Emotional Labor Strategies in the Context of Human Resource Management

The Case of a Chinese Restaurant in the UK

Authors

  • Yixing Li

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62051/ijsspa.v6n2.06

Keywords:

Human Resource Management, Emotional Labor, Emotional Labor Strategy, Grounded Theory

Abstract

In the modern service industry, the emotional interaction between service employees and customers is a core factor affecting the perceived service quality of customers. Based on human resource management practices in a Chinese restaurant in the UK, the study conducted an exploratory case study on the impact of service employees' emotional interactions with customers on employees' service decision choices. The study found that different emotional states of service employees and customers have an impact on employees' emotional labor strategies. Moreover, the study further summarizes the HRM practice factors that influence employee service decisions and provides an in-depth analysis of the role of HRM commitment in influencing employee emotional labor decisions. The paper concludes with suggestions on how the restaurant can improve the service quality of its employees from the perspective of human resource management.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] A. Grandey, J. Diefendorff and D.E. Rupp (eds.): Emotional Labor in the 21st Century: Diverse Perspectives on Emotion Regulation at Work, Routledge, (2013).

[2] N. Okabe: Creating of Customer Loyalty by Cabin Crew A Study of the Relation between Emotional Labor and Job Performance, Transportation Research Procedia, Vol. 25 (2017), p.149-164.

[3] H.M. Choi, A.A. Mohammad and W.G. Kim: Understanding Hotel Frontline Employees’ Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Labor, Job Stress, Coping Strategies and Burnout, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 82 (2019), p.199-208.

[4] A.R. Hochschild: Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 85 (1979) No.3, p.551-575.

[5] A. Hochschild: Comment on Kemper's "Social Constructionist and Positivist Approaches to the Sociology of Emotions", American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 89 (1983) No.2, p.432-434.

[6] B.E. Ashforth and R.H. Humphrey: Emotional Labor in Service Roles: The Influence of Identity, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 18 (1993) No.1, p.88-115.

[7] J.A. Morris and D.C. Feldman: The Dimensions, Antecedents, and Consequences of Emotional Labor, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 21 (1996) No.4, p.986-1010.

[8] A.A. Grandey: Emotional Regulation in the Workplace: A New Way to Conceptualize Emotional Labor, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol. 5 (2000) No.1, p.95.

[9] Y.G. Choi and K.S. Kim: The Influence of Emotional Labor on Burnout: Centered on the Stress Coping Strategy and Moderating Effect of Social Support, International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 5 (2015) No.7, p.583.

[10] A. Rafaeli and R.I. Sutton: Expression of Emotion as part of the Work Role, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 12 (1987) No.1, p.23-37.

[11] U.R. Hülsheger, H.J. Alberts, A. Feinholdt and J.W. Lang: Benefits of Mindfulness at Work: the Role of Mindfulness in Emotion Regulation, Emotional Exhaustion, and Job Satisfaction, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 98 (2013) No.2, p.310.

[12] S. Fineman: Emotional Subtexts in Corporate Greening, Organization Studies, Vol. 17 (1996) No.3, p.479-500.

[13] G. Callaghan and P. Thompson: ‘We Recruit Attitude’: the Selection and Shaping of Routine Call Centre Labour, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 39 (2002) No.2, p.233-254.

[14] R. Peccei and P. Rosenthal: Front-line Responses to Customer Orientation Programmes: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 11 (2000) No.3, p.562-590.

[15] S. Frosh and A.B. Summerfield: Social Skills Training with Adults, (1986).

[16] R.S. McLean, J. Antony and J.J. Dahlgaard: Failure of Continuous Improvement initiatives in Manufacturing Environments: a Systematic Review of the Evidence, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 28 (2017) No.3 - 4, p.219-237.

[17] J.D. DeBode, K.W. Mossholder and A.G. Walker: Fulfilling Employees’ Psychological Contracts: Organizational Socialization’s Role, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, (2017).

[18] J.M. Diefendorff, M.H. Croyle and R.H. Gosserand: The Dimensionality and Antecedents of Emotional Labor Strategies, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 66 (2005) No.2, p.339-357.

[19] K.T. Mahoney: Individual Differences and Emotional Labor: An Experiment on Positive Display Rules, Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 53 (2012) No.3, p.251-256.

