Employee Emotional Exhaustion Research Articles

How does temporal leadership affect unethical pro-organizational behavior? The roles of emotional exhaustion and job complexity

PurposeUnethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) harms organizations’ long-term development; hence, all sectors of society view it as highly concerning. Optimizing leadership and curbing this behavior is a key managerial challenge. This study takes the relationship between temporal leadership and UPB as its object and examines the direct and indirect paths of temporal leadership’s influence on UPB based on the conservation of resources theory. It further dissects the mediating mechanism of emotional exhaustion and the regulating mechanism of job complexity and constructs the mechanism through which temporal leadership affects UPB.Design/methodology/approachData gathered from a sample of 380 employees in 24 provinces and cities were employed for empirical testing using validated factor analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, and a bootstrap method.FindingsThe results show that temporal leadership inhibits UPB, while emotional exhaustion partially mediates the relationship between temporal leadership and UPB. That is, temporal leadership inhibits pro-organizational unethical behavior by alleviating emotional exhaustion. In addition, job complexity negatively moderates the relationship between emotional exhaustion and UPB and positively moderates the mediating role of emotional exhaustion between temporal leadership and UPB.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, although the data used in the study were collected at two different times, they were obtained through self-assessment; therefore, the subjective component and the potential problem of common method bias is evident. Second, the study’s sample size and types of respondents are limited.Practical implications1. This study found that temporal leadership can inhibit UPB by reducing employee emotional exhaustion. Therefore, organizations should place greater emphasis on the time factor. 2. In terms of emotional factors, organizations should actively focus on the impact of emotional exhaustion on employees' UPBs. 3. In management practice, managers should adjust their leadership modeling behaviors according to the different degrees of job complexity to replace UPBs with conscious and rational behaviors.Social implicationsThe study reveals how temporal leadership affects UPB and provides a theoretical basis for organizations to mitigate employees' UPB by optimizing their leadership style.Originality/valueCurrent research on temporal leadership primarily focuses on the positive predictive effects on individual behaviors and attitudes (Zhang and Ling, 2016), but neglects its effects on negative behaviors. This study’s results complement research on the relationship between temporal leadership and employees' negative behaviors and responds to the call by Zhang and Ling (2015) to conduct research related to temporal leadership in China. On the other hand, current research on employees’ UPB largely focuses on its causative factors, while less research has been conducted on the disincentives for UPB, which to some extent limits systematic and sound research on UPB.

Working with a Mask: How and When Workplace Mask Wearing Decreases Employee Emotional Exhaustion

AbstractDespite the salutary effects of mask wearing broadly recognized during the COVID-19 pandemic, little is known about the consequences of wearing masks in the workplace. The current research raises the question of whether and how mask wearing may impact employees' emotional well-being at work. Drawing on emotion regulation theory (e.g., Gross, 1998, 2015), we propose that mask wearing enables employees to adopt more authentic emotional displays, which in turn decreases emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, guided by the social interaction model of emotion regulation (Coté, 2005), we further posit that for employees whose work requires more frequent face-to-face interaction, the positive impact of mask wearing on emotional exhaustion becomes more significant. Across a pilot study and a three-wave field survey, we find support for this hypothesized model. Implications of these findings for future theorizing and research on mask wearing are discussed.

Process and Content in Performance Management: How Consistency and Supervisor Developmental Feedback Decrease Emotional Exhaustion Via High-Quality LMX

Performance Management (PM) is often criticized for undermining employee emotional exhaustion. To avoid such unintended consequences, this study investigates how PM can be of benefit to employee emotional exhaustion by integrating both process and content aspects of PM. Results show that a consistent PM process, in which the same performance expectations are maintained across the different practices of performance planning, monitoring, and evaluation, is negatively related to employees’ emotional exhaustion, indirectly via the development of high-quality Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) relationships. Second, we found that, in terms of the content, supervisor developmental feedback acts as a moderator, determining the need to implement PM as a consistent process. A consistent PM process was especially important when the feedback provided throughout the PM process involved a lesser developmental content. When employees already received a large amount of developmental feedback, the degree to which the PM process was characterized by consistency made no difference to outcomes.

