Search results
1 – 2 of 2Panikkos Constanti and Paul Gibbs
Service organizations are encouraged to consider the manner in which employees perform at the customer/front‐line employee interface, as a means to gain competitive advantage. The…
Abstract
Service organizations are encouraged to consider the manner in which employees perform at the customer/front‐line employee interface, as a means to gain competitive advantage. The employee's behaviour requires “emotional labour” where the front‐line employee (academic), has to either conceal or manage actual feelings for the benefit of a successful service delivery. The implication is not necessarily of equality or mutual benefit, but of satisfaction for the customer (student) and profit for the management. The paper discusses whether the academic is being exploited in this three‐way relationship. To illustrate this argument, data gathered from in‐depth interviews at a higher education institution are used. The research is of value as an aid for the management and support of academic staff in an age of managerialism and to the notion of the student as customer.
Details
Keywords
Yuyan Zhang and Alexandra Luong
The current study aims to examine the antecedents and outcomes of emotional labor strategies (i.e. surface acting and deep acting) among service employees in China. The study…
Abstract
Purpose
The current study aims to examine the antecedents and outcomes of emotional labor strategies (i.e. surface acting and deep acting) among service employees in China. The study proposed employees’ perceived closeness with customers and customers’ socioeconomic status will predict deep acting and surface acting, respectively. It further examined the mediating role of emotional labor between perceived customer attributes and employee well-being (i.e. burnout and job satisfaction).
Design/methodology/approach
One hundred and one employees at a jewelry store in China completed a survey regarding their perceptions of customers, use of emotional labor and well-being (e.g. job satisfaction and burnout). Correlational and regression analyses were conducted to examine the predictors and outcomes of different emotional labor strategies.
Findings
Perceived closeness with the customer group predicted employees’ use of deep acting, whereas perceived customer socioeconomic status did not predict the use of surface acting. Deep acting was negatively related with burnout, whereas surface acting did not predict burnout. Deep acting mediated the relationship between perceived closeness with customers and burnout.
Practical implications
To maintain employee well-being, organizations can promote a service climate to enhance employees’ perceived relationship with customers.
Originality/value
The study specifies the interpersonal context in which employees use different emotional labor strategies; the perceived closeness with customers predicts less burnout via the use of more deep acting. This study also supplements the existing research on emotional labor based on a Chinese sample; deep acting predicts employee well-being.
Details