Linking perceived organizational support to emotional labor

Abstract

Purpose– Based on two studies on different occupational groups, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived organizational support (POS) and different forms of emotional labor. Drawing from social identity theory, the present study extends the social exchange theory to provide an alternate explanation to the above relationships.Design/methodology/approach– The survey design following questionnaire in English language was physically administered among medical sales employees and subsequently among employees in the hospitality industry.Findings– The study found that POS is positively related to deep acting and negatively related to surface acting. The study further found that organizational identification mediates the relationship between POS and deep acting where as there was no mediation effect of organizational identification on the relationship between POS and surface acting.Research limitations/implications– The research relies on a cross-sectional design with a single source of data collected from two sources at different time periods.Practical implications– With the emergence of service economy there is an increasing emphasis on the performance of emotional labor. The present study suggests that organizations need to focus on organizational practices as employees’ perception of organizational support is related to the way they express their emotions during customer interactions. The finding of the study suggests that on what the organizations should do to motivate employees to perform expected emotional labor.Originality/value– The literature is relatively silent on the relationship between POS and different forms of emotional labor. The present study adds to the existing body of knowledge by explaining POS as an important antecedent of emotional labor. Further, the study contributes by exploring the mediation effect of organizational identification on the relationship between POS and different forms of emotional labor.