The mediating role of Emotional Exhaustion between Workplace Bullying and Employee Voice in the Banking Sector

Drawing on the Conservation of resources theory, this study tried to establish an empirical relationship between workplace bullying and employee voice with the mediation of Employee emotional exhaustion. This study is quantitative in nature and data was collected from 157 employees from the banking sector of Pakistan. The analysis was done using SPSS-24 and Smart-PLS4 software. The purpose of the study is to stimulate the bullied victims to speak up against this negative act to eradicate it. The study’s findings suggest that a significant relationship exists between workplace bullying and employee voice. The negative act of bullying motivates the victims to speak up against it. The relationship between workplace bullying and emotional exhaustion was also significant. Moreover; the intervening effect of emotional exhaustion motivates victims of bullying to speak up and it shows Partial-mediation. It is recommended that organizations must make a “Zero-tolerance” policy against workplace bullying and relevant measures should be taken. The COR theory holds that people work to get, preserve, and safeguard important resources, which might include not only material possessions but also psychological and social resources. Moreover, limitations and future areas of research have also been discussed.

Remote work burnout, professional job stress, and employee emotional exhaustion during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many studies have investigated how organizational support systems, remote work adaptation, and control over scheduling reduced psychological burnout and occupational stress, thus improving employee wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. This systematic literature review has analyzed significant published peer-reviewed evidence concerning how remote employees lacking constant organizational support during the COVID-19 outbreak experienced escalated job demands, professional strain, low satisfaction and performance, and increased burnout. Throughout February 2023, a quantitative literature review covering scholarly databases such as the Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest was performed, with the following search terms: "COVID-19" + "remote work burnout," "COVID-19" + "professional job stress," and "COVID-19" + "employee emotional exhaustion." By inspecting research published between 2020 and 2022, a total of 311 articles satisfied the eligibility criteria. Excluding sources in PRISMA terms, 44 empirical sources were finally selected. Methodological quality assessment tools such as Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR), Appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS), Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT), and Systematic Review Data Repository (SRDR) were employed. Data visualization tools (VOSviewer and Dimensions), integrating layout algorithms and bibliometric mapping, were harnessed. The scope of this study does not include how taking breaks and time management in a psychologically safe environment prevented remote work burnout and increased productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequent analyses should be developed on how remote work time and stress management-by using burnout assessment tools-will result in coherent workplace behaviors and processes, meeting organizational expectations and reducing emotional stress and workplace pressure.

Telecommuting and cyberloafing in the Ghanaian context. The role of employees emotional exhaustion

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between telecommuting and cyberloafing among Ghanaian workers. In addition, the study investigated the moderating role of emotional exhaustion on telecommuting and cyberloafing. Design/methodology/approach The study collected quantitative data from 945 employees in banks, telecommunication and insurance sectors of the Ghanaian economy. Data was entered using SPSS v.23 and analysed with Process Macro v3.5. Findings The results indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between telecommuting and cyberloafing. It also found out that emotional exhaustion has a significant negative relationship with cyberloafing. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion moderated the relationship between telecommuting and cyberloafing. Organisations are not necessarily required to be in a particular location to achieve their goals. Through practices such as telecommuting, organisations are able to unleash the creative and innovative abilities of employees and also improve their psychological well-being for greater gains. Practical implications The practice of telecommuting psychologically empowers the individual giving some decision-making latitudes to one and making one responsible and accountable for their actions and inactions. Also, individuals who are giving the chance to telecommute will only engage in cyberloafing behaviours when they are emotionally exhausted. Thus, it is important to create conditions that establishes equilibrium and creates harmony between the individual and the work, hence eliminating any feeling of emotional exhaustion and reaping the full benefits of telecommuting. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the role of emotional exhaustion in the relationship between telecommuting workers and their engagement in cyberloafing.

Measuring customer aggression: Scale development and validation

Despite increasing levels of customer aggression being identified within the retail and services sector, no comprehensive tool has been developed to measure such behaviour, thus limiting empirical examinations of this phenomenon. Five studies were undertaken, comprising a student survey, a Delphi-style expert panel review and three retail worker surveys. The results identify a four-factor, 19-item Customer Aggression scale. The nomological validity of the scale was established by demonstrating the impact of customer aggression on employee emotional exhaustion, job stress, organisational deviance and intention to leave. This research contributes a parsimonious, reliable and valid scale to measure such behaviours, facilitating further scientific inquiry.

