The present study examines the process of emotional labor as performed by customer service employees. This research investigates some of the consequences of performing emotional labor such as emotional exhaustion, affective well-being, and job satisfaction, and attempts to determine which individual and organizational variables play moderating roles in these relationships. One hundred and seventy-six participants from 10 customer service organizations, ranging from retail stores to call centers, completed a 126-item survey. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. Results indicate that gender, emotional intelligence, and autonomy are key moderator variables in the relationship between emotional labor and emotional exhaustion, affective well-being, and job satisfaction. Females are more likely to experience negative consequences when engaging in surface acting. Individuals high in emotional intelligence experienced positive outcomes as emotional labor increased, and the converse is true for those low in emotional intelligence. Autonomy serves to alleviate negative outcomes primarily at the higher levels of emotional labor.

Organizations across the United States and in many parts of the globe are increasingly focused on providing their customers with an excellent service experience by implementing organizational emotion display rules (Hochschild, 1983). These display rules dictate the requisite employee emotions for a particular encounter (Ekman, 1973). However, over the course of a work day display rules may call for expressions that contradict an employee's genuine emotions, thus prompting a discrepancy between felt emotions and required emotions -- emotional dissonance (Hochschild, 1983). Emotional labor involves employee efforts to reduce emotional dissonance in order to adhere to organizational display rules (Hochschild, 1983; Grandey, 2000). Hochschild (1983) identified two emotional labor strategies that may be used by employees -- surface acting (managing observable expressions to obey display rules) and deep acting (corresponds to managing feelings in order to actually feel the emotion required by the display rules). This study examined emotional intelligence, affectivity and gender as potential antecedents of an employee's choice of emotional labor strategy in order to meet organizational display rules. I also investigated the differential impact of the emotional labor strategies on the individual outcomes of emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction, and service performance.Correlation and moderated regression analyses as well as structural equation modeling were employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Two hundred and twenty-three employee-supervisor pairs completed surveys to examine the research hypotheses. Correlation results indicate that emotional intelligence, affectivity and gender related to the emotional labor strategies in the expected directions. Similarly, deep acting and surface acting displayed differential relationships with emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and service performance. Moderated regression analyses suggest that females were more likely to report negative outcomes when engaging in surface acting. Structural equation modeling results indicate that affectivity predicted choice of the emotional labor strategies, which in turn predicted the outcomes of emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and service performance.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Emotions play a critical role within the workplace, impacting employees' well-being, motivation, productivity, colleague relationships, and overall workplace culture. As a designer, my objective was to address emotional issues in the workplace by developing a tool capable of recognizing and effectively managing emotions. Through a comprehensive research process involving workshops, interviews, and surveys with employees, I identified self-awareness as a fundamental and essential aspect in addressing emotional issues within organisations. Building upon these findings, I created a design tool named "How are you feeling now?" which prompts employees to reflect upon their emotions while providing resources for their effective management. This service incorporates features such as emotion recording and the presentation of emotion history, facilitating users' self-reflection on their emotional states. I dedicated efforts to visually represent the various elements associated with emotions in this tool, aiming to enable individuals to scrutinise their emotions with greater attentiveness and depth. It is my intention that this visualisation process captivates users' interest and encourages them to momentarily embrace and acknowledge their emotions. Furthermore, by visually displaying the historical record of emotions, my goal is to assist employees in understanding that emotions constitute an ongoing accumulation of valuable data. Ultimately, I aspire for this heightened self-awareness to yield positive behavioural transformations by enabling individuals to regulate and transform their emotions effectively.

Tant au niveau de la littérature que des pratiques, ce n’est que récemment que la GRH considère la composante émotionnelle au travail (Allouche, 2012). Pourtant, le courant des Relations Humaines, et diverses disciplines distinctes de la GRH, ont intégré cette dimension depuis les années 1930. À partir des travaux de Weiss et Cropanzano (1996) en comportements organisationnels, de Salovey et Mayer (1990 et 1997) et de Gross (Gross 1998 et 2014 ; Gross & John, 2003) en psychologie, d’Hochschild (1998, 2003a et 2003b) et de Goffman (1959, 1969 et 1973) en sociologie, de recherches en GRH et sociologie du travail à propos du soutien social et des régulations sociales (Reynaud, 1988, 1997 et 2003 ; Ruiller, 2010), notre thèse exploite et combine une diversité de cadres théoriques, afin d’explorer les fonctions et les régulations des émotions au travail dans quatre métiers sujets à incidents émotionnels : policiers, urgentistes, enseignants en REP+ et téléconseillers en centre d’appels. À travers une étude de cas multiple au sein de ces secteurs, nous avons triangulé les données issues d’ethnographies, de 107 entretiens, et de documentations, afin d’analyser les cas de ces professionnels en primo contact avec un public, dans une optique comparative. D’une part, nous faisons émerger un modèle d’application managériale revisitant l’analyse des facteurs de RPS, et des préconisations managériales opérationnelles, ces apports intéressant la préservation de la santé de l’individu, et la qualité de service. D’autre part, nous introduisons un modèle théorique général de structuration du processus émotionnel au travail, intégrant le concept de « régulation émotionnelle collective ». Cet apport principal de la thèse, à la GRH, envisage les émotions à la fois comme des objets, des outils et des effets du travail, retentissant sur la santé de l’individu et sur la qualité du service. / At a theoretical as well as practical level, it is only recently that the emotional component of work has been taken into account by the HRM (Allouche, 2012). However, since the 1930s, the Human Relations movement and various disciplines distinct from HRM, have included this dimension. In order to examine the emotional functions and regulations of work through four different lines of work most prone to emotional incidents, such as police officers, emergency room staff, teachers in priority education zone, and call center operators, this PhD dissertation exploits and combines various theoretical frameworks. The latter are based on the research conducted by Weiss and Cropanzano (1996) in organizational behaviors, by Salovey and Mayer (1990, 1997) and Gross (Gross, 1998, 2014 ; Gross & John 2003) in psychology, by Hochschild (1998, 2003a, 2003b) and Goffman (1959, 1969, 1973) in sociology, and on studies about social support and social regulations in HRM and sociology of work (Reynaud, 1988, 1997, 2003 ; Ruiller, 2010).To analyze the cases of these professions that involve direct contact with the public from a comparative perspective, we have triangulated data from ethnographies, 107 interviews, and documentation, through a multiple case study within these sectors. On the one hand, we offer a managerial application model revisiting the analysis of the psychosocial factors, as well as operational managerial recommendations, as they help preserve both the professional’s health, and quality of service. On the other hand, we introduce a general theoretical model structuring the emotional process at work, that integrates the concept of "collective emotional regulation". This main contribution of the PhD dissertation to HRM, is that it views emotions as objects, tools and effects of work, which impact the individual’s health and the quality of service.