MASTERS SCIENCE IN MANAGEMENT

Service Quality Management

MGMT-TOM 5322
Are All Smiles Created Equal? How Emotional Contagion
and Emotional Labor Affect Service Relationships

Prepared by:
Hiwot Muluken
Kaleyta Gebre
May 9th,
2022
Outline

Introduction
Objective
Methodology
Result
Discussion
Recommendation

Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Introduction
 The authors study the effect of two aspects of employee emotions on
customers' perceptions of service interactions.
 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, as a result, on
customers' assessments of the service interaction and their
relationship with the service provider, using emotional contagion and
emotional labor theories.
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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Emotional Contagion
 Emotional contagion” is defined as the
flow of emotions from one person to
another, with the receiver “catching”
the emotions that the sender displays.
 The context of service interactions,
emotional contagion creates a ripple
effect of emotions from service
employees to customers.

Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Emotional labor
 Emotional labor refers to service
employees’ display of expected
emotions as a self-regulatory process.
 When displaying expected emotions
to customers, employees can choose
between two acting strategies,
surface or deep acting, which differ
mainly in their extent of authenticity.

Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Objective

 To develop and test a model of how employee emotions affect customers in order
to further marketing theory.
 To investigate key customer consequences of interest to service firms, such as the
impact of employee emotions on customer satisfaction, customer-employee
rapport, and future loyalty intentions of customers, all of which are previously
untested relationships.
 Using an experimental research design to better understand the cause–effect
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nature of emotional contagion processes.
Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management
The Role of Emotions and The Impact of Employee Emotions on
Customers in Service Interactions

 Emotional Contagion
 Emotional Labor
 Consequences of Service Interactions
 Customer Consequences of Employee Emotions
 Relationships Between Customer Emotions and Customer
Consequences

Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

A Conceptual Model of Employee and Customer
Emotions in Service Interactions

Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Methodology
Data collection method
 Pre encounter questionnaire
 Post encounter questionnaire
 Conversation (by asking a series of specific questions)
Type of method
 Quantitative method( ANOVA and partial least squares (PLS) structural equation
modeling)
 Basic research
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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Cont.

Experiment Variables of the study

 223 university students
Dependent variable
 3 actors  Customer’s emotion
 Movie rental service and customer Consequences
 Measures(pre and post Independent variable
encounter  Employee smiling behavior
questionnaire)  Authenticity of the emotional
labor display
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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Participants

Participants in the experiment were undergraduate and

graduate students from various non–business schools of a
medium-sized university.
The final sample contained data from 223 participants, 46.8% of
whom were women. The mean age of the respondents was 23.5
years (SD = 3.2); ages range from 18 to 48 years.

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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Procedure

 The service was positioned as a new “movie consulting service” for

which customers would answer a series of questions about their
movie-viewing habits and preferences.
 Using a 2 × 2 between subjects factorial design, we manipulated the
extent of employee smiling (high versus low) and the authenticity of
the emotional labor display (high authenticity/deep acting versus low
authenticity/surface acting), all this to be played by three actors.

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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Result
 On arrival, each participant filled out a pre encounter questionnaire
and then immediately entered the video consulting store to begin the
service encounter.
 During the service encounter, participants interacted with the service
employee, who engaged them in a conversation by asking a series of
specific questions about movie preferences and viewing habits.
 Post encounter questionnaire. Participants completed a post encounter
questionnaire immediately after the end of the service encounter.
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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Cont.
Manipulation Checks
First ,unbeknownst to customers, all service encounters were recorded with a hidden
digital video camera and transmitted in real time to an adjacent room.
Second, because the authenticity of the emotional labor display manipulation ultimately
depends on an employee’s self-evaluation, after each service encounter, the service
employees were asked whether they believed they had effectively portrayed the desired
role.
Third, after completion of the study, four graduate students who were not familiar with
the study watched all 223 videotaped service encounters and rated each interaction on
several dimensions.

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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Cont.
Reliability and Validity Assessment
 The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for each construct were calculated to
assess the reliability and validity of our measures. All alpha scores are
satisfactory, with no values below .80. In addition, also the confirmatory
factor analysis was conducted with all multi-item measures in the model.
 The overall fit statistics for the four-factor model indicate that the model
provides an acceptable fit to the data: χ2(129, N = 223) = 333.7, p < .01;
comparative fit index = .950; incremental fit index = .950; Tucker–Lewis
index = .941; standardized root mean square residual = .048; and root mean
square error of approximation = .086. 14

Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Cont.
 The average variance extracted is greater than .60 for all constructs, and the
composite reliability measures are all greater than .80.This study also found
support for convergent validity because the t-values for all constructs are
significant at p < .01.
 Similarly, This study found support for discriminant validity; the squared
correlations between each pair of constructs are smaller than the average
variance explained of the respective constructs.
 Thus, these results indicate the acceptable reliability, convergent validity, and
discriminant validity of this measures.
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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Discussion
 From the Two-Way Repeated ANOVA and PLS equation modelling thus, strong
evidence was found in support of H2,H4,H6,H7,H8,H9,H11 but not of H1,H3, H5 and
H10.
 According to the findings, the authenticity of the employee's emotional labor display,
rather than the extent of smiling, influences the customer's emotions and
perceptions.
 The relation between the authenticity of the emotional labor display and customer
satisfaction is not quite as direct as previously assumed, but rather is mediated by
the degree to which customers perceive rapport with the service employee.

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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Cont.
 Although customer–employee rapport is a driver of satisfaction, the
findings also indicate that rapport has no direct impact on customer
loyalty.
 Despite previous marketing research implying such a direct relationship,
this study suggests that the interplay between rapport, satisfaction, and
future loyalty intentions may be more complex than previously thought.

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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Limitation and Recommendation
 The experiment's design provides insight into the transfer of employee
emotions in one specific service domain, an innovative video rental service,
but it is unclear whether the findings would be similar for other services.
 Positive emotions are the focus of the study because they are most relevant
in the context of service delivery. Negative emotions, on the other hand, may
have similar repercussions.

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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

 Cont.
 Further research should be conducted to determine whether effects similar
to those found in the study apply equally to the flow of negative emotions in
the context of service delivery.
 A different aspect for future research would be to test the findings' cross-
cultural stability. Given that cultural norms regarding service delivery and
smiling behavior in general differ across cultures, more research should be
conducted to determine the extent to which cultural variables influence the
interaction of employee emotional displays and customer variables in
service deliveries.
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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management

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Addis Ababa University, MSc in Management, Service Quality Management