Labor Strategies Research Articles

Emotional Labor Strategies And Service Performance: The Mediating Role Of Employee Creativity

This paper theoretically and empirically investigates the effects of different emotional labor strategies on frontline employee creativity in the context of service industry, and it also studies the mediating role of frontline employee creativity in the relationships between frontline employees emotional labor strategies and the two aspects of customer service performance. Based on the data of 424 employeesupervisor dyads in China, the empirical results indicate that surface acting decreases employee creativity and extra role performance, while deep acting increases employee creativity, role-prescribed performance and extra role performance; employee creativity mediates both the negative influence of surface acting on extra role performance and the positive influences of deep acting on role-prescribed and extra role performances. The results have some theoretical and practical implications on service creativity and emotion management in service industry.

Negative affectivity and tipping: The moderating role of emotional labor strategies and leader-member exchange

Negative affectivity (NA) is a personality trait that is likely to impede hospitality employees’ ability to perform service due to their tendency to experience negative emotions that are inconsistent or even contrary to normative display rules.This study examined whether emotional labor strategies and the quality of the relationship with the manager (i.e., LMX) could help NA employees to perform service (expressed as financial gains measured in tip size).The sample was composed of 304 Israeli restaurant servers. The findings show that NA had a positive effect on tip size when engaging in high surface acting or deep acting; however, this effect was not significant for employees who were less engaged in emotional labor strategies. LMX moderated the relationship between NA and tips such that NA was positively related to tips for employees with a high quality LMX relationship but was negatively related to tips for employees with a low quality LMX relationship.

Employee performance outcomes and burnout following the presentation-of-self in customer-service contexts

This study examines how emotional intelligence and occupational commitment have a moderating effect on the relationship between emotional labour and its potential outcomes. Two acting strategies reflect emotional labour, namely surface and deep acting, with burnout and performance as the prospective outcomes. Burnout is operationalized into emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and diminished personal achievement; whereas performance is operationalized into task performance and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). The study investigates employee responses from several tourism and hospitality organizations in Florida, USA. The results show that emotional labour relates most positively to task performance and to burnout in the case of surface acting. Tests of moderation show that occupational commitment enhances performance outcomes by facilitating emotional labour strategies, and the prevalence of higher emotional intelligence amongst employees reduces burnout. These findings contribute to the literature on emotional labour by incorporating emotional intelligence and occupational commitment as moderators and by incorporating OCBs within performance analyses.

Exploring the relationship among teachers' emotional intelligence, emotional labor strategies and teaching satisfaction

The results of a survey of 1281 Chinese school teachers support a second-order factor structure of emotional intelligence. It is found that teachers' emotional intelligence has a significant impact on teaching satisfaction and their use of two emotional labor strategies, i.e., deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotions, but it is not a significant predictor of surface acting. Among the three emotional labor strategies, only expression of naturally felt emotion significantly influences teaching satisfaction. These findings could be explained by differences in the nature of various emotional labor strategies. Implications for teaching and teacher education are put forward.

The social protection floor and global social governance: Towards policy synergy and cooperation between international organizations

AbstractThis article addresses the influence of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on other international organizations and global agencies which resulted in their endorsement of the Social Protection Floor (SFP) concept. By 2012 the concept had been endorsed by the United Nations in the shape of the UN Chief Executives Board's SPF‐Initiative, the World Bank in its new Social Protection and Labor Strategy and by the G20 at the Cannes Summit. Furthermore the IMF had agreed to work with the ILO to explore the options for creating fiscal space within countries to fund SPFs. Special Rapporteurs for the UN Human Rights Council had also in 2012 called for the setting up of a global fund for social protection to enable poorer countries to develop their floors. By 2012 a new coordinating authority, the Social Protection Inter‐Agency Cooperation Board (SPIAC‐B), had been ushered into existence to facilitate inter‐agency cooperation. This article describes and explains how these developments came about. It asks if the reality of increased global social governance cooperation in the field of social protection is as effective as it seems or whether there are new contradictions, overlapping and competing mandates and policy disagreements at the global level.

Older and (Emotionally) Smarter? Emotional Intelligence as a Mediator in the Relationship between Age and Emotional Labor Strategies in Service Employees

Background/Study Context: The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether age was related to emotional labor strategies (surface and deep acting), and whether emotional intelligence partially explained this relationship. Additionally, employee well-being was examined as an outcome in this model. Methods: A total of 519 participants (age 18–68), working in a variety of service occupations, participated in a cross-sectional survey study. Validated measures for emotional intelligence, emotional labor strategies, positive affectivity, and employee well-being were administered. Results: A structural equation model supported the hypothesis that age was related positively to deep acting and negatively to surface acting, relationships partially mediated by emotional intelligence. Emotional labor strategy, in turn, affected well-being. Conclusion: Implications were discussed in employee selection and employee well-being, particularly in the customer service context. It is recommended that future research investigates how aging is related to emotional labor strategies in other occupations that have different emotional requirements (e.g., negative display rules).