Customer incivility, employee emotional exhaustion, and job embeddedness relationship in the Indonesian hospitality sector: The socio-economic status perspective

This study explores the impact of customer incivility on frontline employees’ job embeddedness in the Indonesian hospitality sector. We also investigate whether emotional exhaustion prevalence mediated, and socio-economic status (SES) moderated the link between customer incivility, emotional exhaustion, and job embeddedness. Data were collected in two stages using an online survey of 192 employees from the hospitality sector in Indonesia. We tested a moderated mediation model using Hayes’ Macro PROCESS version 4.0. Results confirmed that frontline service employees with high levels of uncivil consumer behavior experience have high emotional exhaustion tendencies and low job embeddedness. The findings also reveal that emotional exhaustion partially mediates the relationship between customer incivility and job embeddedness. Moreover, SES mitigates the impact of customer incivility on emotional exhaustion and job embeddedness. A lower level of SES triggers a more substantial effect of customer incivility on exhaustion, whereas a higher SES can reduce the effect of customer incivility on job embeddedness.

High performance work system and transformational leadership: Revisiting and questioning their implications for health-related wellbeing.

Employee wellbeing represents a profound management challenge for both leaders and HR professionals, and both transformational leadership (TL) and high performance work system (HPWS) are assumed to play important roles in tackling this challenge. However, we know little about their unique and relative importance in promoting wellbeing. To shed light on this methodologically, theoretically and practically important issue, we draw mainly on leadership substitutes theory. Based on a comprehensive mediation model we examine whether HPWS substitutes the assumed relationships between TL and employee emotional exhaustion. Our study answers to three important calls for research: to examine the joint effects of leadership and HPWS, to examine their health-related impact, and to pursue more theory contesting research in management studies. Based on data from 308 white collar employees working under 76 middle-managers in five Finnish organizations our study points to the incompleteness of previous siloed research on both TL and HPWS, sheds new light on their relationships with wellbeing, and suggests ways to develop both TL and HPWS theory, thus providing important guidance for future research on their effects.

The Mediating Effect of Deep Acting in the Relationship between Service-oriented Leadership and Employee Emotional Exhaustion

The Mediating Effect of Deep Acting in the Relationship between Service-oriented Leadership and Employee Emotional Exhaustion

Linking Leader’s Other-Oriented Perfectionism, Close Monitoring Behavior, and Employee Emotional Exhaustion: A Leader-Centric Approach

Although the influence of perfectionist leaders has been acknowledged by practitioners, only few studies have explored the possible consequences of leaders with perfectionism. Recognizing the importance of leader perfectionism as a potential predictor of leadership behaviors as well as employees’ attitudes and behaviors, the current study explores the interpersonal consequences of leader perfectionism in the context of leadership. Drawing upon the trait approach to leadership and conservation of resources theory, this study examines the effects of leaders’ other-oriented perfectionism on their close monitoring behavior, and in turn employees’ emotional exhaustion. Moreover, this study tests the moderating role of leaders’ trust in followers on the relationship between leaders’ other oriented perfectionism and close monitoring behavior. Using multi-sourced data from 158 supervisor-employee dyads in South Korea, this study found that leaders with other-oriented perfectionism are likely to engage in close monitoring behaviors toward employees, thereby leading to employee emotional exhaustion. Unlike the prediction, however, the results do not support the moderating effect of leaders’ trust in followers in the hypothesized model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The influence of leadership styles and supervisor communication on employee burnout

The purpose of this study is to examine the communicative factors enacted by supervisors’ leadership, including supervisors’ perceived communication competence and workers’ communication satisfaction with their supervisors that predict employees’ feeling of burnout. Employees who were employed on a full-time basis for at least 1 year ( N = 166) completed a cross-sectional, online survey about interactions with their supervisors. Results from the path analysis indicated that both task- and relational-leadership were positively associated with communication competence. Only relational leadership was positively associated with communication satisfaction. In turn, communication satisfaction predicted decreased employee emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and increased personal accomplishment. Taken together, the findings from the current study suggest the importance of relationship-building between supervisors and employees to decrease employee burnout. Limitations and future research are addressed.

