Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T04:50:40.360Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Emotional labour and negative job outcomes: An evaluation of the mediating role of emotional dissonance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Pieter A Van Dijk  and
Andrea Kirk Brown
Pieter A Van Dijk
Affiliation:
Tourism Research Unit, Department of Management, Monash University, Berwick VIC, Australia
Andrea Kirk Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Management, Monash University, Berwick VIC, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Conflicting empirical findings in studies assessing the relationship between emotional labour and negative job outcomes are partly due to the lack of clarity regarding the conceptualisation and measurement of emotional dissonance. Emotional dissonance has been variously described and measured as an antecedent or as a consequence of the performance of emotional labour, as well as an inherent component of emotional labour. Recent conceptualisations of dissonance have proposed a mediator role for emotional dissonance between emotional labour and the outcome of emotional exhaustion. Concepts from cognitive dissonance theory support this conceptualisation and were used to empirically test this proposed relationship with a sample of 181 staff from two tourism based organisations providing a range of visitor/customer services. The results demonstrated a significant partial mediation role for emotional dissonance in the relationship between emotional labour and emotional exhaustion, supporting the use of a more theoretically and methodologically consistent measure of emotional dissonance.

Keywords

emotional labouremotional dissonanceemotional exhaustion
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , September 2006 , pp. 101 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abraham, R (1999) Negative affectivity: Moderator confound in emotional dissonance-outcome relationships? The Journal of Psychology 133(1): 61–72.Google Scholar
Abraham, R (2000) The role of job control as a moderator of emotional dissonance and emotional intelligence-outcome relationships. The Journal of Psychology 134(2): 169–184.Google Scholar
Adelmann, PK (1995) Emotional labor as a potential source of job stress. In Sauter, SL & Murphy, LR (Eds) Organizational risk factors for job stress (pp. 371–381) Washington: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Anderson, BA, Provis, C and Chappel, SJ (2002) Coping strategies in the performance of emotional labour. Paper presented at the Council for Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE) Promaco.Google Scholar
Anderson, BA, Provis, C and Chappel, SJ (2003) The selection and training of workers in the tourism and hospitality industries for the performance of emotional labour. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 10(1): 1–12.Google Scholar
Aronson, E (1992) The return of the oppressed: Dissonance theory makes a comeback. Psychological Inquiry 3(4): 303–311.Google Scholar
Aronson, E (1994) The Social Animal. San Francisco: Freeman Press.Google Scholar
Ashforth, BE and Humphrey, RH (1993) Emotional labor in service roles: the influence of identity. Academy of Management Review 18(1): 88–115.Google Scholar
Ashforth, BE and Mael, F (1989) Social identity theory and the organization. Academy of Management Review 14(1): 20–39.Google Scholar
Baron, RM and Kenny, DA (1986) The Moderator–Mediator Variable Distinction in Social Psychological Research: Conceptual, Strategic, and Statistical Considerations. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 51(6): 1173–1182.Google Scholar
Beauvois, JL and Joule, RV (1996) A Radical Theory of Dissonance. New York: Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
Bono, JE and Vey, MA (2005) Toward understanding emotional management at work: A quantitative review of emotional labor research. In Hartel, CE & Zerbe, WJ (Eds) Emotions in organizational behavior (pp. 213–233) Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Brotheridge, CM and Grandey, AA (2002) Emotional labour and burnout: comparing two perspectives of people at work. Journal of Vocational Behavior 60(1): 17–39.Google Scholar
Brotheridge, CM and Lee, RT (2003) Development and validation of the emotional labor scale. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 76(3): 365–379.Google Scholar
Brotheridge, CM and Taylor, I (2004) Cultural Differences in Emotional Labour in Flight Attendants. Paper presented at the Emotions in Organizational Life Conference, London UK.Google Scholar
Brown, R, Condor, S, Mathews, A, Wade, G and Williams, J (1986) Explaining intergroup differentiation in an industrial organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology 59(4): 273–286.Google Scholar
