Effect of emotional labor on customer satisfaction: The study of multiple moderators in hospitality industry of Pakistan

Authors

  • Kamran Ghaffar Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore, Pakistan
  • Mubbasher Munir Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore, Pakistan.
  • Osama Aziz Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
  • Noman Arshed Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31580/jmi.v8i4.2097

Keywords:

Emotional Labor, Customer Satisfaction, Multivariate, Factor Analysis and Moderator

Abstract

Emotional labor is the foremost focus for both academicians and practitioners of human resource management from the last two decades. It has become mandatory job for service workers to create, sustain and construct progressive emotional state with customer throughout service encounter process. Different emotional labor strategies execute by service worker capitulate diverse outcomes, since customer may perceive them as fake, robotic or sincere. This study is discussing the relationship between emotional labor and customer satisfaction in the context of hospitality industry in Pakistan. The contemporary research portrays the effect of emotional labor on customer satisfaction by the role of three key moderators which are self-monitoring, co-worker support and customer satisfaction. The selected context is hotel industry of Pakistan which incorporates all five star hotels representing different provinces of country. Accumulated sample size comprises 185 respondents exemplifying front office department of all five star hotels of country. Multivariate data analysis techniques like exploratory factor analysis (EFA), cronbach's alpha and linear multiple regressions for moderators through Hayes process have been used to analyze the data. Data analysis postulates constructive set of findings. Results demonstrates that role of emotional labor is substantial in order to achieve customer satisfaction. Emotional labor is more effective due to deployment of three moderators which are self-monitoring, co-worker support and customer participation. Another noteworthy outcome of research is that, deep acting is more prone towards customer satisfaction in comparison with surface acting. Lastly, this study is dynamic for practitioners in hotel industry and provides valuable insight in this context. In the end limitations and future directions are made by researcher.

References

Adelmann, P. K. (1995). Emotional labor as a potential source of job stress. In S. L. Sauter & L. R. Murphy (Eds.), Organizational risk factors for job stress (p. 371-381). Americal Psychological Association

Anderson, E. W. (1994). Cross-category variation in customer satisfaction and retention. Marketing letters, 5(1), 19-30.

Anderson, E. W., & Fornell, C. (1994). A customer satisfaction research prospectus. Service quality: New directions in theory and practice, 14(1), 239-266.

Arshed, N., Alamgir, S., & Aziz, O. (2017). Structural determinants of poverty in Pakistan. International Journal of Economics and Financial Research, 3(1), 1-7.

Arshed, N. (2019). An Investigation into Entrepreneurship Determining Factors: The Case of Asian Economies. Organization Theory Review, 3(1), 1-20.

Ashforth, B. E., & Humphrey, R. H. (1993). Emotional labor in service roles: The influence of identity. Academy of management review, 18(1), 88-115.

Asif, K. M. (2012). Impact of emotional labour on emotional exhaustion, and moderating role of social support: an empirical study on hospitality industry in Pakistan. Актуальні проблеми економіки(5), 321-329.

Aziz, O., Grant, K. A., & Arshed, N. (2020). Does entrepreneurial activity assist in the alleviation of poverty?. The Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 22(7), 114-132.

Bae, Y. H. (2012). Three essays on the customer satisfaction-customer loyalty association. PhD Thesis, University of Iowa

Bhattacharjee, C. (2007). Service sector management: An Indian perspective: Jaico Publishing House.

Brotheridge, C. M., & Grandey, A. A. (2002). Emotional labor and burnout: Comparing two perspectives of “people work”. Journal of vocational behavior, 60(1), 17-39.

Cermak, D. S., File, K. M., & Prince, R. A. (1994). Customer participation in service specification and delivery. Journal of Applied Business Research, 10(2), 90.

Cronin Jr, J. J., & Taylor, S. A. (1992). Measuring service quality: a reexamination and extension. The journal of marketing, 55-68.

De Vaus, D. (2013). Surveys in social research: 6th Edition Routledge.

Deepthi, P. V. (2015). Management of Emotional Labour in Tourism and Hospitality Industry in Kerala. The International Journal of Business & Management, 3(1), 202.

Diefendorff, J. M., & Richard, E. M. (2003). Antecedents and consequences of emotional display rule perceptions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(2), 284.

Ekman, P. (1973). Cross-cultural studies of facial expression. Darwin and facial expression: A century of research in review, 169-222.

Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of everyday life. New York et al.: Anchor Books.

Goodwin, C., & Radford, R. (1993). Models of service delivery: an integrative perspective. Advances in services marketing and management, 2, 231-252.

Grandey, A. A. (2000). Emotional regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize emotional labor. Journal of occupational health psychology, 5(1), 95.

Grant, K. A., Aziz, O., & Arshed, N. (2019). The Impact of Entrepreneurial Activity on Poverty Alleviation. Economic and Social Development: Book of Proceedings, 215-224.

Grant, K. A., Croteau, M., & Aziz, O. (2019). Fact vs. Fiction: The Role of Angel Investment in New Venture Survival. In ISPIM Conference Proceedings (pp. 1-16). The International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM).

Grant, K. A., Croteau, M., & Aziz, O. (2019). The Survival Rate of Startups Funded by Angel Investors. I-INC WHITE PAPER SERIES: MAR, 2019, 1-21.

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(5), 958-974.

Grove, S. J., Fisk, R. P., John, J., Swartz, T., & Iacobucci, D. (2000). Services as theater. Handbook of Services Marketing and Management. Sage Publications, CA, 21-35.

Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2006). Multivariate data analysis (Vol. 6): Pearson Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, J. T., & Rapson, R. L. (1994). Emotional contagion: Cambridge university press.

Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach: Guilford Press.

Heskett, J. L., Jones, T. O., Loveman, G. W., Sasser, W. E., & Schlesinger, L. A. (2008). Putting the service-profit chain to work. Harvard Business Review.

Hanif, N., Arshed, N., & Aziz, O. (2020). On interaction of the energy: Human capital Kuznets curve? A case for technology innovation. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 22(8), 7559-7586.

Hochschild, A. (1983). The managed heart. ed: Berkeley: University of California Press.

Hochschild, A. R. (2012). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling: Univ of California Press.

Hur, W.-M., Moon, T.-W., & Jung, Y. S. (2015). Customer response to employee emotional labor: the structural relationship between emotional labor, job satisfaction, and customer satisfaction. Journal of Services Marketing, 29(1), 71-80.

Ishaq, M. I. (2011). An empirical investigation of customer satisfaction and behavioral responses in Pakistani banking sector. Management & Marketing, 6(3), 457.

James, N. (1989). Emotional labour: skill and work in the social regulation of feelings. The sociological review, 37(1), 15-42.

Johanson, M. M., & Woods, R. H. (2008). Recognizing the Emotional Element of Service Excellence. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 49(3), 310-316

Johnson, H.-A. M., & Spector, P. E. (2007). Service with a smile: do emotional intelligence, gender, and autonomy moderate the emotional labor process? Journal of occupational health psychology, 12(4), 319.

Jung, H. S., & Yoon, H. H. (2014). Antecedents and consequences of employees’ job stress in a foodservice industry: Focused on emotional labor and turnover intent. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 38, 84-88.

Khan, M. (2012). Challenges affecting the toursim industry in Pakistan. Available at https://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/52592

Kinman, G., Wray, S., & Strange, C. (2011). Emotional labour, burnout and job satisfaction in UK teachers: The role of workplace social support. Educational Psychology, 31(7), 843-856.

Kopp, L. R. (2013). The Effects of Perceived Supervisor Work-Life Support on Employee Work-Life Balance, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Unpublished master thesis, University of Wisconsin, Menomonie.

Kueh, S., & Bagul, A. H. B. P. (2012). The Effects of Nonverbal Communication of Hotel Employees upon Emotional Responses of Hotel Guests. Universiti Malaysia Sabah.

LE, N. (2010). Service quality and customer satisfaction in the hotel industry. Available at https://www.politesi.polimi.it/handle/10589/13105

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(4), 1101-1112.

Lee, S. Y., Aziz, Y. A., Sidin, S. M., & Saleh, R. O. S. L. I. (2014). The influence of emotional labour strategies on customer satisfaction and word of mouth recommendations in group tours. International Journal of Economics and Management, 8, 81-96.

Leech, N. L., Barrett, K. C., & Morgan, G. A. (2005). SPSS for intermediate statistics: Use and interpretation: Psychology Press.

Liu, C., Liu, X., & Geng, Z. (2013). Emotional labor strategies and service performance: the mediating role of employee creativity. Journal of Applied Business Research, 29(5), 1583.

Liu, Y., & Zhang, D. (2014). Development of Questionnaire on Emotional Labor among Primary and Secondary School Teachers. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 3(1), 46-55.

Mahoney, K. T. (2012). Individual differences and emotional labor: An experiment on positive display rules. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(3), 251-256.

