Not All Emotional Demands Are the Same: Emotional Demands from Clients’ or Co-Workers’ Relations Have Different Associations with Well-Being in Service Workers

Joana Duarte, Hanne Berthelsen and Mikaela Owen
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Joana Duarte: Centre for Work Life and Evaluation Studies (CTA), Malmö University, 21119 Malmö, Sweden
Hanne Berthelsen: Centre for Work Life and Evaluation Studies (CTA) & the Faculty of Odontology, Malmö University, 21119 Malmö, Sweden
Mikaela Owen: Centre for Workplace Excellence, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-15

Abstract: There has been an increased interest in the study of emotional demands (ED) at work and its impact on workers’ well-being. However, ED have been conceptualized as a unitary concept, focused on interactions with clients, and excluding other potential sources of ED at work. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to explore the relation between ED from different relational sources (clients/patients/customers and colleagues, supervisors, and employees) and service workers’ exhaustion and engagement. Cross-sectional data from a sample of 2742 service workers were analysed using structural equation modelling. Results showed that ED from both sources (clients and colleagues) were associated with more emotional exhaustion, particularly if dealing with clients was not an integrated part of the role. Further, ED from clients’ relations were negatively associated with engagement for managers with staff responsibility, but positively for managers without staff responsibility. We also found moderating effects of psychosocial safety climate (PSC), whereby ED had the strongest effect on emotional exhaustion when PSC was low. This study suggests that different relational sources of ED at work have a different impact on employees’ well-being. Strategies that promote a reduction of extra-role ED, and the development of a PSC in the organization, could therefore offer possible solutions to promote employees’ psychological well-being and motivation.

Keywords: emotional demands; emotional exhaustion; engagement; psychosocial safety climate; structural equation modelling; service work (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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