Citation
(2014), "Executive summary of “The effects of relationship bonds on emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions in frontline employees”", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-06-2014-0202
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Executive summary of “The effects of relationship bonds on emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions in frontline employees”
Article Type: Executive summary and implications for managers and executives From: Journal of Services Marketing, Volume 28, Issue 4
This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives a rapid appreciation of the content of the article. Those with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full benefit of the material present.
Back home from work you grab a glass of wine if you are so inclined, flop down in the easy chair, and, in answer to the question “Had a hard day?”, you say “You bet! It’s tough being nice to people all day”.
So, you are obviously not a soldier facing enemy fire, a surgeon with lives in your hands, a policeman confronting a violent criminal, a prison guard, a firefighter or a football referee. Being a frontline service employee with a responsibility for being friendly to the customers might not be as tough as some jobs, but it has its own hazards and frustrations.
Bottling up feelings, keeping a smile on your face even when dealing with obnoxious customers, can take its toll on your health – hence, the emergence of the study of “emotional labor” which is usually defined as a person’s effort to manage his/her feelings to create an acceptable “friendly and helpful” face to the customer whatever the circumstances. Figuratively biting your tongue, smiling through gritted teeth and keeping a grip on what you really feel are all familiar emotions to people in face-to-face contact with customers.
You might say that representing the organization at the sharp-end of the business is their job and they should just get on with it, but responsible organizations should recognize the phenomena and do their best to counteract it. If they do not, the increased sick leave or higher turnover of stressed-out employees might force them into action. Service businesses might not have been paying close enough attention to creating organization–employee relationships which helps these frontline employees cope. They ought to because it has long been recognized that the positive “face” of the company has a significant positive influence on a customer’s evaluation of service quality, repatronage intentions and positive word-of-mouth recommendation.
In “The effects of relationship bonds on emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions in frontline employees”, Dr Edward Shih-Tse Wang uses restaurant service organizations to look at ways of preventing emotional exhaustion and helping frontline employees stay on the job. Bonds are the economic, psychological, emotional or physical attachments in a relationship that are built through interaction and that tie parties together in a relational exchange. Specifically, the study explores the relationship among different types of relationship bonds (financial, social and structural bonds), three types of organizational commitment (affective, normative and continuance commitment), emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions. It explores whether different types of relationship bonds might have different effects on emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions through organizational commitment.
Affective organizational commitment refers to employees' emotional attachment to the organization. Normative organizational commitment refers to employees' feelings of obligation to remain with the organization. Continuance organizational commitment refers to the perceived cost of leaving an organization because of accumulated investment and is based on rational motives and economic considerations. Social bonds refer to positive interpersonal relationships that are an important part of building a business relationship. Structural bonds are company’s efforts to stimulate employee work satisfaction using value-added programs – such as customized job-design polices and procedures. Financial bonds, while perhaps self-explanatory in some ways, should take into account employee sensitivity to pay inequality.
Understanding the impact of various relationship bonds on facets of relationship commitment, on emotional exhaustion and on turnover intentions can help a firm develop an effective internal relationship marketing strategy to increase organizational commitment and reduce emotional labor worker emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions.
He concludes that service organizations should not apply relationship bonds indiscriminately, but should focus on effectively preventing emotional exhaustion and the departure of emotional labor workers. In particular, understanding the different effects of relationship bonds on employee response could help to develop a more effective relationship marketing strategy. The findings indicate that enhancing affective commitment leads to lower emotional exhaustion, which is an important antecedent of turnover intention. Therefore, inducing employees to feel like a part of the organization, emotionally attached and having a sense of belonging to an organization are all helpful for employees to prevent emotional exhaustion and reduce turnover intention.
The finding that social and financial bonds are critical factors influencing affective commitment suggests that service providers should focus on maintaining interpersonal relationships and high-quality communication from employee to employee and from supervisor to employee to develop a sense of affective attachment in employees.
A service firm should also offer a satisfactory financial incentive for frontline employees to create positive associations with the workplace. In sum, while different relationship bonds can affect or vary perceptions of commitment, and different types of commitment can affect emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions, then different bonding strategies should be used. Service managers can apply the study’s findings in adopting appropriate relationship bonds to increase the organizational commitment of emotional labor workers, and, in turn, lessen the likelihood of emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions.
To read the full article enter 10.1108/JSM-11-2012-0217 into your search engine.
(A précis of the article “The effects of relationship bonds on emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions in frontline employees”. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald.)