The effect of abusive supervision on employee silence with the mediation role of emotional exhaustion and moderate leader-member exchange

Employee silence is a phenomenon in the workplace where an employee withholds all ideas and information, triggered by emotional exhaustion resulting from negative affectivity, such as abusive supervision in the workplace. The leader-member exchange level also affects employees' intensity when holding back all ideas and information they have at work. This study aims to determine the effect of abusive supervision on employee silence, mediated by emotional exhaustion and the moderating effect of leader-member exchange. The variables used in this study are abusive supervision, employee silence, emotional exhaustion, and leader-member exchange. This study used quantitative methods and questionnaires as data collection tools and analysed it using PLS. One hundred PT. XYZ’s employees participated in this study as the respondent. This study shows that abusive supervision significantly affects employee silence and emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion partially mediates the impact of abusive supervision on employee silence, and leader-member exchange does not moderate the effect of abusive supervision on emotional exhaustion. The novelty of study leverages employee emotional exhaustion instead of organizational politics to mediate the relationship between abusive supervision and employee silence.

The role of organizational justice and job satisfaction in mitigating turnover intention of emotionally exhausted employees: evidence from Vietnam

PurposeThis study examines employee emotional exhaustion and turnover intention as the consequences of problematic customer behaviors and tests the role of perceived organizational justice and job satisfaction in mitigating these consequences.Design/methodology/approachA four-hypothesis model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) based on a two-phase survey of 369 frontline services employees in Vietnam with a three-month time lag.FindingsThe study shows that abusive and unreasonably demanding customer behaviors have positive effects on emotional exhaustion, which, in turn, reduces job satisfaction and, subsequently, turnover intention. It also reveals that organizational justice mechanisms attenuate the positive association between emotional exhaustion and turnover intention. Job satisfaction indirectly mitigated the turnover intention of emotionally exhausted employees who had to deal with problematic customer behaviors, especially in the service sector in Vietnam, an emerging market.Originality/valueBuilding upon the social exchange theory (SET) and the conservation of resources theory (COR), this study extended the research on organizational justice with respect to emotional exhaustion in the customer service sector that received less attention previously. Rather than merely focusing on the interpersonal factors (e.g. respect and sensitivity) as organizational support does, organizational justice encompasses employees' perception of fairness of outcome and the whole process in an organization to reach decisions.

Testing A Curvilinear Effect of Leader Public Service Motivation on Employee Emotional Exhaustion

Past research has shed light on the dark sides of individuals’ public service motivation (PSM) in relation to their well-being. This study draws attention to this important construct and proposes that it could have a curvilinear (U-shaped) effect on employee emotional exhaustion. It further argues that this curvilinear relationship will be linearly moderated by employee PSM and mediated by perceptions of fit with the leader (i.e., person-supervisor [P-S] fit). In both the field and experimental vignette studies, the results showed significant curvilinear effects of leader PSM and employee emotional exhaustion. In particular, higher levels of employee emotional exhaustion were observed at low and high levels of leader PSM, whereas a moderate level of leader PSM was associated with the lowest level of employee emotional exhaustion. The results further revealed that this curvilinear effect was mediated by P-S fit. Moreover, in the experimental study, the results showed that those with high PSM, in comparison with those with low PSM, were less negatively affected by leaders who are perceived to have moderate to high levels of PSM. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Analisis Pengaruh Abusive Supervision terhadap Employee Creativity dengan Sleep Deprivation, Emotional Exhaustion, dan Self Efficacy sebagai Mediator

The television industry has undergone many changes and disruptions and is always required to be creative in order to survive. Creative television employees play an important role in the company's performance in the midst of unfavorable environmental conditions. This study aims to examine the effect of abusive supervision on employee creativity, sleep deprivation, emotional exhaustion, and self efficacy. Besides aiming to examine the effect between variables, this study also intends to examine the impact of related variables to employee creativity and its mediating roles were also investigated. This research employed a quantitative study with an online survey of 203 television station employees in Indonesia. The structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method was used to analyze the data. Based on the research that has been done, the results showed that abusive supervision was not proven to directly and significantly affect employee creativity, this is due to the low level of abusive supervision in the television industry. However, abusive supervision has been shown to increase sleep deprivation, emotional exhaustion, and decrease employee self efficacy. This study also found that employee creativity was strongly influenced by employee self efficacy. Lastly, the results indicated that self efficacy could act as a potential mediator between abusive supervision and employee creativity.

Compulsory Citizenship Behavior and Its Outcomes: Two Mediation Models.

