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Connection or competence: Emotional labor and service quality’s impact on satisfaction and loyalty

Andrew Moreo (Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA)
Robert Woods (William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA)
Gail Sammons (William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA)
Christine Bergman (Department of Food and Beverage, Willam F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA)

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

ISSN: 0959-6119

Article publication date: 11 December 2018

Issue publication date: 30 January 2019

1590

Abstract

Purpose

As a service segment, the food and beverage industry has great potential for intensive interface between the consumer and the service provider and between the service provider and the back of the house staff. Given the significance of the perception of the provision of service to the consumer, it is important to study every aspect of the interaction. With this in mind, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between emotional labor, service quality, purpose of consumption, satisfaction and customer loyalty as seen through the perceptions of the consumer.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were collected from 400 respondents using an online market research firm in the USA. This research used three independent variables (emotional labor, service quality and purpose of consumption), each with two levels in a between-subjects 2 × 2 × 2 factorial experimental design. Eight scenarios were used to represent the eight different combinations of variables to test their effects.

Findings

Two very interesting findings emerged from this study. The first was that consumers’ purpose of consumption, whether dining for leisure or business, had no significant impact on their satisfaction or loyalty, either independently or in conjunction with emotional labor or service quality. The second most interesting finding was that the interaction of service quality and emotional labor did have a significant impact on satisfaction but not loyalty.

Practical implications

A restaurants’ standards of service should be the same, regardless of the business or leisure demographic being served. Authenticity matters, and therefore, employers should incorporate personality evaluation into the hiring process. Perhaps, focusing more on attitude and less on skill would lead to great customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Originality/value

This article furthers the relatively young research stream examining the impacts of emotional labor on the consumer.

Keywords

Citation

Moreo, A., Woods, R., Sammons, G. and Bergman, C. (2019), "Connection or competence: Emotional labor and service quality’s impact on satisfaction and loyalty", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 330-348. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-03-2017-0176

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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