The impact of leader emotional labor on leaders’ and followers’ well-being: the role of authenticity and attachment orientations

Zhang, Hui (2020) The impact of leader emotional labor on leaders’ and followers’ well-being: the role of authenticity and attachment orientations. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Emotional Labor, the idea of regulating emotions as part of the work role, was conceptualized in the early 1980s by sociologist Arlie Hochschild (1983). Three decades after its introduction as a concept, emotional labor became a focal area of study in the organizational behavior (OB) and organizational psychology (OP) in recent years (Grandey & Melloy, 2017). Although key researchers across a variety of theoretical approaches have reasoned that leaders use emotional labor, almost all empirical studies on emotional labor have focused on service workers.

This study contributes to current literature by using a two-wave longitudinal design to examine how leader emotional labor relates to leader authenticity and subsequently, to leader and follower well-being. Specifically, the present study incorporates three emotional labor dimensions, namely leader surface acting, leader deep acting and leader genuine emotion. Each type of leader emotional labor is proposed to have different effects on leader felt authenticity and follower perceived leader authenticity, which in turn, impact the extent of leader and follower well-being, respectively. The Conservation of Resources (COR) theory developed by Hobfoll (1989, 1998) is used to explain this mediating process and why this process is important in understanding the effect of leader emotional labor on leader and follower well-being. I look at emotional exhaustion, recovery, leader-member relationship and work-family enrichment as key well-being outcomes. Additionally, the current study draws on attachment theory (Bowlby, 1982) to propose that the strength of the indirect effect of leader emotional labor on leader well-being through the mechanism of leader felt authenticity is contingent on levels of leader attachment orientations. Also, the strength of the indirect effect of leader emotional labor on follower well-being through the mechanism of follower perceived leader authenticity is contingent on levels of leader and follower attachment orientations.

Tests of related hypotheses, with a sample of 202 UK leader-follower dyads who completed online surveys at 2 time points, over a 3-week period, supported some of the hypotheses. Theoretical contributions, practical implications, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	11 Aug 2021 11:11
Last Modified:	11 Aug 2021 11:11
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/81056
DOI:

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