Emotion work in the Hellenic frontline services environment: how it relates to emotional exhaustion and work attitudes

Abstract

The relationship of emotional work with emotional exhaustion and a variety of attitudes towards the job and the organization was investigated in a sample of Hellenes (Greek) employees in the banking industry who were performing frontline service jobs. Emotion work was conceptualized and operationalized in terms of five dimensions: surface acting, deep acting, frequency of emotional display, intensity of displayed emotion, and variety of displayed emotions. The results suggested a weak mediating role of emotional exhaustion in the relationship between emotion work and work attitudes. The results also revealed the presence of a substantial number of interaction effects in the relationship of emotion work with emotional exhaustion and work attitudes. In particular, emotion work was related to emotional exhaustion solely by means of interactions, and the largest part of the relationship of emotion work with work attitudes was also due to interaction effects. In the cases that main effects were present these were mainly caused by an allegedly secondary dimension of emotion work, the variety of displayed emotions, and not by any of the primary dimensions. The national cultural characteristics provided an account for the identified relationship pattern between emotion work, emotional exhaustion and work attitudes. In general, the study revealed the importance of the interactions between the dimensions of emotion work, and was also suggestive of the role of the national cultural context in the way emotion work is associated with outcomes that are of interest to employees and organizations.