-being.     

Understanding precedents for frontline employee turnover in luxury hotels: Emotional intelligence as a unifying factor

Current turnover research fails to serve the needs of an industry that is long plagued by employee turnover. Existing literature focuses more on evaluating bundles of human resource practices and fail to provide precise and clear guidance for practitioners. This study proposes that emotional intelligence (EI) unifies sufficient individual factors and organizational factors that affect employee turnover and serves as a single significant precedent for turnover. Data were collected from frontline employees at eight luxury hotels. The direct, indirect, and total impacts of employee EI on employee turnover were tested by structural equation modeling and bootstrap tests. The results suggest that EI has significant indirect impacts through the mediation of perceived organizational support, pay satisfaction and job burnout, and significant total impacts on turnover. Implication suggestions include integrating EI into the recruiting process for new employees and providing training opportunities for current employees to improve their EI.     

Rules of engagement: The role of emotional display rules in delivering conservation interpretation in a zoo-based tourism context

The shifting strategic focus of zoos from sites of recreation and entertainment to predominantly visitor conservation education entails a change in the design and delivery of conservation interpretation strategies. As the primary conveyers of conservation messages, zoo guides are expected to display appropriate emotional expression (emotional labour) to establish a connection between the object of interpretation, the conservation message and the visitor. The emotional display responses of guides to role demands may not be consistent with zoo conservation-based objectives beyond delivering a service-based positive visitor experience. We examine organisational expectations for emotional display in directing the delivery of conservation-based visitor outcomes. Findings from 21 semi-structured interviews with managers and guides at an open-range zoo indicate that sources and types of display rules for visitor entertainment remain more clearly communicated than those related to conservation. Theoretical and managerial implications for the delivery of conservation messages are discussed.