social support as a mediator between emotion work and job satisfaction

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 84 ( 2013 ) 601 – 606

1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu & Dr. Mukaddes Demirok, Near East University, Cyprusdoi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.06.611

Social Support as a Mediator Between Emotion Work and Job Satisfaction

Aldea-Capotescu Roxana a * a The Center of Advanced Organizational Studies, Eminescu 60, Deva, 330172, Romania

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between emotional demands and job satisfaction. 255 Romanian bank employees providing a range of customer services (194 women and 61 men) completed the Frankfurt Emotion Work Scales (FEWS; Zapf et al., 2001) and the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) (Smith et al., 1969). The results confirmed the mediator role of satisfaction with coworkers support and supervisor support between emotional demands and job satisfaction. The results have major implications on the design of management interventions aiming at reducing stress and improving customer services, suggesting a number of ways of intervention, based on considering coworkers and supervisor support.

Keywords: emotional demands, coworkers support, supervisor support, job satisfaction;

1. Introduction

Organization members often exert effort to publicly display certain emotions and hide others during interpersonal interactions. For example, service agents amplify their displays of enthusiasm to deliver quality service, bill collectors amplify their displays of anger to garner payments, negotiators suppress their displays of happiness to

performance depends on coordinating efforts and managing relatiospectacular growth of the service sector has resulted in a growing attention for the consequences of emotion regulation or performing emotion work.

2. Emotion regulation at work

Emotion regulation includes all the efforts to increase, maintain or decrease one or more components of an emotion (Gross, 2000). Most of the studies focus on the negative effects of emotion work for health and well-being

* Aldea-Capotescu Roxana. Tel.: +40-723-154-358 E-mail address: [email protected]

3rd World Conference on Psychology, Counselling and Guidance (WCPCG-2012)

© 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer review under the responsibility of Dr. Melehat Halat

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

© 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu & Dr. Mukaddes Demirok, Near East University, Cyprus

602 Aldea-Capotescu Roxana / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 84 ( 2013 ) 601 – 606

The prevailing approach in understanding how emotion regulation relates to job satisfaction and intentions to quit

concerns emotional dissonance. Emotional dissonance is a state of discrepancy between public displays of emotions and internal experiences of emotions that often follows the process of emotion regulation (Grandey, 2000).

Theorists described emotional dissonance as being psychologically taxing (Morris & Feldman, 1997; Grandey, 2000). Studies found that self-reports of emotional dissonance are associated with high emotional exhaustion, low organizational commitment and low job satisfaction (Abraham, 1998; Morris & Feldman, 1997).

Despite important advances in this area, both theoretical and empirical, research does not offer definitive conclusions concerning the connection research in this field identified the relationship between emotional demands and job satisfaction as being both positive (Wharton, 1993) and negative (Abraham, 1998; Morris & Feldman, 1997). More recent research has found similar results (Wilk & Moynihan, 2005; Duke et al., 2009; Aldea-Capotescu, 2011). This contradiction may be due to the use of different definitions of emotional demands. Expressions of emotions may be positively related to job satisfaction, but the regulation to achieve that expression may be negatively related to satisfaction.

3. Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction has been defined as an affective attachment to the job, or as an emotional state resulting from the

Given the fact that job satisfaction affects employee turnover, absenteeism and burnout, it is a variable of practical importance ( t al., 2008is their satisfaction with individual service encounters. behaviors are influenced by those around them ( ), it is nced by the other people presence in the immediate work environment, namely coworkers and supervisors.

4. Satisfaction with supervisor and coworker support

Support from coworkers and supervisors should create a positive working environment (Grandey, 2000). An employee's perception that he or she works in a supportive climate has been found connected to job satisfaction, lowered stress and turnover intentions, and even higher team performance (Grandey, 2000). Creating a well

who like each other and have good relationships with each other are more likely to have good peer communications, greater job satisfaction and good relationships

Only few studies have tested support as a moderator of emotional labor and outcomes. Abraham (1998) found that social support interacts with emotional dissonance to buffer against job dissatisfaction. Perceived organizational support reduces the negative effects of the relationship between emotional demands and job satisfaction and between emotional demands and job performance (Duke et al., 2009).

