An Exploratory Research on Emotional Labor and its Effect on Job Satisfaction of Employees in Hospitality Industry of Pakistan

Abstract

This study is about the effect of emotional labor on job satisfaction. The term emotional labor means the degree to which emotions are altered and molded by employees in order to get them aligned by their organization rules and requirements. This research will be exploring the concept of EL using two dimensions which are the Emotional Dissonance and Emotive Effort. This study describes the type of acting an individual will chose for displaying the appropriate emotion. This research will also investigate the relationship emotional labor will have on the Job satisfaction. In the literature area the background, dimensions, moderator and effect of emotional labor in the service industry specifically the hotel industry are being discussed. The research is qualitative in nature and that is why an open ended interview guideline has been prepared. To fulfill the data collection requirement, Hospitality industry is targeted and 15 employees were taken as a sample. The Hotels included Serena Hotel, Marriott Hotel and Holiday In which are located in Islamabad. The selected respondents were those whose jobs include a direct contact with the clients/customers. The results and discussions indicated that employees who are involved in surface acting will be facing negative outcomes in terms of decreased satisfaction, and those who undergo deep acting will lead to positive outcome of increased satisfaction. This study will be contributing in the service industry to the employees and employers both. The results of this study are with compliance to the previous similar studies in various parts of the world.