Employees view compulsory citizenship behavior (CCB) as concessionary behavior they undertake because of pressure exerted by their organizations. This study applies affective events theory to CCB-workplace deviance relationships, and impression management theory to CCB-facades of conformity relationships, to posit that employee emotional exhaustion is an essential mediating factor that effectively explains how CCB contributes to workplace deviance and facades of conformity. This study utilizes two mediation models to investigate whether employees’ CCBs are positively related to their work deviance and false behavior, and how emotional exhaustion mediates those relationships. Two-wave data collected from 655 valid participants (480 males, 175 females; average age of 30.1 years) in a public sector bank and a large private bank in Taiwan supported our hypotheses. We conducted surveys with volunteer employees that included CCB, emotional exhaustion, facades of conformity, and work deviance. The results of this study uncovered statistically significant relationships between CCB and work deviance and between CCB and facades of conformity and revealed that emotional exhaustion significantly mediated these relationships. Implications and directions for future study are discussed.

Family-supportive supervisor behaviors and employee turnover intention in the foodservice industry: does gender matter?

PurposeThe restaurant industry is characterized by long hours, intense job demands and a lack of work-life balance. While a growing body of research has investigated methods for decreasing role conflict-related stress and strain in foodservice and hospitality employees, there is still little understanding of what supervisors can do to decrease work-life-related employee strain. This study aims to investigate how family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) influence employee emotional exhaustion (EE) and subsequent turnover intentions, as well as the role of gender in moderating these effects.Design/methodology/approachA survey-based design using a national panel of 226 foodservice employees was used to investigate the hypotheses developed in this paper.FindingsResults indicated that FSSB decreased employee EE and subsequent turnover intentions. The authors also found that this relationship was stronger for female employees.Research limitations/implicationsThe study provides insight into the role that employee gender may play in response to the perception of and reactions to FSSB. Women still shoulder a majority of home and non-work caring duties, and therefore, they may be more positively affected when supervisors engage in behaviors that allow for balancing work and non-work demands.Originality/valueThere is little hospitality or foodservice-focused research into the effects of FSSB, and little overall research that investigates the role that gender may play in shaping the beneficial effects of FSSB. Given that women make up a majority of foodservice employees in the USA, yet there is a lack of female representation at higher levels of organizations, the study provides insights into ways in which organizations and supervisors can improve female employees’ working experiences and potentially increase their retention.

The Deteriorating Role of Active Transactional Leadership on Employees Perceived Uncertainty and Emotional Exhaustion: Evidence from Educational Sector of Thailand

Given the seriousness of the COVID-19 crisis that impacted organizations all over the world, study on the operational variables impacting the psychological well-being of the workers of an organization affected by the crisis has been insufficient. Therefore, the present study aimed to highlight the role of active transactional leadership of employees’ emotional exhaustion through their perceived uncertainties. For this purpose, a cross-sectional study has been carried out among 309 employees working in Thai educational sector and the data was collected through self-administered questionnaires. The collected data was then analyzed by adopting PLS-SEM approach using SmartPLS 3.0 software. The findings of the study confirmed the direct relationships of active transactional leadership with perceived uncertainties. Also, the study established the direct association of perceived uncertainties with employee emotional exhaustion. The findings further confirmed the mediation of perceived uncertainties between the relationship of active transactional leadership and employee emotional exhaustion.

Impact of Perceptions of COVID-19 Related Risks on Partner “Social Undermining” of Healthcare Workers Through the Spillover Theory

The health emergency and pandemic at the global level was announced in the early months of 2020 due to the Covid-19 corona virus, and healthcare workers have had to perform their duties in risky circumstances. Consequently, the healthcare professionals are more vulnerable to being infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus. Hence, through the lens of the spillover theory, this study investigates the effect of perceptions of Covid-19 related risks on partner (spouse) “social undermining” via emotional exhaustion. Data was collected in two periods with one-week time lag from 237 healthcare professionals and their partners.Results revealed that perceptions of Covid-19 related risks increased partner undermining via employee emotional exhaustion. This study contributes to the literature of the current pandemic by investigating the impact of perceptions of Covid-19 related risks on healthcare workers’ close relatives. Hospital administrators and policymakers need to develop timely interventions to mitigate or minimize this negative spillover effect. Therefore, practical implications are suggested accordingly.