Impact of customer verbal aggression on employee emotional exhaustion and turnover intention: an emprical study of ground service staff in Vietnamese Aviation industry

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Nguyen Tran Thuy Trang IMPACT OF CUSTOMER VERBAL AGGRESSION ON EMPLOYEE EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION AND TURNOVER INTENTION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF GROUND SERVICE STAFF IN VIETNAMESE AVIATION INDUSTRY MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours) Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2015 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Nguyen Tran Thuy Trang IMPACT OF CUSTOMER VERBAL AGGRESSION ON EMPLOYEE EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION AND TURNOVER INTENTION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF GROUND SERVICE STAFF IN VIETNAMESE AVIATION INDUSTRY ID: 22130082 MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours) SUPERVISOR: Dr NGUYEN THI NGUYET QUE Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Firstly, I would like to express my great gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Nguyet Que for her kindness, professional guidance and encouragement as well as dedicated support, valuable comments, instructions through my thesis Secondly, I am sincerely thankful to Professor Nguyen Dinh Tho, Dr Nguyen Thi Mai Trang, and Dr Tran Ha Minh Quan as proposal examination committee Their comments and meaningful suggestions significantly contribute to this research completion Finally, my special gratitude is extended to all instructors and staffs of International School of Business – University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City for their teaching and guidance during my master course i ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to investigate the impacts of customer verbal aggression to emotional exhaustion and turnover intention of ground service staff in Vietnam aviation industry This research framework was tested through a survey on employees from ground customer service in Noi Bai International Airport, Da Nang International Airport, and Tan Son Nhat International Airport The findings of this research showed significant and positive effects of customer verbal aggression on emotional exhaustion and turnover intention Furthermore, the research found that customer verbal aggression positively relates on stress appraisal; negative affectivity positively relates to customer verbal aggression and stress appraisal of customer verbal aggression, as well as stress appraisal of customer verbal aggression positively relates to turnover intention Employee emotional exhaustion still has the significance to turnover intention These findings suggest that the organization should consider and encourage employees’ spirit to be motivated and inspired in their job Additionally, the organization should have solution to minimize the verbal attack of customers to employees Key words: customer verbal aggression, negative affectivity, stress appraisal, emotional exhaustion, turnover intention ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IATA: International Air Transport Association EFA: Exploratory Factor Analysis CFA: Confirmatory Factor Analysis SEM: Structural Equation Modeling CVA: Customer verbal aggression EMO: Emotional exhaustion TOI: Turnover intention NEG: Negative affectivity STRESS: Stress appraisal SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Science AMOS: Analysis of Moment Structure AVE: Average Variances Extracted iii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: In-depth interview respondent information 26 Table 4.1: Source of data collection 31 Table 4.2: Sample characteristics 32 Table 4.3: Reliability test results after deleting items NEG1 and NEG2 33 Table 4.4: KMO & Barlett’s test 33 Table 4.5: KMO & Barlett’s test after deleting EMO2 & EMO3 34 Table 4.6: Rotated component matrix after deleting EMO2 & EMO3 35 Table 4.7: Reliability test results of new variables 36 Table 4.8: Standardized regression weights 38 Table 4.9: The first AVE 39 Table 4.10: The second AVE 39 Table 4.11: Regression weights 42 Table 4.12: Standardized regression weights (bootstrap method error) 43 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Vietnam aviation labor structure Figure 1.2: Vietnam aviation educational labor standard Figure 3.1: Research process 21 Figure 4.1: CFA of 05 constructs 37 Figure 4.2: Second CFA after deleting CVA3 and CVA7 40 Figure 4.3: Structural results 41 Figure 4.4: Final model after testing 52 v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iii