The Relationship of Emotional Labor to Job Satisfaction, Burnout, and Turnover for Not-for-Profit Human Services Agencies: A Quantitative Stud

This cross-sectional quantitative study examined the relationships among emotional labor, job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intention for not-for-profit human services agencies in New York State. The study also examined the relationships among demographic factors and emotional labor variables. The data were collected from 529 (N = 529) not-for-profit human services employees in New York by means of a survey instrument with participating agencies being recruited through their affiliation with professional industry memberships or directly by the researcher. The findings showed that emotional labor does have an impact on job satisfaction and burnout and, subsequently, that burnout impacts turnover intention. The results of this study indicated that the impact of emotional labor is most significant for human services workers employed in front-line direct care and psychosocial service positions and that 51% of the variability in job satisfaction can be explained based on the variables included in the model (emotional labor, burnout, and turnover intention). Additionally, 37% of the variability in burnout can be explained by the emotional labor variables included in the model (emotional labor, surface acting, and deep acting) and there is a positive statistically significant relationship between burnout and employee turnover intention. This paper also discusses the implications of this research for not-for-profit human services management and presents areas of future research.