Are All Service Interactions Created Equal? Employees’ Perceptions of Attribution and Justice of Clients’ Emotional Demands and Employee Well-Being

Alejandro García-Romero (), Roberto Domínguez Bilbao and David Martínez-Iñigo
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Alejandro García-Romero: Methodology in Behavioural Sciences Area, Rey Juan Carlos University, 28922 Alcorcón, Spain
Roberto Domínguez Bilbao: Social Psychology Area, Rey Juan Carlos University, 28922 Alcorcón, Spain
David Martínez-Iñigo: Methodology in Behavioural Sciences Area, Rey Juan Carlos University, 28922 Alcorcón, Spain

Administrative Sciences, 2025, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: Emotional labor, particularly in frontline service roles, has traditionally been examined through the lens of performance strategies, such as surface or deep acting. However, emerging research suggests that employees’ subjective interpretations of emotionally demanding situations—especially attributions of responsibility and perceived fairness—play a critical role in shaping their well-being. This study adopts a qualitative phenomenological approach to explore how frontline employees engage in meaning-making regarding the emotional labor demands during customer interaction. Drawing on six group semi-structured interviews, we conducted a thematic analysis to investigate hoKeywords: emotional labor; responsibility attribution; distributive justice; job well-being; frontline employees (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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