LIST OF TABLES iv LIST OF FIGURES v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research Background ································································································· 1.2 Research Problem ······································································································· 1.3 Research Objective and Research Questions ······························································ 1.4 Research Methodology and Scope ·············································································· 1.5 Research Significance ································································································· 1.6 Structure of the research ··························································································· 10 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 12 2.1 Review previous study ······························································································ 12 2.1 Hypotheses and Research Model Development ······················································· 18 2.3 Conceptual model ····································································································· 23 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 25 3.1 Research process ············································································································ 25 3.2 Measurement Scale ········································································································ 26 3.3 Questionnaire Design ···································································································· 29 3.4 Sample size and Sampling method ················································································ 34 3.5 Data Analysis Method ··································································································· 35 CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS 38 4.1 Data Collection ·············································································································· 38 vi 4.2 Respondents’ Demographics ························································································· 38 4.2 Reliability Analysis········································································································ 39 4.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis ·························································································· 40 4.4 Evaluate the measurement by CFA ··············································································· 44 4.5 SEM Testing and Bootstrap Method ············································································· 48 4.6 Results of testing hypotheses ························································································· 51 4.7 Discussion of the hypotheses ························································································· 53 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND LIMITATION 56 5.1 Conclusion about hypotheses and research problem ····················································· 56 5.2 Research contribution ···································································································· 57 5.3 Limitation and future research ······················································································· 59 vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION This is the opening chapter of the research In this part, the overview of Vietnam civil aviation and labor structure are described first The second the author bases on the reality of aviation labor resource to show the research problem, which is the author would like to research in this thesis Research objective, research questions, research methodology and scope, research significance, and thesis structure are the next parts in this chapter that the author presents to overview the content and assignment through the thesis 1.1 Research Background 1.1.1 About Vietnam Civil Aviation For such countries, civil aviation is always amazed technical and economic characteristics because it is application of scientific achievements in the most advanced techniques Civil aviation activities are not only economic in nature but also merely closely related to security, national defense, and foreign economic relations So far, Vietnam civil aviation has made encouraging progress with reforms on the path of modernization In recent years, although the world economy passes the crisis and recession period, overall still grows Among them, the aviation traffic operation