Emotion Regulation and Service-Related Attitudes: Connecting Customer Orientation and Service Organization Identification with Customer Interactions

Abstract

In this study we examine the relationships of service organization identification and customer orientation as antecedents of emotion work strategies and fatigue. We hypothesize that identification and customer orientation (a) positively predict automatic emotion regulation and deep acting, (b) negatively predict surface acting and emotional deviance, and (c) negatively predict fatigue as mediated by the emotion regulation strategies used. We also hypothesized an interaction effect of identification and customer orientation on the use of emotion regulation strategies. In a diary study with 56 flight attendants, identification and customer orientation typically predicted the use of emotion regulation strategies as hypothesized, and the indirect effects on fatigue were found. There were also significant interaction effects of identification and customer orientation on emotion regulation strategies. The findings provide new perspectives on the antecedents of emotion regulation strategies, and they complement earlier research on high service quality strategies of emotion regulation in service work.