Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:59:35.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The missing links between emotional job demand and exhaustion and satisfaction: testing a moderated mediation model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2015

Wenyan Wang ,
Hongbiao Yin  and
Shenghua Huang
Wenyan Wang
Affiliation:
School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
Hongbiao Yin*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China
Shenghua Huang
Affiliation:
School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
*
Corresponding author: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although emotional labor in the workplace has been of increasing interest to researchers, the complete process of emotional labor has seldom been systematically analyzed. This paper explores the links between emotional job demand and its psychological effects on employees, with a particular focus on the mediation of emotional labor strategies and the moderation of social support. The results of a survey of 679 Chinese employees in the service sector reveal that emotional job demand significantly increases emotional exhaustion and reduces job satisfaction. Two emotional labor strategies, surface acting and deep acting, partially mediate these associations. Social support significantly moderates the relationships between deep acting and emotional job demand and its psychological effects, but does not do so for surface acting. Suggestions are offered accordingly for organizations wishing to reduce the negative influence of emotional labor on employees and improve the efficiency of service enterprises.

Keywords

emotional job demandemotional labor strategiessocial supportconservation of resourcesmoderated mediation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 80 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Austin, E. J., Dore, T. P., & O’Donovan, K. M. (2008). Associations of personality and emotional intelligence with display rule perceptions and emotional labour. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 677–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bakker, A. B., & Heuven, E. (2006). Emotional dissonance, burnout, and in-role performance among nurses and police officers. International Journal of Stress Management, 13, 423–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bozionelos, N., & Kiamou, K. (2008). Emotion work in the Hellenic frontline services environment: how it relates to emotional exhaustion and work attitudes. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19, 1108–1130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brotheridge, C. M., & Grandey, A. A. (2002). Emotional labor and burnout: Comparing two perspectives of “people work”. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60, 17–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brotheridge, C. M., & Lee, R. T. (2002). Testing a conservation of resources model of the dynamics of emotional labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 7, 57–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, F. C., Ku, E. C. S., Shyr, Y. H., Chen, F. H., & Chou, S. S. (2009). Job demand, emotional awareness, and job satisfaction in internships: The moderating effect of social support. Social Behavior and Personality, 37, 1429–1440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cordes, C. L., & Dougherty, T. W. (1993). A review and an integration of research on job burnout. Academy of Management Review, 18, 621–656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Côté, S., & Morgan, L. M. (2002). A longitudinal analysis of the association between emotion regulation, job satisfaction, and intentions to quit. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 947–962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diefendorff, J. M., Croyle, M. H., & Gosserand, R. H. (2005). The dimensionality and antecedents of emotional labor strategies. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66, 339–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, J. R., & Lambert, L. (2007). Methods for integrating moderation and mediation: A general analytical framework using moderated path analysis. Psychological Methods, 12, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grandey, A. A. (2000). Emotion regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize emotional labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5, 95–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Groth, M., Hennig-Thurau, T., & Walsh, G. (2009). Customer reactions to emotional labor: The roles of employee acting strategies and customer detection accuracy. Academy of Management Journal, 52, 958–974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harman, H. (1967). Modern factor analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hayes, A. F. (2012). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Columbus, CA: Guilford.Google Scholar
Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44, 513–525.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hobfoll, S. E. (2002). Social and psychological resources and adaptation. Review of General Psychology, 6, 307–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Jackson, S. E., Schwab, R. L., & Schuler, R. S. (1986). Toward an understanding of the burnout phenomenon. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 630–640.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, H. A., & Spector, P. E. (2007). Service with a smile: Do emotional intelligence, gender, and autonomy moderate the emotional labour process? Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12, 319–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Judge, T. A., Locke, E. A., Durham, C. C., & Kluger, A. N. (1998). Dispositional effects on job and life satisfaction: The role of core evaluations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 17–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karasek, R. A. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 285–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karim, J., & Weisz, R. (2011). Emotional intelligence as a moderator of affectivity/emotional labor and emotional labor/psychological distress relationships. Psychological Studies, 56, 348–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kawada, T., & Otsuka, T. (2011). Relationship between job stress, occupational position and job satisfaction using a brief job stress questionnaire (BJSQ). Work, 40, 393–399.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, H. J. (2008). Hotel service providers’ emotional labor: The antecedents and effects on burnout. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 27, 151–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landy, F. J. (1989). Psychology of work behavior. New York, NY: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Progress on a cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion. American Psychologist, 46, 819–834.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, J. J., & Ok, C. (2012). Reducing burnout and enhancing job satisfaction: Critical role of hotel employees’ emotional intelligence and emotional labor. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31, 1101–1103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1986). MBI: Maslach burnout inventory. Palo Alto, CA: University of California.Google Scholar
Morris, J. A., & Feldman, D. C. (1997). Managing emotions in the workplace. Journal of Managerial Issues, 9, 257–274.Google Scholar
Narasimhan, R., & Jayaram, J. (2008). An empirical investigation of the antecedents and consequences of manufacturing gal achievement in North American, European and Pan Pacific Firms. Journal of Operations Management, 16, 159–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Peng, K. Z., Wong, C. S., & Che, H. S. (2007). The missing link between emotional demands and exhaustion. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25, 777–798.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 879–903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36, 717–731.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Preacher, K. J., Rucker, D. D., & Hayes, A. F. (2007). Addressing moderated mediation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 42, 185–227.Google ScholarPubMed
Schneider, B., & Bowen, D. E. (1985). Employee and customer perceptions of service in banks: Replication and extension. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 423–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, B. A., & Barnes, C. M. (2011). A multilevel field investigation of emotional labor, affect, work withdrawal, and gender. Academy of Management Journal, 54, 116–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shrout, P. E. (1998). Measurement reliability and agreement in psychiatry. Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 7, 301–317.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stevens, L. (2012). “Feeling bodies” in marketing: Aesthetics, emotions and gender. Marketing Review, 12, 141–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, S., & Tyler, M. (2000). Emotional labour and sexual difference in the airline industry. Work, Employment and Society, 14, 77–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thoits, P. A. (2011). Mechanisms linking social ties and support to physical and mental health. Journal of Health & Social Behavior, 52, 145–161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed