Emotional labor: links to work attitudes and emotional exhaustion

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this study is to explore the links from self-focused emotional labor (surface acting) and other-focused emotional labor (emotional enhancement) to job satisfaction, affective commitment, emotional exhaustion, and intentions to quit. Design/methodology/approach -The study employed a cross-sectional survey of 363 nurses' aides and childcare workers. Findings -Surface acting, a type of self-focused emotional labor, was related to negative work outcomes (lower job satisfaction and affective commitment as well as higher turnover intentions and emotional exhaustion). Emotional enhancement, a form of other-focused emotional labor, was related to positive outcomes (lower turnover intentions and emotional exhaustion) when performed for clients' family members, but not for clients.Research limitations/implications -The cross sectional design of this study limits the ability to map the temporal ordering of these relationships, and thus to determine if emotional enhancement is a job resource or response to positive work experiences. In addition, two helping occupations -nurses' aides and child care workers -were sampled, and thus, the findings may not generalize to other types of occupations. Originality/value -This study adds to the research about job-related emotional labor because other-focused emotional labor largely has been neglected in previous research. In addition, it is the first to differentiate workers' emotional labor with different groups of clients (patients/children; family members).

The relationship between employees’ competences and the consequences and manner of exercising emotional labour (EL)

“…In accordance with the results of international research (Gardney, 2003;Hwa, 2012;Judge et al, 2009;Morris, & Feldman, 1996;Seery & Corrigall, 2009;Totterdell, & Holman, 2003), analyses have demonstrated that surface role-playing is correlated with a higher level of professional burnout, whereas there is no such correlation in the case of deep acting.…”

“…As Brotheridge and Gardney (2002) conclude: although both surface and deep acting allow employees to express the emotions desired by the organisation, the physiological state produced by the actual emotions felt remains, which may negatively influence employee health and level of stress. The effect of such influence may be the emergence of professional burnout in an employee affected by emotional labour (Babakus et al, 2011;Brotheridge & Grandey, 2002;Grandey, 2003;Hochschild, 2009;Hülsheger & Schewe, 2011, Hwa, 2012Jin & Guy, 2009, Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, 2001Seery & Corrigall, 2009, Zapf, Seifert, Schmutte, & Mertini, & Holz, 2001). …”

“…Such work can give rise to both positive consequences, e.g., taking pride in or having high satisfaction with work (Jin & Guy, 2009), and negative consequences connected with emotional exhaustion (Seery & Corrigall, 2009), professional burnout (Babakus, Yavas, & Ashill, 2011;Jin & Guy, 2009), or lower commitment or absence from work (Chau, Dahling, Levy, & Diefendorff, 2009). Enterprises that introduce behavioural standards regulating emotional reactions hope to produce positive effects such as customer satisfaction and loyalty as well as increased organisational revenue (Hwa, 2012) but underestimate the negative consequences of the phenomenon.…”

Affective commitment and turnover intentions among healthcare professionals: the role of emotional exhaustion and disengagement

“…A growing body of research has investigated the impact of the work environment on these key dimensions of burnout (Seery and Corrigall 2009;Canivet et al 2010), but as of yet there has been limited work on examining the mechanisms by which both dimensions influence key work attitudes. In line with previous studies (Thanacoody, Bartram and Casimir 2009;Cole, Bernerth, Walter and Holt 2010), we treat emotional exhaustion as the main explanatory variable to understand the lack of commitment and high levels of turnover intentions among health-care professionals, but use the COR to explain how disengagement might mediate its impact rather than act separately as a antecedent.…”

Effect of Emotional Labor on Emotional Exhaustion and Work Attitudes among Hospitality Employees in India

“…Research has indicated that surface acting may lead to reduced employee health and well-being, lower job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and increased turnover intentions (Brotheridge & Lee, 2003;Grandey, 2003;Johnson & Spector, 2007 Woolf, & Hurst, 2009;Seery & Corrigall, 2009). On the other hand, frequent use of deep acting has been observed to have positive consequences for the employees as well as for the organization.…”