always gets high speed Especially, strong resurgence of the emerging economies in the AsiaPacific, including Vietnam as a basis for favorable forecast output growth of the aviation sector The wings of Vietnam aviation today not only fly within domestic airport, but also to many continents in the world with the new modern aircrafts The airports have more facilities for passengers, many terminals, runways, and aprons are extended Vietnam aviation market has achieved remarkable progress in the last five years the average annual growth of 15% According to figures reported by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam in 2010 - 2014, Vietnam Aviation Service continues to maintain high growth rates According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the period from 2013 to 2017, Vietnam aviation market is growing fast and dynamic, ranked number seven among the fastest growing market world In 2014, total You show your acceptable level to the Mostly true Absolutely true True about half the time Mostly true Slightly true Slightly true Not at all true Not at all true corresponding box: True about half the time following statements by marking the Absolutely true Questions Customers often shout at us Customers personally attack us verbally Customers are often complaining about us Customers get angry with us even over minor matters Some customers argue all the time Customers vent their bad mood out on us The customers often criticize us – they never see what is well done If an error occurs, the customers often blame us - never themselves 68 You show your acceptable level to the Agree Strongly agree Neither agree nor disagree Agree Disagres Disagree Strongly disagree Strongly disagree corresponding box: Neither agree nor disagree following statements by marking the Strongly agree I feel burned out from my work 10 I feel fatigued when I get up in the morning and have to face another day on the job 11 I feel frustrated with my job 12 I not think I will spend my entire career with this organization 13 I have decided to quit this organization 14 I am looking at other jobs now 15 If I not get promoted soon, I will look for a job elsewhere SECTION C: This section presents your comments about the emotions in your job 69 You show your happening level for the following statement by marking the Never Almost never Sometimes Fairly often A little Moderately Quite a bit Almost never Very slightly or not at all Never Sometimes Very often corresponding box: Fairly often Very often How often have you been angered because of things that were outside of your control? How often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them? How often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems? How often have you been able to control irritations in your life? Marking the corresponding box with the experienced each emotion at work now Very slightly or not at all A little Moderately Quite a bit Very much question: Rate the extent to which you have Very much Interested Enthusiastic Inspired 70 Distressed Irritable Upset 71 APPENDIX B: Questionnaire (Vietnamese version) Kính chào Anh/Chị, Tôi tên Nguyễn Trần Thùy Trang, Học viên Cao học Viện Đào tạo Quốc tế (ISB) - Trường Đại học Kinh tế TPHCM Hiện nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng công lời nói khách hàng (customer verbal aggression) đến cạn kiệt cảm xúc (emotional exhaustion) tỷ lệ nghỉ việc (turnover intention) nhân viên dịch vụ mặt đất ngành hàng không Việt Nam Rất mong Anh/chị dành thời gian để thực bảng khảo sát Mọi thơng tin phản hồi từ phía Anh/chị có giá trị q trình phân tích hồn thiện nghiên cứu Phần trả lời anh/chị giữ bí mật tuyệt đối, có thông tin tổng hợp báo cáo công bố Xin lưu ý khơng có câu trả lời hay sai mà tất ý kiến Anh/ Chị có giá trị quan trọng cho nghiên cứu Xin chân thành cảm ơn PHẦN A Giới tính bạn:  Nam  Nữ Độ tuổi:  18 -25  26 – 35  36 – 45 Học vấn:  Phổ thông  Cao đẳng, Đại học  Sau đại học PHẦN B Phần thể ý kiến Anh/ Chị hành khách cơng việc, gắn bó Anh/Chị đến tổ chức 72 Anh/chị cho biết mức độ đồng ý phát biểu sau cách đánh Đúng Rất Bình thường Bình thường Không Không Rất không Rất không dấu vào ô tương ứng: Đúng Rất Câu hỏi Khách hàng thường hét vào Khách hàng công lời nói Khách hàng ln ln phàn nàn Khách hàng giận vấn đề nhỏ Một vài khách hàng lúc tranh cãi gay gắt Khách hàng trút tâm trạng xấu họ lên Khách hàng luôn trích chúng tơi, họ khơng nhìn thấy thứ hoàn thành tốt Nếu lỗi xảy ra, khách hàng luôn đổ lỗi cho chúng tôi, không tự nhận thân 73 Anh/chị cho biết mức độ đồng ý phát biểu sau cách đánh Đồng ý Rất đồng ý Không ý kiến Không ý kiến Không đồng ý Không đồng ý Rất không