Antecedent and outcomes emotional labor evidence from tourism industry in viet nam

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Tran Thanh Tam Antecedent and Outcomes of Emotional Labor: Evidence from Tourism Industry in Vietnam MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Tran Thanh Tam Antecedent and Outcomes of Emotional Labor: Evidence from Tourism Industry in Vietnam MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUPERVISOR: DR NGUYEN THI MAI TRANG Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018 Table of Content Abstract Introduction Literature Review and Hypotheses Literature Review Hypotheses 14 Method 18 Data Analysis 23 Sample Characteristics 23 Results of Exploratory Factor Analysis 25 Results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis 26 Results of Discriminant Validity 27 Results of SEM test 28 Discussion 30 Conclusion and Managerial Implications 32 Limitations and Future Research 35 References 37 Appendix SEM model .51 Appendix Questionnaire English version 52 Appendix Questionnaire Vietnamese version (Bảng câu hỏi khảo sát) 59 List of Tables Table : Measurements .21 Table : Sample Characteristics 24 Table : Results of Exploratory Factor Analysis 25 Table : Results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis 27 Table : Results of Discriminant Validity 28 Table : Results of SEM test .28 List of Figures Figure : Conceptual model 18 Figure : SEM model 51 Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the roles of customer orientation and emotional labor on job burnout, then job burnout affects job performance, under a foundation of conservation of resources theory Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a survey of 308 frontline service employees working at travel agencies, restaurants, hotels, airline ticket agents and museums Then data were analyzed by means of a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling Findings – The results indicate that emotional labor strategies affect job burnout, and in turn job burnout affects job performance Customer orientation does not directly affect job burnout, however, it influences emotional labor strategies Practical implications – Managers of tourism services companies may develop a good human resource management system to encourage front-line employees to enhance their performance related to deep acting when serving customers This, in turn, will reduce their job burnout Keywords: Customer orientation, Emotional labor, Job burnout, Job performance Introduction Nowaday, job burnout is an extremely hot keywork on the internet or in human resources management There are many articles on the internet warning about this as well as researchers doing research on this topic Job burnout concept is used to explain the chronic and accumulative job stress of staff at work (Babakus et al., 2009; Halbesleben, 2006; Sand & Miyazaki, 2000) The consequences of job burnout are considerably serious, the persons who are exhausted in their work feel emotionally exhausted, lack of energy, become suspicious, easily react negatively, should be heartless, or no longer confident in their job (Maslach & Leiter, 2008) Recent scientific studies have confirmed that employees in service industry, especially frontline service employees, are subjects to job burnout (Cho, Bonn, Han, & Lee, 2016; Lee, An, & Noh, 2015; Rahim & Cosby, 2016; Wu & Shie, 2017) The intensity of contact with customers (almost daily), the duty of meeting all requirements related to customers treatment and the enforcement of making customers happy as a job evaluation criterion (Yoo & Arnold, 2014) Enterprises in service industry are interested in this issue, because the problems related to job burnout can directly affect customers’ satisfaction, employees’ performance results and especially their revenue and profit (Kim et al., 2017) In business, especially service industry, customer orientation concept is considered as a crucial characteristic feature that allows employees to carry out their duties at their workplace (Babakus et al., 2009; Wu & Shie, 2017); For example: "Customer is the most important in my job"; "I always try my best to give my customers the best services" Enterprises take customer orientation into employees’ duties as a motto to serve customers, as the value of employees’ work, showing their real concern in providing better services to customers (Brown et al., 2002) Previous studies related to job burnout, customer orientation and job performance, emotional labor was usually seen as a mediated factor and was studied in the case of frontline service employees working in service industry, especially hospitality, restaurant and airlines (Cho et al., 2016; Hur et al., 2013; Hur et al., 2015; ; Kim et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2015) Hochschild (1983) defined emotional labor as a process of working by emotion; employees have to join in many different scenarios to arrange their emotion display in accordance with enterprises’ expectation Specifically, the research of Yoo and Arnold (2014) found that elements of emotional labor (surface acting and deep acting) were mediated elements influencing the relationship between customer orientation and emotional exhaustion (an important part of Job burnout) Customer orientation was seen as an adjusting tool to prevent negative impacts of job burnout to job performance It meant that customer orientation could reduce negative influence of job burnout on job performance of frontline service employees with high customer orientation (Babakus & Yavas, 2012) In hospitality sector, frontline service employees with high customer orientation always want to serve customers in a polite and helpful way; and always ensure of improving customer service quality (Babakus et al., 2010) However, most of research mention frontline service employees in terms of enterprises in retailing, restaurant, hotel, and airline agents but there is not any research mentions frontline service employees in terms of tourism service sector Specifically, frontline service employees working for travel companies, restaurants and hotels serving group of visitors, visit locations and ticket agents Most research on Vietnam tourism service focus on customers Customers’ attitude, behavior, feeling and satisfaction are always the main purpose or topic in many surveys and research Customers are asked about their satisfaction with the service they received and how to get their satisfaction and loyalty All resolutions stand on the customers’ side For example, the most recent research studied on customers’ feeling about destination, negative emotion of customers with failure service (Le & Nguyen, 2017; Le & Nguyen, 2018) Few research studying on the human resources in case of tourism industry or, if so, are incomplete Especially, no research mentions or explains the relationship among job burnout, emotional labor customer orientation and job performance in tourism service sector Following the future trend, service sector of Vietnam in general and tourism services in particular are on the trend of growing up and will be developed rapidly and strongly in the coming years (Xuan & Duong, 2017) According to Lien (2017), tourism services had great contribution into Vietnam economy, specifically about 6% in 2016 and 7.5% in 2017 of the national GDP; In 2017, Vietnam welcomed over 10 million visitors, not including domestic sources; And it is expected to have from 13 million to 15 million guests visiting Vietnam in 2018 However, statistics showed that there are only about 750,000 direct workers and 2.2 million indirect workers working in tourism sector (Chau, 2017) This is a low figure, the rate of increase in labor of this sector is even lower than the rate of increase in the number of visitors This reality leads to tourism industry staff are usually under tremendous pressure on the workload and the requirements of satifying customers The problems of human resources, especially high-quality human resources that are not sufficiently met the industry need (Chau, 2017), is a challenge that requires managers to create solutions that inspire the passion, enthusiasm and commitment to reduce job burnout and retain frontline service employees while waiting for the persons being trained This study aims to investigate the impact of customer orientation on emotional labor, job burnout, and job performance of frontline service employees in tourism industry Through this research, tourism services companies can have realistic understanding of the human resources, thereby developing a better management strategy to encourage employees to increase their performance related to Emotional Labor Strategies to serve customers, motivate them to be loyal to the company, commit to serve customers well, increase work efficiency and reduce work exhaustion Literature Review and Hypotheses Literature Review Conservation of resources (COR) theory COR theory is based on the basic rule that persons try to minimize the loss of resources The main concept of this theory is the loss of resources Actually, the persons who have more resources, are more likely to avoid stress than the persons not having much resources (Alarcon et al., 2011) Persons focus on collecting, maitaining, fostering and protecting resources to avoid losing valuable resources In addition, the resources are value-added elements that can create change and assist in replenishing lost resources (Alvaro et al., 2010) The first principle of COR theory focuses on the dynamic force of resource losses versus resource benefits (be motivated by loss) It means that the persons who lose their resources, will