Brown, RW (1986) Social Psychology (2nd Edn). New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Copranzano, R, Weiss, HM and Elias, SM (2004) The impact of display rules and emotional labor on psychological well-being at work. In Perrewe, PL and Ganster, DC (Eds) Emotional and Physiological Processes and Positive Intervention Strategies 3: 45–89.Google Scholar
Cordes, CL and Dougherty, TW (1993) A review and an integration of research on burnout. Academy of Management Review 18(4): 621–656.Google Scholar
Diefendorff, JM, Croyle, MH and Gosserand, RH (2005) The dimensionality and antecedents of emotional labor strategies. Journal of Vocational Behavior 66(2): 339–357.Google Scholar
Elliot, AJ and Devine, PG (1994) On the motivational nature of cognitive dissonance: dissonance as psychological discomfort. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67(3): 382–394.Google Scholar
Festinger, LA (1957) Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Fiebig, GV and Kramer, MW (1998) A framework for the study of emotions in organizational contexts. Management Communication Quarterly 11(4): 536–572.Google Scholar
Glomb, TM and Tews, MJ (2004) Emotional labor: A conceptualization and scale development. Journal of Vocational Behavior 64(1): 1–23.Google Scholar
Grandey, AA (2000) Emotion regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize emotional labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 5(1): 95–110.Google Scholar
Grandey, AA (2003) When ‘the show must go on’: Surface and deep acting as determinants of emotional exhaustion and peer-rated service delivery. Academy of Management Journal 46(1): 86–96.Google Scholar
Grebner, S, Semmer, NK, Faso, LL, Gut, S, Kalin, W and Elfering, A (2003) Working conditions, well-being, and job-related attitudes among call centre agents. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 12(4): 341–365.Google Scholar
Harmon-Jones, E (1999) Toward an understanding of the motivation underlying dissonance effects: Is the production of aversive consequences necessary? In Harmon-Jones, E & Mills, J (Eds) Cognitive dissonance: Progress on a pivotal theory in social psychology. Science conference series (pp. 71–99) Washington DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Harmon-Jones, E and Mills, J (1999) An introduction to cognitive dissonance theory and an overview of current perspectives on the theory. In Harmon-Jones, E & Mills, J (Eds) Cognitive dissonance: progress on a pivotal theory in social psychology (pp. 3–21) Washington DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Härtel, CEJ, Hsu, A and Boyle, MV (2001) Buffers and Aggravators in the emotional labor, emotional dissonance and emotion exhaustion sequence in service work. Paper presented at the Academy of Management Meeting, Toronto.Google Scholar
Härtel, CEJ, Hsu, A and Boyle, MV (2002) A conceptual examination of the causal sequences of emotion labor, emotional dissonance and emotional exhaustion: The argument for the role of contextual and provider characteristics. In Ashkanasy, NM, Härtel, CEJ & Zerbe, WJ (Eds) Managing Emotions in the Workplace (pp. 251–275) New York: ME SharpeGoogle Scholar
Hochschild, A (1983) The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Holman, D, Chissick, C and Totterdell, P (2002) The effects of performance monitoring on emotional labor and well-being in call centres. Motivation and Emotion 26(12): 57–81.Google Scholar
James, N (1989) Emotional labour: Skill and work in the social regulation of feelings. Sociological Review 37: 15–42.Google Scholar
Jansz, J and Timmers, M. (2002) Emotional Dissonance: When the experience of an emotion jeopardizes an individual's identity. Theory and Psychology 12(1): 79–95.Google Scholar
Kreiner, GE and Ashforth, BE (2004) Evidence toward an expanded model of model of organizational identification. Journal of Organizational Behavior 25(1): 1–27.Google Scholar
Kruml, SM and Geddes, D (2000a) Exploring the dimensions of emotional labor: The heart of Hochschild's work. Management Communication Quarterly 14(1): 8–49.Google Scholar
Kruml, SM and Geddes, D (Eds) (2000b) Catching fire without burning out: Is there an ideal way to perform emotional labor. Westport: Quorum Books.Google Scholar
Lewig, KA and Dollard, MF (2003) Emotional dissonance, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction in call centres. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 12(4): 366–392.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, DP, Warsi, G and Dwyer, JH (1995) A simulation study of mediated effect measures. Multivariate Behavioral Research 30(1): 41–62.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, DP, Lockwood, CM, Hoffman, JM, West, SG and Sheets, V (2002) A Comparison of Methods to Test Mediation and Other Intervening Variable Effects. Psychological Methods 7(1): 83–104.Google Scholar