đồng ý Rất không đồng ý dấu vào ô tương ứng: Đồng ý Rất đồng ý Tôi cảm thấy bị đốt cháy công việc Tôi cảm thấy mệt mỏi phải thức dậy 10 vào buổi sáng phải đối mặt với công việc ngày 11 12 13 14 15 Tôi cảm thấy thất vọng công việc Tôi không nghĩ dành tồn nghiệp tơi cho tổ chức Tôi định từ bỏ tổ chức Bây tơi tìm kiếm cơng việc khác Nếu tơi khơng thăng tiến sớm, tơi tìm công việc nơi khác PHẦN C Phần thể ý kiến Anh/ Chị cảm xúc thân công việc 74 Anh/chị cho biết mức độ xảy Khá thường xuyên Rất thường xuyên Thỉnh thoảng Khá thường xuyên Hầu không Thỉnh thoảng Không Không ứng Hầu không phát biểu sau cách đánh vào ô tương Rất thường xun Anh/chị có thường xun tức giận điều xảy vượt ngồi tầm kiểm sốt anh/chị khơng? Anh/chị có thường cảm thấy thứ khó khăn xếp chồng lên mà anh/chị vượt qua chúng? Anh/chị có thường cảm thấy tự tin khả thân để xử lý vấn đề cá nhân anh/chị không? Anh/chị thường kiểm sốt tác động gây cho anh/chị bực tức sống không? 75 Anh/chị cho biết mức độ xảy phát biểu sau cách đánh vào ô tương ứng với câu hỏi: Anh/chị đánh giá mức Bình thường Rất nhiều Hơn chút Một chút Bình thường Rất khơng có Một chút nơi làm việc Rất khơng có độ cảm xúc mà anh/chị trải qua Hơn chút Rất nhiều Thích thú Hăng hái Đầy cảm hứng Kiệt sức Bực dọc Khó chịu 76 APPENDIX C: Reliability Results Observed Variables Scale Mean if Item Deleted Scale Variance if Item Deleted Corrected ItemTotal Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted 439 553 472 464 506 606 512 364 770 749 762 763 757 741 757 778 Customer verbal aggression (CVA): Alpha=0.783 CVA1 CVA2 CVA3 CVA4 CVA5 CVA6 CVA7 CVA8 22.46 22.65 22.43 22.36 22.04 22.40 22.62 22.22 24.598 24.407 25.089 25.592 25.173 24.410 25.810 27.306 Emotional exhaustion (EMO): Alpha=0.751 EMO1 5.10 3.922 529 724 EMO2 5.56 3.618 636 600 EMO3 5.80 3.832 573 674 Turnover Intention (TOI): Alpha=0.780 TOI1 TOI2 TOI3 TOI4 8.65 9.23 8.83 8.62 8.061 7.166 6.904 7.349 316 593 724 857 886 723 655 624 Stress Appraisal (STRESS): Alpha=0.786 STRESS1 11.64 3.725 673 694 STRESS2 11.70 4.650 349 845 STRESS3 11.72 3.584 659 699 STRESS4 11.53 3.565 720 667 Negative affectivity (NEG): Alpha=0.745 NEG1 NEG2 NEG3 NEG4 NEG5 NEG6 14.00 13.95 13.68 13.91 13.89 14.09 13.551 13.318 10.737 12.992 11.538 10.277 274 396 476 532 780 582 762 731 719 704 643 679 77 APPENDIX D: The first rotated component matrix Rotated Component Matrixa Component CVA8 812 CVA1 742 CVA6 708 CVA5 649 CVA7 634 CVA2 576 STRESS3 776 STRESS1 728 STRESS4 705 STRESS2 660 CVA4 537 NEG5 812 NEG6 768 NEG3 763 NEG4 664 EMO3 TOI4 942 TOI3 942 TOI2 696 CVA3 726 TOI1 622 EMO1 589 EMO2 -.579 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization a Rotation converged in iterations 78 APPENDIX E: Total variance explained in Exploratory Factor Analysis Table E1: Total variance explained Total Variance Explained Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings Total % of Variance Cumulative % Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings Component Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative % 7.793 33.881 33.881 7.793 33.881 33.881 3.528 15.341 15.341 2.343 10.188 44.069 2.343 10.188 44.069 3.372 14.662 30.003 1.828 7.948 52.017 1.828 7.948 52.017 3.128 13.599 43.602 1.425 6.195 58.213 1.425 6.195 58.213 2.586 11.242 54.845 1.290 5.611 63.823 1.290 5.611 63.823 2.065 8.979 63.823 979 4.255 68.078 857 3.725 71.803 822 3.575 75.378 729 3.172 78.550 10 694 3.016 81.566 11 532 2.313 83.879 12 514 2.236 86.115 13 453 1.970 88.085 14 417 1.813 89.898 15 373 1.620 91.519 76 16 358 1.555 93.073 17 342 1.488 94.562 18 281 1.222 95.784 19 254 1.105 96.889 20 252 1.095 97.983 21 209 908 98.892 22 186 809 99.701 23 069 299 100.000 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis 77 Table E2: Total Variance Explained after deleting items EMO2, EMO3 Total Variance Explained Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative % Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings Component Total Total % of Variance Cumulative % 7.629 36.331 36.331 7.629 36.331 36.331 3.305 15.738 15.738 2.285 10.883 47.213 2.285 10.883 47.213 3.091 14.719 30.457 1.798 8.560 55.773 1.798 8.560 55.773 2.824 13.447 43.904 1.344 6.400 62.173 1.344 6.400 62.173 2.571 12.241 56.146 1.222 5.821 67.994 1.222 5.821 67.994 2.488 11.848 67.994 830 3.950 71.944 742 3.534 75.479 699 3.329 78.807 616 2.932 81.739 10 545 2.593 84.332 11 474 2.255 86.587 12 434 2.067 88.654 13 386 1.837 90.492 14 370 1.763 92.255 15 353 1.679 93.933 77 16 282 1.343 95.276 17 257 1.224 96.500 18 257 1.222 97.722 19 220 1.048 98.770 20 188 896 99.666 21 070 334 100.000 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis 77