The relationship between psychological capital and emotional labor behaviors of employee in tourism sector

Abstract

Emotional labor behavior is defined as making design of own emotional properties of employees, so as to be in favor of the organization, who often are together with and interacting with their customers as a part of their job. Psychological capital that has been suggested based on the concepts of psychology and positive organizational behavior, focuses on the positive strengths of employees, and provides a competitive advantage against their competitors, keeping positivity in its center. As in many sectors, especially employees in laborintensive sectors such as tourism, have a vital importance for their organizations, and the effective use of this resource will also bring along a competitive advantage. Increasing the efficiency and productivity of this resource will also be possible with identification and empowerment of the employees' psychological capital and their emotional labor. The goal of this study is to determine the relationships between the emotional labors and psychological capital of employees in the tourism sector, and also to determine whether or not they differ according to demographic factors. For this purpose, the questionnaire prepared by using the literature was conducted on the employees of a hotel enterprise operating in the Gulf region of Balikesir province. The data obtained from the questionnaire were statistically analysed, and the results were evaluated.