Empirical studies found ambiguous effects of emotion work on psychological well-being which indicates that emotion work is a multidimensional construct with dimensions having positive and negative health effects (Zapf & Holz, 2006).

In the present study, the following aspects of emotional demands and emotional regulation requirements were differentiated: (1) the requirement to display positive emotions; (2) the requirement to display negative emotions; (3) the requirement to display neutral emotional state; (4) the requirement to be sensitive to clients' emotions; (5) the requirement to display emotional sympathy; (6) (8)


organizational norms regarding emotional expression; (9) extent of client contact; (10) emotional dissonance: the expression of emotions that are not felt.

The objective of this study is to understand how the relationship between emotional demands and job satisfaction (a very important organizational outcome), is mediated by satisfaction with supervisor and coworkers support.

Figure 1 presents the theoretical model tested.

Figure 1. The mediating effect of organizational climate between work stressors and intention to quit Based on the theoretical model, the specific objectives are: (1) The investigation of the relationship between

emotional demands, satisfaction with coworkers support and job satisfaction and (2) The investigation of the relationship between emotional demands, satisfaction with supervisor support and job satisfaction.

5. Methods

5.1. Participants

In this study were involved 255 Romanian bank employees providing a range of customer services, 194 women and 61 men. The average age (M) is 38.49 years, with a standard deviation of 8.89. Age limits are 23 and 64 years. 94.5% of the employees have higher education.

5.2. Procedure

The investigation was conducted in small groups, composed of two to five public service workers. The entire procedure of completing the questionnaires was conducted during the working hours. Therefore, in order not to interfere with the work activities, the participants were allowed to choose the time of testing. Anonymity and confidentiality of the data was emphasized.

5.3. Instruments

Frankfurt Emotion Work Scales (FEWS; Zapf et al., 2001). The emotional demands of public service workers were measured using the 61 items Romanian version of Frankfurt Emotion Work Scales (FEWS; Zapf et al., 2001). The FEWS are the only theoretically based empirical measures of emotion work developed to date. Adequate psychometric properties of the FEWS subscales have been reported.

The Job Descriptive Index (JDI) (Smith et al., 1969), designed to measure employee satisfaction with their work. After 40 years of research, JDI remains one of the most widely used instrument for assessing job satisfaction

Emotional demands: Display of Positive Emotions Display of Negative Emotions Display of Neutral Emotions Demand for Sensitivity Emotional Sympathy Emotion Control Interaction Control Norms Regarding Emotion Extent of Client Contact Emotional Dissonance

Satisfaction with co-workers support Satisfaction with supervisor support

Job satisfaction


(Kinicki, McKee-Ryan, Schriesheim & Carson, 2002). Many researches conducted in JDI support the validity and reliability of this instrument. For the present study we selected from the JDI the scales that assess satisfaction with coworkers support (18 items), satisfaction with supervisor support (18 items) and job satisfaction (18 items).

6. Results

The correlation analysis results set in Table 1 shows the relationships between variables in the direction predicted in the literature.

Table 1. Pearson correlation coefficients between emotional demands, satisfaction with coworkers support, satisfaction with supervisor support and job satisfaction (N=233)