motivate themselves to improve the lost resources figures (regain lost ones) or focus on their own weaknesses, and lose more resources (Woo, 2014) The second principle focuses on resources investing to protect against loss of resources, restore lost resources and promote the collection of additional resources to prevent future deficits (Alarcon et al., 2011) Customer Orientation (CO) In accordance with the definition of Babakus et al (2009), customer orientation is an important personality trait that allows employees to implement their duties at work Customer orientation is a psychological resource that creates the desired working results because customer orientation helps shaping employee perceptions and attitudes toward their work Specifically, customer orientation employees can timely resolve customer requirements and issues, treat customers politely and nicely, and maintain a consistent level of emotion in their interaction with customers As individual level, customer orientation was considered as a personality trait (Brown et al., 2002), a mixture of attitude and behavious (Stock & Hoyer, 2005) Frontline service employees with high customer orientation tend to provide good services in a natural way They prefer working and believe that providing timely and effective services to customers is a major function of their work (Wu, Shie, & Gordon, 2017) Customer orientation at enterprise-level is generalized as an organizational culture, an active collective process that leads to organizational success (Brockman et al., 2012; Hanzaee & Mirvaisi, 2011; Wu & Shie, 2017) Appendix Fingure 2.: SEM Model Appendix Dear Sir / Madam, I am a postgraduate student in Business Administration of the International Shool of Business (ISB) - University of Economics of Ho Chi Minh City Currently, I am implementing a master's thesis with a research topic: Antecedent and Outcomes of Emotional Labor: Evidence from Tourism Industry in Vietnam The subject of the survey is the front-line service emloyees who are working in the tourism services sector in Vietnam, specifically: managers of departments, tourist guides, sales staff, receptionists, PR staff, and the staff of tour operators, hotels, resorts, amusement parks, ticket agents, museums, etc, who directly contacts with customers It will take only to 10 minutes to finish this questionnaire which contains 36 questions related to working issues, emotion in working, discovering of emotion and working achievement I assure that: The personal information, demographic information and questionnaire results will be encoded and absolutely kept secret No risk will be incurred to you during the survey The results will be used only for study and could be represented in science journals and academic Personal information of interviewee will be not published, that means the interviewee who answers this questionnaire will be anonymous to enterprises and other researchers It is not compulsory to answer this questionnaire You can stop answering this questionnaire whenever you like In this case, the interviewing will be canceled immidiately and the information which has just collected will not be uesed anymore In case that you are intersted in the analysis result of this questionnaire or have any enquiry related to this research, you should contact me by emailing to tamvpd@ueh.edu.vn Could you please answer the questions before beginning the survey***: Are you working in the tourism service industry? Yes  (Please, continue the next question) No  (Please, ignore this survey Thank you) Do you contact directly with customers in your work? ?  (Please, start to survey on next page) Yes No  (Please, ignore this survey Thank you) QUESTIONNAIRE The questions in this questionnaire refer to working issues, emotion related to working, discovering of emotion and working achievement Your answer will not be used to evaluate right or wrong, good or bad Please choose the answer that is most suitable to you and your reality Part 1: Your opinion on customer serving Absolutely Disagree disagree Neither Absolutely agree Agree agree nor disagree It is best to ensure that our customers receive the best possible service available      As an employee responsible for providing service, customers are very important to me      When performing my job, the customer is most important to me      I believe that providing timely, efficient service to customers is a major function of my work      If possible, I meet all requests made by my customers      Absolutely wrong to me Wrong to me Maybe Right to me Absolutely right to me I make an effort to actually feel the emotions that I need to display toward others      I work hard to feel the emotions that I need to show to customers      I work at developing the feelings inside of me that I need to show to customers      I put on an