The impact of emotional labor in a retail environment
Introduction
Keeping employees satisfied and committed to the organization is a major challenge for retailers. Literature shows that both employee satisfaction and commitment increase performance (e.g., Dabholkar and Abston, 2008, Paulin et al., 2006) and decrease employee turnover intentions (e.g., Pettijohn, Pettijohn, & Taylor, 2007). However, the retail industry is faced with above average turnover rates (U.S. Department of Labor, 2010) and increasing training and administrative costs, which hinder firms from achieving optimal employee performance (Trevor & Nyberg, 2008). While research examines methods to increase employee satisfaction and commitment (Vandenberghe et al., 2007), a stream of research examining the impact of emotion is developing (Ashkanasy, Hartel, & Daus, 2002). The role of emotions in service encounters, however, is still underdeveloped despite the emerging literature (Hennig-Thurau, Groth, Paul, & Gremler, 2006). Given the limited research in the area, organizational behavior scholars call for a broader integrative view of emotions in the workplace (Bono, Foldes, Vinson, & Muros, 2007).
The research stream that addresses the role of emotions in service encounters involves emotional labor (e.g., Hennig-Thurau et al., 2006) and emotional exhaustion (e.g., Boles et al., 1997, Hamwi et al., 2011, Jaramillo et al., 2006). Emotional labor is the act of expressing organizationally desired emotions during service transactions (Morris & Feldman, 1996) and appears in studies of salespeople in a range of different workplace settings (e.g., Varca, 2009). Emotional labor is important in services because front-line employees engage in emotional work as part of their jobs, including greeting customers with a positive attitude. If employees express positive emotions when interacting with customers, the customers are likely to perceive these emotions. Hence, for the benefits of both employees and customers, employees should be able to successfully manage emotions, not inhibiting their emotions nor expressing insincere emotions. However, consensus among researchers has not been reached on either the theoretical or methodological grounds of emotional labor in regard to its construct definition (Glomb & Tews, 2004). To further compound the issue, the amount of empirical research on emotional labor in the workplace remains limited (Schaubroeck & Jones, 2000).
As a state of depletion and fatigue, emotional exhaustion is the primary component of burnout (e.g., Halbesleben & Bowler, 2007). The outcomes of emotional exhaustion can be particularly detrimental in the service industry because employees engage in a high level of interaction with customers, making them more prone to emotional exhaustion (Cordes & Dougherty, 1993). Presently, little consensus on the findings related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment exists (Babakus et al., 1999, Rutherford et al., 2009).
The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of the impact of emotions (emotional labor and emotional exhaustion) on employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment within an Eastern culture. To accomplish the purpose of this study, affective events theory and emotion regulation theory are used as the theoretical foundation. This study also takes place in South Korea, using a sample of retail sales employees to further develop the understanding of the emotional labor process model within the Eastern culture. Fig. 1 provides a graphical view of the examined model.
Section snippets
Model overview
The model examines how the emotional process influences employees' job related outcomes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment). The bulk of research on emotional labor examines its negative outcomes in relation to employee well-being (e. g. Morris & Feldman, 1996). This paper, however, argues that processing and regulating of emotions may produce psychological empowerment and improve morale among employees from which the additional job related outcomes stem. Unlike previous studies
Affective events theory
From a macro-level perspective that incorporates an emotional labor process of both individuals and firms, affective events theory captures the overall flow of the proposed model. Affective events theory is relevant in studies which examine emotions in organizations (e.g., Cole et al., 2008, Walter and Bruch, 2009). According to the theory, the nature of the job and the requirements for emotional labor affect behavior and work attitudes (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). As a combination of daily
Emotional labor
Emotional labor refers to situations wherein employees, especially those in client contact service occupations, are required to display emotions that may differ from the emotions they actually feel (Hochschild, 1979). Emotional labor is the “effort, planning, and control needed to express organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions” (Morris & Feldman, 1996: p. 987). The concept of emotional labor has particular relevance to service encounters because the behavior of
Hypothesized linkages
Although researchers are examining consequences of emotional labor (e.g., Glomb and Tews, 2004, Varca, 2009), findings are inconsistent, particularly between emotional labor and job satisfaction. Adelmann (1989) finds conflicting results in two studies. The results of the first study indicate that employees who engage in high amounts of emotional labor report lower levels of job satisfaction. A similar pattern of results in which emotional labor undermines job satisfaction appears within the
The sample
The sample consists of retail sales employees in South Korea. Sales employees from the five highest sales volume department stores in a major metropolitan area were invited to participate in the study. One hundred questionnaires were distributed in each of the five stores. The questionnaires were given to frontline retail sales employees who had direct contact with customers on a daily basis. A total of 221 questionnaires were returned by mail. Of the returned questionnaires, 213 usable
Data assessment
Prior to conducting the CFA, underlying assumptions of structural equation modeling (SEM) are examined. The skewness and kurtosis values for the observed data do not exceed 0.78 and 0.74, respectively. The values for summated scales also meet normality assumptions with the skewness and kurtosis values not exceeding 0.52 and 1.14, respectively. Hence, meeting the guidelines set by West, Finch, and Curran (1995). For multicollinearity, the values for the summated scales do not exceed 0.63,
Limitations and directions for future research
To the author's knowledge, this paper is the first to examine emotional labor and emotional exhaustion simultaneously in a model. Using additional samples to reassess the model and generalize findings may provide further validation for this model that is in a nascent stage of development. Specifically, examining samples from different countries and various occupations could enhance the findings more broadly.
Specifically, the linkage between emotional exhaustion and affective organizational
Conclusions
The proposed model attempts to explain the emotional labor process of employees. While more research is needed to evaluate and validate the model and the findings, the study captures crucial aspects that influence employees' emotional well-being. Emotional labor and emotional exhaustion comprise essential components in determining employees' performance. While emotional labor is related to both personal and organizational-related issues, emotional exhaustion seems to relate more closely with
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