Emotional labour,collectivism and strain: a comparison of Turkish and U.S. service employees

ABSTRACT

Global growth in service employment highlights the need to understand how cross-cultural differences impact emotional labour processes for service employees. The current study investigates these differences by examining the impact of national and individual level collectivistic values on emotional labour strategies and employee strain (emotional strain, turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and organisational commitment). Cross-sectional data was collected from U.S. (n?=?191) and Turkish (n?=?249) customer service employees. Results indicate that collectivism impacts the process model of emotional labour via direct and interaction effects. Collectivism was associated with higher emotional labour engagement and lower employee strains. Surface acting was uncorrelated with Turkish employees’ strain, though moderated regression analyses revealed interaction effects associated with national and individual level collectivism. These results suggest that collectivistic values may serve as a buffer against harmful effects associated with surface acting. This study is the first to directly compare emotional labour processes in U.S. and Turkish service employees and expand the process model of emotional labour to include collectivism. The theoretical implications of this expanded model are discussed, along with future research directions and practical applications of these findings.     

Job demands and work-related psychological responses among Malaysian technical workers: The moderating effects of self-efficacy

Abstract

Job design has long been found to affect the work-related psychological responses of employees, such as psychological strain, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions, but scholars have begun to question whether established theoretical relations regarding job design continue to hold given the enormous changes in the nature of work during the past two decades. It is also increasingly recognized that individual differences affect work behaviours in substantial ways, but few studies on work design have investigated these differences. We addressed these concerns with a two-wave longitudinal study among 245 technical workers at a telecommunications company in Malaysia, a country that has a collectivist culture and a high power distance between managers and subordinates. We examined the moderating effects of job control and self-efficacy on the relationships between job demands and employee responses. The results failed to support the job demands-control model, as job control variables did not moderate the impact of demands on employee work-related psychological responses. However, self-efficacy moderated their impact on psychological strain (although not on job satisfaction or turnover intentions). Our findings provide insight into the moderating effect of self-efficacy, and suggest that practitioners interested in reducing psychological strain should consider making efforts to increase self-efficacy among employees.     

员工自愿离职倾向关键性影响因素分析

离职倾向通常被认为是预测员工离职行为最有效的指标.本文从实证调查入手,通过GM(1,N)建模,对影响员工离职倾向的影响因素进行了灰色处理,得出了影响国企员工离职倾向的五大关键性影响因素:工作内容、升迁制度、薪酬、可选择工作机会的主观感知、情感性承诺.     

The effect of exposure to bullying on turnover intentions: the role of perceived psychological contract violation and benevolent behaviour

This study analyses the relationship between exposure to workplace bullying and turnover intentions. We hypothesised that this relationship is mediated by perceptions of psychological contract violation, and that employee benevolence acts as a moderator. A survey design was employed and data were collected among business professionals (n?=?1148). The analyses confirmed that perceived psychological contract violation partially explains the relationship between exposure to bullying and turnover intentions. The mediation process was stronger for those reporting more benevolent behaviour, suggesting that the importance of perceived psychological contract violation is greater among those scoring high on benevolent behaviour. The results also show that highly benevolent employees are more affected by exposure to bullying behaviour, although the effects were equally detrimental, irrespective of benevolent behaviour, when employees were exposed to very high levels of bullying. The study advances understanding of the mechanisms that govern outcomes of exposure to bullying, highlighting in particular the role of perceived psychological contract violation, and examining differences concerning high or low benevolence employees.