The Relationship Among Emotional Labor, Burnout And Job Satisfaction

Emotional labor as an emerging topic about emotions in organizations has found increasing interest among psychologists and managers in recent years. At present, due to job demand some service personnel in tertiary industry have a high degree of emotional labor in frequent contacts with a customer, which creates a huge profit for organizations. However, what emotional labor caused for individuals? It is positive or negative? In the sample across retail industries, accommodation and catering industries, as well as health workers in tertiary industry based on the Conservation Of Resources (COR) model, the paper explored the relationship between emotional labor and burnout, the relationship between emotional labor and job satisfaction respectively to answer the questions. The study adopted survey method and used some statistical methods such as t-test, correlation analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, structural equation models to analysis date. The following are the main conclusions:(1) The variables have multiple differences in demographic variables. Surface acting which is a dimension of emotional labor has found difference in education and job time; Emotional exhaustion which is a dimension of burnout has found difference in marriage and job time; Low personal accomplishment which is a dimension of burnout has found difference in sex, education and job time; Job satisfaction has found difference in sex, education and job time.(2) The relationship between dimensions of emotional labor and dimensions of burnout. Surface acting has positive relationship with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization respectively, while the relationship between surface acting and low personal accomplishment is not significant. Deep acting all correlates negatively with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment respectively. Expression of positive emotion all correlates negatively with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment respectively. Suppression of negative emotion correlates positively with depersonalization but is both not significantly related to emotional exhaustion and low personal accomplishment respectively.(3) The relationship between dimensions of emotional labor and job satisfaction. Surface acting correlates negatively with job satisfaction, while deep acting correlates positively with job satisfaction. Expression of positive emotion correlates positively with job satisfaction, while suppression of negative emotion is not significantly related to job satisfaction.(4) Emotional exhaustion and low personal accomplishment two dimensions of burnout mediate the relationship between three dimensions of emotional labor and job satisfaction. Surface acting will lower job satisfaction by increasing emotional exhaustion. Deep acting will enhance job satisfaction by increasing personal accomplishment and reducing emotional exhaustion. Expression of positive emotion not only has a direct impact on job satisfaction, but also could enhance job satisfaction by increasing personal achievement. At the same time, expression of positive emotion also tend to have influences by deep acting.The results of the paper not only support the Conservation Of Resources (COR) model, but also are important to the organizational management practice. In addition, there are two new perspectives presented in the study. Firstly, the paper explored the relationship among emotional labor, burnout and job satisfaction comprehensively. Secondly, the study found expression of positive emotion could influence emotional exhaustion and low personal achievement by deep acting. The research also has some limitations. Future research may improve it by using lab and longitudinal study.