act in order to deal with customers in an appropriate way      I fake a good mood when interacting with customers      I just pretend to have the emotions I need to display for my work      I put on a ‘‘mask’’ in order to display the emotions I need for the job      I show feelings to customers that are different from what I feel inside      I fake the emotions I show when dealing with customers      10 I show the same feelings to customers that I feel inside      Part 2: Your emotion while serving customers Part 2: Your emotion while serving customers 11 The emotions I show the customers match what I truly feel Part 3: Your feeling on the work that you are in charged of Absolutely wrong to me Wrong to me Maybe Right to me Absolutely right to me      Never Rarely Occasionally Sometimes Often Usually Always I feel emotionally drained from my work        I feel used up at the end of the workday        I feel fatigued when I get up in the morning and have to face another day on the job        Working with people all day is really a strain for me        I feel frustrated by my work        I have become less interested in my job since I started this job        I have become less enthusiastic about my work        Part 3: Your feeling on the work that you are in charged of Never Rarely Occasionally Sometimes Often Usually Always I become more cynical about whether my work contributes anything        I doubt the significance of my work        10 I not really care what happens to my customers        11 I deal very effective with the problems of my customers        12 I feel very enthusiastic when I achieve goals of my work        13 I fell I am positively influencing other people’s live through my work        14 I think that I can easily understand how my customer feel about things        15 I feel very energetic in my work        16 I think my job is usefulness to make value for my company        Part 4: Your working achievement Absolutely disagree Disagree Neither agree nor disagree Agree Absolutely agree I achieve the objects of my job      I fulfill all the requirements of my job      I am competent in all areas of my job, I handle tasks with proficiency      I perform well in my overall job by carrying out tasks as expected      Demographic questions used in general analysis will be definitely secured Please fullfill all information belows: Your gender: Male  Female  Your age: From 18 to 25  From 26 to 29  From 30 to 39  Above 39  Your literacy: Highschool/ Intermidiate/ College  University  After university  Other  Your working position: Entry level  Executive  Division manager  Senior manager  Your working field: Tourism  Restaurant  Accommodation**  Other  ***Accommodation: Hotel, resort, booking website,… Year of experience in tourism: Under 06 months  From 06 months to under 02 years  From 02 years to 04 years  More than 04 years  Year working for the recent company: Under 06 months  From 06 months to under 02 years  From 02 years to 04 years  More than 04 years  Income/month (VND) < million  From million to under 10 million  From 10 million to under 15 million  From 15 million to 20 million  More than 20 million  The ratio of work related to contacting customers: % The questionnaire is finished Please check to ensure that all of the questions have been answered Sincerely thanks for your help! Appendix Kính chào Q Anh/Chị, Tơi học viên cao học chuyên ngành Quản trị kinh doanh Viện đào tạo quốc tế ISB – trường Đại học Kinh tế TP Hồ Chí Minh Hiện tại, tơi làm luận văn thạc sĩ với đề tài nghiên cứu là: Antecedent and Outcomes of Emotional Labor: Evidence from Tourism Industry in Vietnam Đối tượng khảo sát đề tài nhân viên cung cấp dịch vụ trực tiếp (Front-line service emloyees) làm việc khối ngành dịch vụ du lịch Việt Nam Cụ thể, hãng lữ hành, khách sạn, resort, nhà hàng, bảo tàng, đại lý vé máy bay, website cung cấp dịch vụ du lịch… Bài khảo sát thực vòng từ 05-10 phút thông qua 36 câu hỏi đề cập đến vấn đề liên quan đến công việc, liên qua đến cảm xúc công việc thành đạt công việc Tôi xin cam đoan: Thông tin quý Anh/Chị cung cấp liệu cá nhân, liệu nhân học kết trả lời phần câu hỏi khảo sát mã hoá tuyệt đối bảo mật Sẽ khơng có rủi ro cho quý Anh/Chị tham gia khảo sát Các kết tổng hợp sử dụng cho mục đích nghiên cứu báo cáo tạp chí khoa học hàn lâm, khơng có thơng tin cá nhân người điều tra công bố Tham gia khảo sát tự nguyện, quý Anh/Chị có quyền rút khỏi khảo sát trình khảo sát cách bỏ qua khảo sát Trong trường hợp này, việc tham gia nghiên cứu chấm dứt thông tin thu thập không sử dụng Nếu Anh/Chị muốn nhận kết phân tích phần khảo sát có quan tâm khác nghiên cứu này, vui lịng liên hệ tơi: Trần Thanh Tâm - Email tamvpd@ueh.edu.vn Quý Anh/Chị vui lòng trả lời câu hỏi sau trước bắt đầu bảng khảo sát***: Quý Anh/Chị làm việc ngành dịch vụ du lịch phải khơng? Có  (Vui