Effects of Moderating Factors on Foodservice Employees’ Perception of Emotional Labor and Propensity to Leave the Workplace

Abstract

Emotional labor, generally defined as the act of expressing organizationally-desired emotions in the workplace during service interactions, has been the center of many studies exploring the impact of this phenomenon on employees. Mainstream research in this area focuses on managing the unconstructiveeffects of this concept on employees’ morale and job satisfaction, and identifies emotional labor as a management technique that should be used judiciously. Given the critical role of this concept as a central and integral element in the foodserviceindustry, this study suggests the possibility that under certain conditions, when certain moderating factors of emotional labor are identified and controlled effectively, emotional labor does actually lead to favorable employee attitudinal and organizational outcomes.