Effect of Emotional Labor on Emotional Exhaustion and Work Attitudes among Hospitality Employees in India

The present research explores the relationship of emotional labor strategies (i.e., surface and deep acting) with emotional exhaustion, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions among employees in the hospitality industry in India. Data were collected from 204 frontline hotel employees representing different departments. The results of the study demonstrate that surface acting is positively related with emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions and negatively related to affective organizational commitment. Moreover, deep acting was observed to have a negative influence on emotional exhaustion. The findings of the study indicate that frequent use of surface acting may have detrimental consequences for employees as well as for the organization. Managerial implications of the study are discussed.

Emotional labor strategy and job satisfaction: A Chinese perspective

We examined the relationship between emotional labor strategy (ELS) and job satisfaction (JS), and the moderating effects of job characteristics on this relationship, based on data collected from 291 supermarket employees. Results showed that the 2 types of ELS, surface acting and deep acting, were negatively and positively related to JS, respectively. In general, job characteristics were found to moderate the relationship between ELS and JS.

Contested Meanings of Freedom: Workingmen's Wages, the Company Store System, and theGodcharles v. WigemanDecision

In 1886, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down a law that prohibited employers from paying wages in company store scrip and mandated monthly wage payments. The court held that the legislature could not prescribe mandatory wage contracts for legally competent workingmen. The decision quashed over two decades of efforts to end the “truck system.” Although legislators had agreed that wage payments redeemable only in company store goods appeared antithetical to the free labor wage system, two obstacles complicated legislative action. Any law meant to enhance laborers' rights could neither favor one class over another nor infringe any workingman's ability to make voluntary contracts. These distinctions, however, were not as rigid andlaissez faire-oriented as depicted by conventional history. Labor reformers argued that principles of equity must supplement these categories of class legislation and contract freedom. This essay explores how legal doctrine helped both sides of the anti-truck debate articulate the contested meanings of liberty. Ultimately, theGodcharlesruling enshrined the specialness of workingmen's labor contracts and rejected the use of equity principles to justify contract regulations, but the controversy also informed future labor strategies, especially the turn to state police powers as the rubric under which workers' safety, morals, and health could be protected.

Negotiating the People's Capital Revisited

Editor's Note: What follows is the second part of an unofficial transcript of an off-the-record conversation among three of the labor movement's leading strategists. (The first installment appeared under the title “Strategy for Labor,” 22 J. Labor Research 569 (Summer 2001), and has been updated as “Strategy for Labor Revisited,” available www.ssrn.com). This second meeting was also convened by C, or cooperationist, who had been for over ten years the president of a local union, part of a major industrial union, representing 3,000 employees who had been hired to staff a new manufacturing plant in a Southern town (Newplant). Newplant had been widely touted as a breakthrough in U.S. labor-management relations because it was consciously designed to promote greater participation of production and maintenance workers in business decisions and a “partnership” role role for union officials alongside traditional management officials. In bitterly contested local elections last year, C was voted out of office and now serves in a staff capacity at the AFL-CI0. A, or adversarialist, perhaps surprisingly a longstanding friend of C, is the research director of another industrial union. A was very active in the Students for A Democratic Society in the 1960s, and after graduating from Oberlin College began his career as a labor organizer, working for a succession of unions that had been active in the McGovern-Kucinich wing of the Democratic Party. S, or stay the course, is the highly respected chief of staff for a national union representing government workers. Section headings and parenthetical references are supplied by the editor and do not appear in the original transcript.

Abusive supervision and subordinate emotional labor: The moderating role of openness personality

AbstractWe investigated the differential relationships between abusive supervision and two emotional labor strategies used by subordinates (surface acting and deep acting). Furthermore, we examined whether subordinates' openness personality moderated the above relationships. Using the questionnaire survey method, we collected data from 210 employees in China. The results of hierarchical regression showed that abusive supervision related positively to surface acting (regulating facial expression) but negatively to deep acting (regulating inner feeling). Openness personality moderated the relationships between abusive supervision and the two emotional labor strategies, such that the relationships were stronger for employees with lower openness. Findings of our study contribute to the literature on workplace emotions and negative leadership.

