Customer response to employee emotional labor: the structural relationship between emotional labor, job satisfaction, and customer satisfaction. Issue 1 (9th February 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hur, Won-Moo; Moon, Tae-Won; Jung, Yeon Sung
• Is Part Of: Journal of services marketing. Volume 29:Issue 1(2015)
• Page Start: 71
• Page End: 80
• Publication Date: 2015-02-09
• Subjects: Service industries -- Periodicals; Customer services -- Periodicals; 658.802
• DOI: 10.1108/JSM-07-2013-0161
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0887-6045

Abstract

<abstract> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Purpose</title> <p> – This study aims to extend emotional labor theories to the customer outcomes by examining a theoretical model of how emotional labor performed by the service worker affects customer satisfaction in a mediated way. </p> </sec> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Design/methodology/approach</title> <p> – Structural equation modeling analyses partially support for our hypotheses from 282 dyadic survey data [i.e. service interactions customers (seniors) and service employees (caregivers)] from a home caregiver firm in South Korea. </p> </sec> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Findings</title> <p> – The results of our study found that employee's emotional regulation strategies of deep acting and surface acting differentially affect customer satisfaction, and that employee's job satisfaction mediates the relationship between employee's emotional regulation strategies and customer satisfaction. More specifically, the relationship between surface acting and customer satisfaction is fully mediated by employee's job satisfaction, whereas the relationship between deep acting and customer satisfaction is partially mediated by employee's job satisfaction. </p> </sec> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Originality/value</title> <p> – Our study is the first to provide an empirical test of how employee job satisfaction mediates the relationship between employee emotional labor and customer satisfaction in service interactions. This research sheds light on the crucial role of employee job satisfaction that can be an important consideration to boost service quality and customer satisfaction by facilitating employee emotional labor.</p> </sec> </abstract>