Stress and performance: Do service orientation and emotional energy moderate the relationship?

Abstract

The current study examines the moderating effect of customer service orientation and emotional energy on the stress-performance relationship for 681 U.S. casual dining restaurant employees. Customer service orientation was hypothesized to moderate the stress-performance relationship for Front-of-House (FOH) workers. Emotional energy was hypothesized to moderate stress-performance for Back-of-House (BOH) workers. Contrary to expectations, customer service orientation failed to moderate the effects of stress on performance for FOH employees, but the results supported that customer service orientation is likely a mediator of the relationship. However, the hypothesis was supported for BOH workers; emotional energy was found to moderate stress performance for these employees. This finding suggests that during times of high stress, meaningful, warm, and empathetic relationships are likely to impact BOH workers' ability to maintain performance. These findings have real-world implications in organizational practice, including highlighting the importance of developing positive and meaningful social interactions among workers and facilitating appropriate person-job fits. Doing so is likely to help in alleviating worker stress and is also likely to encourage worker performance.

Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Shirom–Melamed Vigor Measure (SMVM) With Workers in Spain

“…Another aspect to consider would be the use of the SMVM as a screening instrument alone. Although there is sufficient evidence of the predictive validity of the instrument in relation to health (Armon et al, 2014; Derman, 2008; Shirom, et al, 2012; Shirom, Toker, et al, 2012, 2013), performance and organizational effectiveness (Carmeli, Ben-Hador, Waldman, & Rupp, 2009; Smith, Rasmussen, Mills, Wefald, & Downey, 2012; Steele et al, 2012; Wefald et al, 2012), and job satisfaction (Aydogan, Dogan, & Bayram, 2009; Steele et al, 2012), Shirom (2011) proposes a model that includes other variables that help to predict these results. Thus, the model indicates that the instrument should be applied combined with additional instruments that could allow a more exhaustive forecast of the variables of interest.…”

Relationship between Emotional Labor and Customer Orientation among Airline Service Employees: Mediating Role of Depersonalization

“…In contrast, deep acting is positively related to CO because, as effortful behavior to empathize with customers and understand their perspectives, deep acting may facilitate positive emotional synchronization between experienced and expressed emotions (Rafaeli and Sutton 1990); this emotional harmony, instead of causing emotional dissonance, may help employees keep, increase, or regain important psychological resources by yielding desirable positive outcomes, such as a feeling of satisfaction with their ability to fulfill their service obligations and their confidence in solving problems in challenging service encounters (Brotheridge and Lee 2002; Hochschild 1983; Lee and Ashforth 1996). Such positive outcomes, because of their motivational potential, may in turn encourage employees to feel positive about themselves and their work, foster meaningful interpersonal interactions, and become more committed to their service job (Brotheridge and Grandey 2002; Lee and Ok 2012; Pugh 2001; Rafaeli and Sutton 1990; Smith et al 2012; Zapf 2002).…”

The Relationship of the Job Demands‐Control‐Support Model with Vigor across Time: Testing for Reciprocality

“…Fisher, 2000) in which the term affect refers to both emotions and moods, we conceive of vigor as being closer to a mood state than to an emotion (Shraga & Shirom, 2009). We decided to focus on vigor because it has been shown to be instrumental in determining key work‐related processes, including motivation, turnover intention, affective commitment, and job satisfaction (Wefald, Mills, Smith, & Downey, 2012), and in influencing key organisational outcomes, such as performance (Carmeli, Ben‐Hador, Waldman, & Rupp, 2009; Smith, Rasmussen, Mills, Wefald, & Downey, 2012). Vigor has also been associated with protective effects on health, such as lower risks of mortality and diabetes (Shirom, Toker, Jacobson, & Balicer, 2010).…”