Evaluating training and development practices in Taiwan: challenges and opportunities

The purpose of this article is to explore the status and challenges of employee training and development (T&D) in Taiwan. Literature review suggested that government intervention, vocational and technical education, social network, and organizational structures are the key factors that influence T&D practices in Taiwan. Taiwanese government plays a major role in promoting value-added production and skilled workforce in the organizations via developing various national labour enhancement policies, strategies and regulations and providing a set of training subsidies for employee T&D. The promotion of Taiwan TrainQuali System in Taiwan is one of the major national employee T&D policies that motivates and forces the corporations to cultivate their manpower. The challenges are evident when corporations adapt and apply Western T&D models or programmes. This study investigates T&D applications in Taiwan and provides a guide to practitioners to overcome challenges in terms of implementing T&D practices in Taiwan. Implications and recommendations for practice and future research were also discussed.

Preparing a Future Graduate Workforce for Work

This paper reports on a study that examined factors which had a direct impact on the quality of graduates from the Public Authority of Applied Education and Training (PAAE&T) in Kuwait. The study also examined the extent to which the graduates met the requirements of local employers. It consisted of a review of the literature; a questionnaire given to a sample of students in selected departments; interviews with department heads at the PAAE&T; Deans of related colleges and institutions; Deans of industrial liaison offices in the selected sample of the PAAE&T; supervisors in industry who had direct contact with prospective PAAE&T graduates; and employed graduates. The findings indicate that there is a need to develop a proper labour strategy to ensure that graduates from PAAE&T are equipped with the required knowledge, skills and attitudes to meet industry and business requirements.

The welfare–work nexus in East Asia – a comparison of contexts, paths and directions

Focusing on the welfare–work nexus (i.e., the interface between passive-protective welfare policies and the active-productive work policies) in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, this article provides an overview and analysis of East Asia's social and labour strategies since the early 1990s. While a productivist approach, fuelled by neo-liberalism, has prevailed, these societies have established policies to protect the unemployed and poor. Confronted by a series of economic crises, subsequent restructuring and an increasing risk of unemployment, there has been more investment in active labour market policies, but that has not entailed an abandonment of protective welfare measures. In the early 1990s, there were few work and welfare initiatives. Both types of initiatives grew in tandem, beginning in the 1990s. Reforms to promote a better synergy between work and welfare took various paths, depending on whether they focused on employment services, occupations or skills improvement. Liberalization and deregulation since 1990s have prepared the groundwork for flexicurity. Improved social and human capital investment is needed to meet future challenges.

DIFFERENTIAL INFLUENCE OF PERSONAL SELF-ESTEEM AND COLLECTIVE SELF-ESTEEM ON EMOTIONAL LABOR STRATEGY

ABSTRACT Universities are under critical situations as the educational environment changes fast. Against this backdrop, they are strengthening the service mindset of their employees who perform emotional labor. Emotional labor strategies can be divided into surface acting and deep acting. The choice of these emotional labor strategies may differ according to individuals. Moreover, customer contact frequency can have a situational influence on such choice. This study surveyed 130 administrative staff of universities in Seoul and Gyeong-gi Province, and analyzed how their personal self-esteem and collective self-esteem differently affected two emotional labor strategies of surface acting and deep acting. It also analyzed the role of customer contact frequency as a moderating variable. As a result, the study found that personal self-esteem positively affected deep acting, whereas collective self-esteem negatively affected surface acting. It also found that customer contact frequency positively affected the relationship between collective self-esteem and deep acting. Based on the result, the study suggested its implications and future directions for other researches. Keywords Personal self-esteem, collective self-esteem, surface acting, deep acting, emotional labor, university administrative staff

On the PRC’s Future Labor Strategy and East Asian Regional Integration*

In this paper, pressures of population and labor shortage to be faced by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will be analyzed based on the situation of East Asiaeconomic integration. A solution with new opinions about the PRC’s labor and population strategies is proposed accordingly. Meanwhile, considering the situation of labor shortage and the degrading of population quality in the PRC, a strategic policy plan is suggested to restructure the PRC’s labor forces in short, medium, and long terms.

Preterm Labor: Understanding of the Mechanism Involved to Improve Prediction and Prevention

