Does a leader’s “partiality” affect employees’ proactivity in the hospitality industry? A cross-level analysis

Abstract

• This research develops a hierarchical linear model illustrating the effect of LMX differentiation on PCSP. • Emotional labor sheds light on the influence mechanism of LMX differentiation on PCSP. • Moderating of positive emotional climate on the effect reveals the boundary of work context. • LMX differentiation and positive emotional climate enrich the antecedents at the group level in proactivity research. This study examined the impact of leader-member exchange (LMX) differentiation on employees’ proactive customer service performance (PCSP). A cross-level model of LMX differentiation, emotional labor, PCSP, and group positive emotional climate was proposed and tested on a sample of 44 groups consisting of 294 individual frontline employees from 6 hotels located in western, central, and eastern China. The results showed that LMX differentiation at the group level is negatively related to employees’ PCSP, while another variable at the same level, positive emotional climate, is positively related to PCSP. Surface acting and deep acting, two major forms of the regulation of emotional labor, were found to mediate the relationship between LMX differentiation and PCSP. The influence of surface acting and deep acting on the employees’ PCSP is moderated by positive emotional climate at the group level. Additionally, the application of these findings to research and future practice is discussed.