The Influence of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations on Emotional Labor Strategies
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Wang, Chin-Sheng
Abstract
Emotional labor is the display of expressing expected positive emotions and suppressing negative emotions by service agents during service encounters. When there is discrepancy between inner feelings and expected emotions, employees can choose between two acting strategies, surface acting (faking or suppressing emotions) and deep acting (modifying inner feelings with empathy or positive refocus). In this research, we extend emotional labor theories, proposing and testing a model that includes emotional labor strategy as well as the antecedents of emotional labor strategies. Results suggested that both antecedents, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, have positive influence on deep acting, which consequently enhances customer orientation and satisfaction. On the contrary, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are both negatively related to surface acting, which lead to negative evaluation of customer orientation and satisfaction. Implications, limitations and future research directions are then discussed.
Subjects
emotional labor
intrinsic motivation
extrinsic motivation
deep acting
surface acting
customer orientation
customer satisfaction
Type
thesis