[20] H.S. Kim, D.K. Sherman and S.E. Taylor: Culture and Social Support, American Psychologist, Vol. 63 (2008) No.6, p.518.

[21] D. Petric: Introvert, Extrovert and Ambivert. The Knot Theory of Mind, (2019).

[22] J.J. Dahling and L.A. Perez: Older Worker, Different Actor? Linking Age and Emotional Labor Strategies, Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 48 (2010) No.5, p.574-578.

[23] M.J. Salganik and D.D. Heckathorn: Sampling and Estimation in Hidden Populations using Respondent‐driven Sampling, Sociological Methodology, Vol. 34 (2004) No.1, p.193-240.

[24] Chunqin Park, Chunhong Fan and Yan Xu: Analysis of the Correlation between Nurses' Emotional Labor Strategies and Emotional Exhaustion and Age, Chinese Journal of Modern Nursing, (2016), p.3194-3196.

[25] N. Kumari and M. Rachna: Job Satisfaction of the Employees at the Workplace, European Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 3 (2011) No.4, p.11-30.

[26] R.E. Goodwin, M. Groth and S.J. Frenkel: Relationships between Emotional Labor, Job Performance, and Turnover, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 79 (2011) No.2, p.538-548.

[27] R. Wood and A. Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory of Organizational Management, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 14 (1989) No.3, p.361-38.

[28] D. Zapf and M. Holz: On the Positive and Negative Effects of Emotion Work in Organizations, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 15 (2006) No.1, p.1-28.

[29] G.R. Goethals and J.M. Darley: Social Comparison Theory: Self-evaluation and Group Life, In Theories of Group Behavior (pp. 21 - 47), Springer, New York, NY, (1987).

[30] C.F. Chiang and T.S. Hsieh: The Impacts of Perceived Organizational Support and Psychological Empowerment on Job Performance: The Mediating Effects of Organizational Citizenship Behavior, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 31 (2012) No.1, p.180-190.

[31] D.Y. Jeung, C. Kim and S.J. Chang: Emotional Labor and Burnout: A Review of the Literature, Yonsei Medical Journal, Vol. 59 (2018) No.2, p.187-193.

[32] H.A. Elfenbein: 7 Emotion in Organizations: A Review and Theoretical Integration, Academy of Management Annals, Vol. 1 (2007) No.1, p.315-386.

[33] B.A. Scott and C.M. Barnes: A Multilevel Field Investigation of Emotional Labor, Affect, Work Withdrawal, and Gender, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 54 (2011) No.1, p.116-136.

[34] S.D. Pugh: Service with a Smile: Emotional Contagion in the Service Encounter, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44 (2001) No.5, p.1018-1027.

[35] U. Backes - Gellner and S.N. Tuor: Avoiding Labor Shortages by Employer Signaling: On the Importance of Good Work Climate and Labor Relations, ILR Review, Vol. 63 (2010) No.2, p.271-286.

[36] M.G. Frank, P. Ekman and W.V. Friesen: Behavioral Markers and Recognizability of the Smile of Enjoyment, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 64 (1993) No.1, p.83.

[37] M. Groth, T. Hennig - Thurau and G. Walsh: Customer Reactions to Emotional Labor: The Roles of Employee Acting Strategies and Customer Detection Accuracy, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 52 (2009) No.5, p.958-974.

[38] D.J. Beal, J.P. Trougakos, H.M. Weiss and S.G. Green: Episodic Processes in Emotional Labor: Perceptions of Affective Delivery and Regulation Strategies, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 91 (2006) No.5, p.1053.

[39] B. Wild, M. Erb and M. Bartels: Are Emotions Contagious? Evoked Emotions while Viewing Emotionally Expressive Faces: Quality, Quantity, Time Course and Gender Differences, Psychiatry Research, Vol. 102 (2001) No.2, p.109-124.

[40] P. Ekman, R.J. Davidson and W.V. Friesen: The Duchenne Smile: Emotional Expression and Brain Physiology: II, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 58 (1990) No.2, p.342.

[41] B.E. Ashforth and R.H. Humphrey: Emotion in the Workplace: A Reappraisal, Human Relations, Vol. 48 (1995) No.2, p.97-125.

[42] M. Korczynski: Communities of Coping: Collective Emotional Labour in Service Work, Organization, Vol. 10 (2003) No.1, p.55-79.

