Emotional labor in intercultural service encounters: An experience sampling study

The body of literature surrounding emotional labor, defined as service employees’ effort to manage their emotions to meet organizational goals (Hochschild, 1983; Morris & Feldman, 1996), exhibits a severe lack of studies examining intercultural service encounters (i.e., service episodes in which a provider from culture A delivers a service to a customer from culture B; Stauss & Mang, 1999). This dissertation posits an intrapersonal model of emotional labor in intercultural service encounters. Central to this model is the construct of cultural competence (Earley & Ang, 2003), which is defined as the ability to adapt effectively and flexibly in culturally diverse settings. Using experience sampling methodology with a hospitality industry sample, I found that cultural competence was associated with deep acting and performance. Openness to experience predicted cultural competence through active seeking of multicultural experience (i.e., multicultural personality). Implications for the selection (based on openness) and training (for deep acting and cultural competence) of service providers in an increasingly globalized service industry are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• McCance, Andrea S.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Chiu, Chi-Yue
• Drasgow, Fritz
• Rupp, Deborah E.
• Spencer, Sharmin
• Berenbaum, Howard

• emotional labor
• cultural competence
• openness
• intercultural service encounters
• service industry
• experience sampling methodology
• hospitality industry

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2010 Andrea Silke McCance

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/18445

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/18445