Preterm birth is a significant problem occurring in around 10% of all deliveries and its increase is remarkable, even in developed countries. Being born under 37 weeks, and most importantly under 32 weeks, is the major cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality and accounts for the majority of neonatal deaths. Recent advances in perinatology and neonatology have increased survival rates, particularly for the extremely preterm baby. The associated morbidity for these survivors' remains significant, and up to one-quarter will have at least one major disability. This special issue focused in some aspect of the physiopathology of the preterm labor and different strategies to predict the patient at risk in order to improve the prevention of this pathology. This issue highlights the diversity of the physiopathology of preterm labor by including different points of view, such as focusing in the expression of steroid receptor coactivators in fetal membranes and its relationship with preterm labor. Using immunohistochemistry, western blot analysis, and real-time PCR, they demonstrate that SRC-1, SCR-2, p300, and PCAF proteins are present in nuclear extracts and display tissue-specific and labor-associated differential expression. In another paper, the authors propose a novel putative target for the prevention of infection-triggered preterm labor. They suggest that uterotonic effects of endothelin-1 (E-1) are mediated via sphingosine kinase (SphK). E-1 is a molecule that exerts potent oxytocic effects and is elevated in amniotic fluid obtained from preterm births. SphK plays a key role in ET-1-induced myometrial contractions and may represent a potential target for tocolysis to prevent preterm birth. In terms of prediction, a review accessing the accuracy of transvaginal sonographic cervical length in predicting preterm birth in women with twin pregnancy and symptoms of preterm birth is presented. The authors present a meta-analysis, using bivariate regression analysis, accounting for correlation between sensitivity and specificity. Despite the large variation in definition of preterm birth and cut-off point of cervical length and gestational age, they concluded that there is insufficient evidence to recommend the measurement of cervical length as a predictor of preterm birth in women with a twin pregnancy and symptoms of preterm birth because specificity and sensibility are low. With respect to prevention of preterm birth, a systematic review of the use of cervical pessaries and adjunctive therapies to cerclage is presented. The aim of one study was to evaluate the effective use of the cervical pessary to prevent preterm birth before 28, 34, and 37 weeks of gestation. Interestingly, one randomized controlled trial demonstrated a lower delivery rate prior to 34 weeks in the pessary group. Other studies, however, showed no positive effect. The author concluded that the cervical pessaries represent an affordable, safe, and reliable alternative for prevention of preterm birth in selected at-risk pregnant women. Nevertheless, more randomized clinical trials are needed before this device can be used in clinical practice. In another study, the authors reviewed publications that assessed the efficacy of adjunctive therapies used in addition to cervical cerclage as a preventive measure for preterm birth. The adjunctive therapies identified were progesterone, reinforcing or second cerclage placement, tocolytics, antibiotics, bedrest, and pessary. Even though small numbers of patients limited the strength of the conclusions, none of the studies clearly show the benefit of any adjunctive therapy used. By compiling these papers, we hope to improve the knowledge of clinicians and researchers with respect to this important cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Increasing the understanding of the physiopathology of the preterm labor and the strategies to prevent it are essential steps to avoid the consequence of this disease. S. E. Illanes J. K. Nien G. E. Rice

Uncovering the Antecedent and Consequence of Service Employee Creativity

The current study explores the antecedent and consequence of employee creativity in service contexts by focusing on emotional labor as the predictor and job performance as the outcome of the creativity of service employees given the nature of their work engaging in people work with customers. Specifically, we investigate the questions of how emotional labor strategies of surface acting and deep acting directly and indirectly (through emotional exhaustion) affect service employee creativity, and how employee creativity leads to individual job performance in service sector. The results of structural model analysis from a sample of 119 flight attendants in South Korea showed that deep acting directly increased service employee creativity and indirectly enhanced it through lower emotional exhaustion whereas surface acting directly decreased the level of employee creativity and indirectly reduced it through higher emotional exhaustion. We also found that service employees who are creative tend to have greater ...

Effects of Emotional Labor Strategies on Job Stress and Creativity

This paper examined the effects of emotional labor strategies (surface acting and deep acting) on different kinds of job stress (hindrance stress and challenge stress) and frontline employee creativity, as well as the mediating effects of job stress on the relationship between emotional labor strategies and creativity. The research hypotheses were tested using data collected from 416 service employee¨Csupervisor dyads in 82 Chinese local restaurants. Results shows that surface acting is positively related to hindrance stress while negatively related to frontline employee creativity; deep acting is positively related to both challenge stress and frontline employee creativity; hindrance stress mediated the relationship between surface acting and creativity. Our study advances knowledge about the relationship between emotional labor strategies and stress by classifying different job stress caused by different strategies. More importantly, it extends the consequences of emotional labor strategies to frontline employee creativity from a cognitive perspective, and revealing the role of hindrance stress as mediating mechanism through which surface acting affects creativity.

Path Linking Emotional Labor Strategies to Turnover Intention: Effect of POS

The linkages among emotional labor strategies, emotional exhaustion and turnover intention were examined among the pharmaceutical representatives in India. The study found the indirect linkage of emotional labor strategies (surface acting and deep acting) on turnover intention through emotional exhaustion. The study also found evidence of the moderated mediation effect of perceived organizational support (POS) on the relationship between surface acting and turnover intention. However, in case of the relationship between deep acting and turnover intention, the study did not find any support for the moderated mediation effect of POS. Implications of the study were discussed.