[43] S. Taylor: Employee Resourcing, Institute of Personnel and Development, (1998).

[44] S.C. Bolton and C. Boyd: Trolley Dolly or Skilled Emotion Manager? Moving on from Hochschild's Managed Heart, Work, Employment and Society, Vol. 17 (2003) No.2, p.289-308.

[45] S.H. Chen, J.E. Liu, X.Y. Bai, P. Yue and S.X. Luo: Providing Targeted Psychological Support to Frontline Nurses Involved in the Management of COVID‐19: An Action Research, Journal of Nursing Management, Vol. 29 (2021) No.5, p.1169-1179.

[46] M.J. Tews, A. Hoefnagels, P.M. Jolly and K. Stafford: Turnover among Young Adults in the Hospitality Industry: Examining the Impact of Fun in the Workplace and Training Climate, Employee Relations: The International Journal, (2020).

[47] D. Arthur: Managing Human Resources in Small and Mid Sized Companies, Amacom Books, (2005).

[48] A. Strauss and J. Corbin: Discovery of Grounded Theory, (1967).

[49] H. Sato: Using Grounded Theory Approach in Management Research, Annals of Business Administrative Science, (2019) p.0190326a.

[50] C. Faggiolani: Perceived Identity: Applying Grounded Theory in Libraries, Perceived Identity: Applying Grounded Theory in Libraries, (2011) p.1-33.

[51] Y.H. Lee, S.H.B. Lee and J.Y. Chung: Research on how Emotional Expressions of Emotional Labor Workers and Perception of Customer Feedbacks Affect Turnover Intentions: Emphasis on Moderating Effects of Emotional Intelligence, Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 9 (2019), p.2526.

[52] C. Darwin: Der Ausdruck der Gemüthsbewegung bei dem Menschen und den Thieren, E. Schweizer, (1872).

[53] D. Matsumoto, S.H. Yoo and S. Nakagawa: Culture, Emotion Regulation, and Adjustment, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 94 (2008) No.6, p.925.

[54] P. Ekman: Basic Emotions, Handbook of Cognition and Emotion, Vol. 98 (1999), p.16.

[55] E. Wronka and W. Walentowska: Attention Modulates Emotional Expression Processing, Psychophysiology, Vol. 48 (2011) No.8, p.1047-1056.

[56] M.B. Arnold: Emotion and Personality.

[57] R.S. Lazarus: Cognition and Motivation in Emotion, American Psychologist, Vol. 46 (1991) No.4, p.352.

[58] N.H. Frijda: The Emotions, Cambridge University Press, (1986).

[59] L.F. Barrett: The Future of Psychology: Connecting Mind to Brain, Perspectives on Psychological Science, Vol. 4 (2009) No.4, p.326-339.

[60] I. Trofimova: Functionality versus Dimensionality in Psychological Taxonomies, and a Puzzle of Emotional Valence, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 373 (2018) No.1744, p.20170167.

[61] I. Trofimova: Observer Bias: an Interaction of Temperament Traits with Biases in the Semantic Perception of Lexical Material, PloS One, Vol. 9 (2014) No.1, p.e85677.

[62] A.D. Angie, S. Connelly, E.P. Waples and V. Kligyte: The Influence of Discrete Emotions on Judgement and Decision-Making: A Meta-Analytic Review, Cognition & Emotion, Vol. 25 (2011) No.8, p.1393-1422.

[63] J.S. Lerner and L.Z. Tiedens: Portrait of the Angry Decision Maker: How Appraisal Tendencies Shape Anger's Influence on Cognition, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Vol. 19 (2006) No.2, p.115-137.

[64] F.F. Youssef, K. Dookeeram, V. Basdeo, E. Francis, M. Doman, D. Mamed, S. Maloo, J. Degannes, L. Dobo, P. Ditshotlo and G. Legall: Stress Alters Personal Moral Decision Making, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Vol. 37 (2012) No.4, p.491-498.

Downloads

Published

2025-03-11

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Li, Y. (2025). Emotional Labor Strategies in the Context of Human Resource Management: The Case of a Chinese Restaurant in the UK. International Journal of Social Sciences and Public Administration, 6(2), 46-59. https://doi.org/10.62051/ijsspa.v6n2.06