Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) research is extended to the customer domain by examining the role of customer behavior in Internet service deliveries. Based on the OCB framework, it was hypothesized that a conceptual distinction between in-role behaviors (i.e., task performance) and extra-role behaviors (i.e., citizenship behavior) can be extended to customers who participate in service delivery. Survey data show that customers differentiate coproduction behaviors from customer citizenship behaviors. Furthermore, these two behaviors had different sets of predictors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed from the perspective of OCB theories.

In this research, we extend emotional labor theories to the customer domain by developing and testing a theoretical model of the effects of employee emotional labor on customer outcomes. Dyadic survey data from 285 service interactions between employees and customers show that employees' emotional labor strategies of deep and surface acting differentially influence customers' service evaluations and that customers' accuracy in detecting employees' strategies can intensify this impact. We also investigate the potential moderating effects of service type on the relationship between emotional labor and customer outcomes but find no support for such an effect. This research was funded by grants from the (U.K.) Academy of Marketing and the University of Strathclyde Business School. We wish to thank Hillary Elfenbein and Raja Chattapadhyay for providing valuable comments on drafts. We also thank our three anonymous reviewers and Elizabeth Morrison, to whom we are particularly grateful, for their constructive help in improving this article.

In this study, the authors examine the effects of two facets of employee emotions on customers' assessments of service encounters. Drawing on emotional contagion and emotional labor theories, they investigate the influence of the extent of service employees' display of positive emotions and the authenticity of their emotional labor display on customers' emotional states and, subsequently, on customers' assessments of the service interaction and their relationship with the service provider. To test the study hypotheses, 223 consumers participated in a simulated service encounter in which actors played the roles of service employees. In a 2 × 2 factorial design, the employees varied both the extent of their smiling behavior and their emotional labor display by engaging in surface or deep acting. The results show that the authenticity of employees' emotional labor display directly affects customers' emotional states. However, contrary to expectations, the extent of employee smiling does not influence customer emotions, providing no support for the existence of primitive emotional contagion in service interactions. Furthermore, employee emotions exert an influence on customer outcomes that are of interest to marketers.

In this study, the authors examine the effects of two facets of employee emotions on customers' assessments of service encounters. Drawing on emotional contagion and emotional labor theories, they investigate the influence of the extent of service employees' display of positive emotions and the authenticity of their emotional labor display on customers' emotional states and, subsequently, on customers' assessments of the service interaction and their relationship with the service provider. To test the study hypotheses, 223 consumers participated in a simulated service encounter in which actors played the roles of service employees. In a 2 × 2 factorial design, the employees varied both the extent of their smiling behavior and their emotional labor display by engaging in surface or deep acting. The results show that the authenticity of employees' emotional labor display directly affects customers' emotional states. However, contrary to expectations, the extent of employee smiling does not influence customer emotions, providing no support for the existence of primitive emotional contagion in service interactions. Furthermore, employee emotions exert an influence on customer outcomes that are of interest to marketers.

Given the emotional nature of health care, patients and their families may express anger and mistreat their health care providers; in addition, those providers are expected to manage their own emotions when providing care--two interpersonal stressors that are linked to job burnout. Integrating conservation of resources (Hobfoll, 2002) and ego depletion (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000) theories, we propose that this creates a resource loss spiral that can be slowed by the presence of a "climate of authenticity" among one's coworkers. We describe this climate and how it differs from other work climates. We then propose that a work unit with a climate of authenticity should provide a self-regulatory break from emotional labor with patients, thus replenishing resources and buffering against strain from emotional labor. We tested this multilevel prediction by surveying 359 health care providers nested within 48 work units at a large, metropolitan hospital. We find that medical workers experiencing more mistreatment by patients are more likely to be managing emotions with patients, and this response further contributes to the employees' job-related burnout. As predicted, managing emotions with patients was unrelated to burnout for workers in a unit with a climate of authenticity.

Emotional dissonance resulting from an employee's emotional labor is usually considered to lead to negative employee outcomes, such as job dissatisfaction and emotional exhaustion. Drawing on Festinger's (1957) cognitive dissonance theory, we argue that the relationship between service employees' surface acting and job dissatisfaction and emotional exhaustion is moderated by 2 aspects of a service worker's self-concept: the importance of displaying authentic emotions (reflecting the self-concept's self-liking dimension) and the employee's self-efficacy when faking emotions (reflecting the self-competence dimension). A survey of 528 frontline employees from a wide variety of service jobs provides support for the moderating role of both self-concept dimensions, which moderate 3 out of 4 relationships. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed from the perspectives of cognitive dissonance and emotional labor theories.

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Explanations in the context of employment rejection letters were studied from the perspective of fairness theory (Folger & Cropanzano, 1998). In 2 scenario‐based studies and 1 field experiment, Would Reducing explanations (i.e., explanations detailing qualifications of the individual who received the job), Should Reducing explanations (i.e., explanations of the appropriateness of the selection process), and Could Reducing explanations (i.e., explanations of external conditions that led to a hiring freeze) were systematically manipulated in communicating negative hiring decisions. Applicants' perceptions of fairness, recommendation intentions, and reapplication behavior were assessed. Results demonstrate strong support for the effectiveness of Would and Could Reducing explanations at reducing perceptions of unfairness and increasing recommendation intentions. In addition, applicants who received the Could Reducing explanation were more than twice as likely to reapply for a future position with the organization than those who received a standard rejection letter. A 3‐way interaction among the 3 explanations suggests that 2 explanations may need to be combined in a rejection letter to generate the most positive effects. Findings are discussed from the perspective of fairness theory and practical implications are identified.