Mael, FA and Ashforth, BE (1992) Alumni and their alma mater: A partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification. Journal of Organizational Behavior 13(2): 103–123.Google Scholar
Mann, S (1999) Emotion at work: To what extent are we expressing, suppressing, or faking it? European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 8: 347–369.Google Scholar
Mann, S (2004) ‘People work’: Emotion management, stress and coping. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling 32(2): 205–221.Google Scholar
Maslach, C and Jackson, SE (1986) The Maslach Burnout Inventory. Palo Alto CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Middleton, DR (1989) Emotional style: the cultural ordering of emotions. Ethos 17(2): 187–201.Google Scholar
Morris, JA and Feldman, DC (1996a) The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor. Academy of Management Review 21(4): 986–1010.Google Scholar
Morris, JA and Feldman, DC (1996b) The impact of emotional dissonance on psychological well-being: The importance of role internalisation as a mediating variable. Management Research News 19(8): 19–28.Google Scholar
Morris, JA and Feldman, DC (1997) Managing emotions in the workplace. Journal of Managerial Issues 9(3): 257–274.Google Scholar
Neuman, WL (2003) Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (5th Edn) Boston: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Oxoby, RJ (2003) Attitudes and allocations: status, cognitive dissonance, and the manipulation of attitudes. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 3: 365–385.Google Scholar
Podsakoff, PM, MacKenzie, SB, Lee, J and Podsakoff, NP (2003) Common biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology 88(5): 879–903.Google Scholar
Preacher, KJ and Leonardelli, GJ (2001) Calculation for the Sobel test: An interactive calculation tool for mediation tests [computer software]. Available from http://www.quantpsy.org.Google Scholar
Rafaeli, A and Sutton, RI (1987) Expression of emotion as part of the work role. Academy of Management Review 12(1): 23–37.Google Scholar
Rafaeli, A and Worline, M (2001) Individual emotion in work organizations. Social Science Information 40(1): 95–123.Google Scholar
Rubin, RS, Tardino, VM, Daus, CS and Munz, DC (2005) A reconceptualization of the emotional labor construct: On the development of an integrated theory of perceived emotional dissonance and emotional labor. In Hartel, CE & Zerbe, WJ (Eds) Emotions in organizational behavior (pp. 189–211) Mahwah: US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.Google Scholar
Saxton, MJ, Phillips, JS and Blakeney, RN (1991) Antecedents and consequences of emotional exhaustion in the airline reservations service sector. Human Relations 44(6): 583.Google Scholar
Schaubroeck, J and Jones, JR (2000) Antecedents of workplace emotional labor dimensions and moderators of their effects on physical symptoms. Journal of Organizational Behavior 21(2): 163–183.Google Scholar
Stone, J and Cooper, J (2003) The effect of self-attribute relevance on how self-esteem moderates attitude change in dissonance processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 39(5): 508–515.Google Scholar
Tracy, SJ (2000) Becoming a character for commerce. Management Communication Quarterly 14(1): 90–128.Google Scholar
Van Dijk, P and Kirk-Brown, A (2004) It can be exhausting being someone else: An evaluation of emotional labor and emotional dissonance in the service experience. Paper presented at the 18th Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference, Dunedin, NZ.Google Scholar
Wharton, AS (1993) The affective consequences of service work: managing emotions on the job. Work and Occupations 20(2): 205–223.Google Scholar
Wharton, AS and Erickson, RJ (1993) Managing emotions on the job and at home: understanding the consequences of multiple emotional roles. Academy of Management Review 18(3): 457–486.Google Scholar
Wharton, AS and Erickson, RJ (1995) The consequences of caring: exploring the links between women's work and family emotion work. The Sociological Quarterly 36(2): 273–296.Google Scholar
Williams, P and Aaker, JL (2002) Can mixed emotions peacefully coexist? Journal of Consumer Research 28(4): 636–649.Google Scholar
Zapf, D, Vogt, C, Seifert, C, Mertini, H and Isic, A (1999) Emotion work as a source of stress: The concept and development of an instrument. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 8(3): 371–400.Google Scholar