Munir, M., Abbas, M., Grant, K. A., Arshed, N., & Aziz, O. (2021). Behavioural Determinants of Impulse Buying-An Empirical Study of a Metropolitan Hub of Pakistan. Journal of Applied Business & Economics, 23(4).

Morris, J. A., & Feldman, D. C. (1996). The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor. Academy of management review, 21(4), 986-1010.

Naqvi, F. (2013). Emotional Labour A Study of Moderators and Outcomes in Hotel Industry. Management and Labour Studies, 38(4), 471-482.

Oliver, R. L. (1980). A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions. Journal of marketing research, 460-469.

Oliver, R. L., Rust, R. T., & Varki, S. (1997). Customer delight: foundations, findings, and managerial insight. Journal of retailing, 73(3), 311-336.

Olsen, S. O. (2002). Comparative evaluation and the relationship between quality, satisfaction, and repurchase loyalty. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 30(3), 240-249.

Pituch, K. A. (2015). Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences: Routledge.

Pugh, S. D. (2001). Service with a smile: Emotional contagion in the service encounter. Academy of Management Journal, 44(5), 1018-1027.

Rathi, N. (2013). Please Smile While You Serve: Do Employees Pay a Hidden Cost for “Serving with a Smile?”. NMIMS Management Reviews, 23, 33-44.

Schneider, B. (1994). HRM-a service perspective: towards a customer-focused HRM. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 5(1), 64-76.

Schneider, B., & Bowen, D. E. (1985). Employee and customer perceptions of service in banks: Replication and extension. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70(3), 423.

Shani, A., Uriely, N., Reichel, A., & Ginsburg, L. (2014). Emotional Labor in the hospitality industry: The inflence of contextual factors. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 37, 150-158

Sheela, A. (2007). Economics of Hotel Management: bohem press.

Stevens, J. P. (2012). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences: Routledge.

Sundaram, D., & Webster, C. (2000). The role of nonverbal communication in service encounters. Journal of Services Marketing, 14(5), 378-391.

Tang, C., Seal, C. R., & Naumann, S. E. (2013). Emotional labor strategies, customer cooperation and buying decisions. Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 13, 1.

Tara, N., Arshed, N., Aziz, O., & Yamin, M. (2020). Can Financial Assistance Mediate the Training and Human Capital Relationship for Pakistani Women Micro Entrepreneurs?. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 10(4), 80.

Tews, M. J., Stafford, K., & Michel, J. W. (2014). Life happens and people matter: Critical events, constituent attachment, and turnover among part-time hospitality employees. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 38, 99-105.

Tucker, E. D. (2011). AN EXPERIMENTAL AND CAUSAL STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF TRAINING ON SERVICE EMPLOYEES’EMOTIONAL LABOR AND WELL-BEING. Oklahoma State University.

Walsh, G., & Bartikowski, B. (2013). Employee emotional labour and quitting intentions: moderating effects of gender and age. European Journal of Marketing, 47(8), 1213-1237.

Wattanakamolchai, S. (2013). Managing Customer Participation in the Service Production Process. Último acesso em Junho.

Wharton, A. S. (1993). The affective consequences of service work managing emotions on the job. Work and occupations, 20(2), 205-232.

Whitman, D. S., Van Rooy, D. L., & Viswesvaran, C. (2010). Satisfaction, citizenship behaviors, and performance in work units: A meta‐analysis of collective construct relations. Personnel Psychology, 63(1), 41-81.

Wu, M.-H., & Yuan, Y.-H. (2012). Research on the Influence of Emotional Labor Strategy used by Public Transportation Employee on Service Satisfaction. International Journal of Social and Human Sciences, 6, 254-258.

Yi, Y., & Zeithaml, V. A. (1990). A critical review of consumer satisfaction. Review of marketing, 4(1), 68-123.

Yin, H. (2012). Adaptation and validation of the teacher emotional labour strategy scale in China. Educational Psychology, 32(4), 451-465.

Zapf, D. (2002). Emotion work and psychological well-being: A review of the literature and some conceptual considerations. Human resource management review, 12(2), 237-268.

Downloads

Published

2024-04-15

Issue

Section

Research Article

How to Cite

Effect of emotional labor on customer satisfaction: The study of multiple moderators in hospitality industry of Pakistan. (2024). Journal of Management Info, 8(4), 253-279. https://doi.org/10.31580/jmi.v8i4.2097

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Similar Articles

101-110 of 113

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.