Variables 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 1. Display of Positive Emotions 2. Display of Negative Emotions -.08 3. Display of Neutral Emotions -.06 .22** 4. Demand for Sensitivity .39** .04 .09 5. Emotional Sympathy .69** .08 .01 .40** 6. Emotion Control .09 .11 .05 .19** .12* 7. Interaction Control .05 .22** .20** -.01 .09 .07 8. Norms Regarding Emotion -.31** .19** .02 -.19** -.20** .15* .12 9. Extent of Client Contact .25** -.11 -.06 .13* .22** .02 -.08 -.22** 10. Emotional Dissonance .27** .22** .23** .35** .26** .02 .24** -.04 .03 11. Satisfaction with coworkers .32** -.16** .03 .06 .07 -.01 .06 -.15* .04 .05 12. Satisfaction with supervision .08 -.17** -.10 .01 .02 -.04 .05 -.20** .15* -.17** .40** 13. Job satisfaction .31** -.25** -.11 .18** .19** .05 -.07 -.38** .15* -.11 .41** .45**

Based on the proposed theoretical model and the results of correlation analysis, we further tested a few models by

which we investigated the mediating effect of satisfaction with coworkers/supervisor support between emotional demands and job satisfaction. Using structural equations models, we specified and tested two hypothesis stating that satisfaction with coworkers/supervisor support mediates between emotional demands and employee job satisfaction.

Table 2. Results of structural equation modeling analyses: fit indices of emotional demands, satisfaction with coworkers support, satisfaction with

supervisor support and job satisfaction models for public service workers (N=233)

Model df NFI CFI RMSEA Model 1: Mediating effect of satisfaction with coworkers support

65.844, p=.000 10 .891 .894 .014

Model 2. Mediating effect of satisfaction with supervisor support

60.593, p=.000 10 .898 .902 .014

Model 3. Mediating effect of satisfaction with coworkers and supervisor support

=55.102 p=.000

10 .922 .927 .013

The results presented in Table 2 confirmed the mediator role of satisfaction with coworkers support (Model 1)

and supervisor support (Model 2). Based on the results we can say that satisfaction with coworkers support and satisfaction with supervisor support act as mediators in the relationship between emotional demands and the

satisfaction. For better understanding the social support role in the processes of perception of job satisfaction in service workers, we tested a model in which we entered both variables - satisfaction with coworkers


and satisfaction with supervisor support - as mediators (Model 3). The results confirmed the multiple mediation mechanism.

7. Discussions and conclusions

The findings of the present study underscore the relevance of including supervisor and coworker support in future studies on the relationship between emotional demands and job satisfaction and confirm previous research showing that emotion work is a laborious activity (e.g., Dormann & Zapf, 2004; Zapf & H

Emotional demands affect all service workers, even if they may vary, provided that their work involves long-term relations with customers and depending on the amount of training received to deal with customer related stressors.

Service jobs that expose workers to high levels of emotional dissonance, such as having to deal with angry or aggressive customers and displaying positive emotions inconsistent with those genuinely experienced, may potentially be assisted through supervisor support. Offering social support within the organization can be achieved through mentoring programs where customer related issues can be addressed in the interaction between supervisor and subordinate. The results of the present study also underline that the support received from colleagues proves to be a valuable resource for public service workers: employees who are receiving social support from colleagues show a higher level of work satisfaction under high emotional demands caused by the interaction with customers.

The results have major implications on the design of management interventions aiming at reducing stress and improving customer services, suggesting a number of ways of intervention. Organizations can promote career identity for workers as a potential buffer, through socialization, training and development. Because service work requires considerable skill levels and extensive training of its personnel, the organization will need to place a high emphasis on teaching interpersonal skills and on managing factors that are contributing to emotional dissonance.

Several limitations of the study and future research directions can be highlighted. Thus, the proposed models were tested in a single occupational category, which limits the possibility of generalization for the conclusions. It is important that future studies implement the proposed methodology to investigate these issues in various professional categories, to provide a comprehensive picture of the relationship between emotional demands and job satisfaction. Also, the models tested in future studies could include a number of other factors, which, along with emotional dissonance, could influence job satisfaction. Moreover, it is likely that the rules regarding emotion expression at work strongly vary between different countries. A comparison of various countries regarding emotion work and its influence on job satisfaction in future research would bring a valuable contribution to our knowledge in this domain.

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social support as a mediator between emotion work and job satisfaction

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