lịng trả lời câu hỏi tiếp theo) Khơng  (Vui lịng dừng khảo sát Cám ơn quý Anh/Chị) Quý Anh/Chị có tiếp xúc trực tiếp với khách hàng công việc hay không? Có  (Kính mời q Anh/Chị bắt đầu thực Bảng câu hỏi trang tiếp theo) Không  (Vui lòng bỏ qua khảo sát Cám ơn quý Anh/Chị) BẢNG CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT Ý kiến Anh/Chị dùng để đánh giá hay sai, tốt hay xấu Anh/Chị vui lòng chọn mức độ phù hợp với thân tình hình thực tế Anh/Chị Phần 1: Quan điểm phục vụ khách hàng Anh/Chị Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Bình thường Đồng ý Hồn tồn đồng ý Tôi cố gắng để đảm bảo khách hàng tơi có dịch vụ tốt      Tôi cố gắng để đáp ứng yêu cầu khách hàng khách hàng quan trọng với      Trong nghề nghiệp tôi, khách hàng quan trọng      Tơi nghĩ trách nhiệm công việc cung cấp cho khách hàng dịch vụ kịp thời hiệu      Tôi nghĩ nên ưu tiên đáp ứng nhu cầu khách hàng      Phần 2: Cảm xúc Anh/Chị phục vụ khách hàng Hồn Khơng Có tồn khơng thể với tơi đúng với tơi Hồn Đúng tồn với tơi với tơi Tôi cố gắng ghi nhớ loại cảm xúc mà tơi nên thể với khách hàng (Ví dụ: phải vui, phải niềm nở)      Tôi cố gắng cảm nhận cách tự nhiên loại cảm xúc mà cần thể với khách hàng (Ví dụ: cố gắng cảm nhận vui thật từ bên suy nghĩ)      Tôi cố gắng phát triển cảm xúc mà cần thể với khách hàng trở thành cảm giác thật      Tôi thể diễn xuất giải vấn đề cùa khách hàng      Tâm trạng tốt tiếp xúc với khách hàng thường tâm trạng thật      Tôi thể cảm xúc cần thiết cho công việc      Tôi hiển thị mặt cảm xúc cần thiết cho công việc      Cảm xúc mà tơi cho khách hàng nhìn thấy cảm xúc thật      Khi phục vụ khách hàng, hành vi tâm trạng thật không giống      Những cảm xúc mà thể cho khách hàng 10 chân thật      Cảm xúc mà thể với khách hàng xác cảm thấy cách tự nhiên      11 Chưa Hiếm Thỉnh thoảng Đôi Thường xuyên Rất thường xuyên Hàng ngày Công việc tơi khiến tơi cảm thấy bị bào mịn cảm xúc        Sau làm việc, cảm thấy hết lượng        Tôi cảm thấy mệt mỏi thức dậy vào buổi sáng phải đối mặt với công việc        Làm việc trực tiếp với nhiều khách hàng mang lại cho nhiều áp lực        Tôi cảm thấy chán nản cơng việc        Từ bắt đầu vào làm việc, ngày giảm u thích nghề nghiệp        Tôi cảm thấy trở nên hào hứng với cơng việc        Tôi trở nên hoài nghi khả hữu dụng công việc làm        Phần 3: Cảm nhận Anh/Chị công việc phụ trách Chưa Hiếm Thỉnh thoảng Đôi Thường xuyên Rất thường xuyên Hàng ngày Tôi nghi ngờ tầm quan trọng công việc làm        Tôi trở nên khơng thực quan tâm đến chuyện xảy 10 khách hàng        Tơi xử lý vấn đề khách hàng hiệu        Tôi cảm thấy hào hứng 12 đạt mục tiêu công việc        Tôi cảm thấy tơi ảnh hưởng tích cực đến 13 người xung quanh tơi tơi có mặt cơng ty        Tôi tin dễ dàng hiểu 14 ý muốn khách hàng        Tôi cảm thấy đầy lượng công việc        Tôi nghĩ công việc tơi 16 có giá trị đóng góp cho công ty        Phần 3: Cảm nhận Anh/Chị công việc phụ trách 11 15 Phần 4: Kết đạt cơng việc Anh/Chị Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Bình thường Đồng ý Hồn tồn đồng ý Tôi đạt mục tiêu cơng việc      Hiệu suất làm việc đạt tiêu chuẩn      Tơi ln hồn thành u cầu cơng việc      Tơi hồn thành tốt tồn cơng việc việc thực nhiệm vụ mong đợi      Các câu hỏi nhân học dùng để phân tích thống kê chung tuyệt đối bảo mật Vui lòng điền vào thơng tin bên dưới: Giới tính: Nam  Tuổi Anh/Chị: Từ 18 - 25 tuổi  Từ 26 - 29 tuổi  Từ 30 - 39 tuổi  Từ 40 tuổi trở lên  Trình độ học vấn: THPT/ Trung cấp/ Cao đẳng  Nữ  Đại học  Sau đại học  Cấp độ vị trí làm việc Nhân viên  Nhân viên cao cấp  Quản lý phận  Quản lý cấp cao  Khác  Ngành nghề Anh/Chị công tác: Lữ hành  Nhà hàng  Lưu trú**  Khác  **Lưu trú: Khách sạn, Resort, Website book phòng,… Số năm Anh/Chị làm việc ngành du lịch: Dưới 06 tháng  Từ 06 tháng - 02 năm  Từ 02 - 04 năm  Hơn 04 năm  Số năm làm việc Anh/Chị công ty/đơn vị này: Dưới 06 tháng  Từ 06 tháng - 02 năm  Từ 02 - 04 năm  Mức thu nhập Anh/Chị nay: Dưới triệu  Từ 15 triệu - 20 triệu  Hơn 04 năm  Từ triệu - 10 triệu  Từ 10 triệu - 15 triệu  Hơn 20 triệu  Khi làm việc, tỷ lệ tiếp xúc khách hàng: % Bảng câu hỏi kết thúc Quý Anh/Chị vui lòng kiểm tra câu hỏi trả lời trước bấm hoàn thành Chân thành cảm ơn hỗ trợ Quý Anh/Chị ... CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Tran Thanh Tam Antecedent and Outcomes of Emotional Labor: Evidence from Tourism Industry in Vietnam MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION... orientation index of frontline staff in the tourism service sector in Vietnam Some implications to manage and train staff in tourism services sector in Vietnam are as follows: For the enterprises in tourism. .. face interview In order to identify valid respondents, two screening questions putting at the beginning of the questionnaire were included “Are you working in the tourism service industry? ” and