Examining Relationship Between Emotional Labor, Emotional Exhaustion and Organizational Commitment Through Anxiety, Pride in Work and Cultural Intelligence: Empirical Evidence from Hotel Sector of Pakistan

Abstract

With theoretical underpinnings in the Conservation of resources theory, the aim of this thesis was to shed light on the mechanism through which emotional labor results in emotional exhaustion and reduced organizational commitment among hotel employees of Pakistan, and the boundary conditions that might play a vital role in reducing the harmful effects of such behavior. Though it is a widely accepted truth that committed employees are source of competitive advantage in any organization and be treated in a pleasantly congenial way. However, regrettably, employees are not provided with the warm, compassionate dealing and have to perform emotional labor during their service encounter that is widely accepted as the display service rule. Such labor has the capacity to harmfully influence individual and organizational outcomes and therefore needs to be studied and comprehended comprehensively for their effective control and management. Emotional labor is a critical phenomenon faced by employees of the service industry. Regardless of previous research conducted over the last three decades on emotional labor in the hospitality industry, further empirical investigation is required to explore its impact on emotional exhaustion, and organizational commitment in the hotel sector. The objective of this study is to investigate the role of emotional labor in triggering emotional exhaustion and distressing the organizational commitment among employees in the hotel sector of Pakistan. It further seeks to examine the mediating role of anxiety through which emotional labor transcends from the workplace and affects employees’ emotional exhaustion and commitment level. This study aims to explore the moderating role of pride in work and cultural intelligence between emotional labor, emotional exhaustion and organizational commitment. For this purpose, the present research has applied the well-known conservation of resource theory (COR) by adding two positive resources—namely, pride in work and cultural intelligence—which may help the employees to avoid negative consequences of emotional labor. The proposed xi hypothesized model is tested empirically with quantitative research approach under the positivistic paradigm. Using a stratified proportionate sampling technique, data has been collected through self-administered surveys from employees of four-star and five-star hotels listed and registered by the Pakistan Hotel Association. Time-lagged data was collected to reduce common method bias. In this research work, 520 self administered questionnaires were distributed, from which 464 complete responses were received, which represented a response rate of 90%. The received quantitative data is analyzed through path analysis using structural equation modeling. Further, a measurement model and a structural model are developed to test the proposed hypotheses in AMOS v23. Supplement analyses are also applied to test the mediation and moderation effects. Findings of the study have strongly supported the hypothesized model and proposed relationships. Results verified that anxiety mediates the relationship between surface acting - emotional exhaustion and deep acting - emotional exhaustion among hotel employees. Furthermore, path analysis proved that anxiety mediates the relationship between surface acting – affective commitment and deep acting – affective commitment among hotel employees. The study confirmed pride in work and cultural intelligence as moderators as proposed. Findings reveal that cultural intelligence can moderate the role of emotional labor affecting the emotional exhaustion and affective commitment. Pride in work is also confirmed as moderator to buffer the detrimental effect of emotional labor on emotional exhaustion and affective commitment. Hotel leaders and managers can take benefits from this research to mitigate the harmful impact of emotional labor on employees. The study has significant implications for service organizations to ponder on the emotional labor and anxiety level through coping mechanism and should take advantage of pride in work and cultural intelligence to reduce the emotional exhaustion and increase the commitment level. Organizations should intervene in improving the mental health and psychological well-being of service employees by enhancing their ability to effectively manage their emotions