Employee-customer interaction and emotional intelligence to impact emotional labor: does interaction type play any role?

Purpose - Grounded in emotional dissonance and social presence theories, this study examines whether the characteristics of employee-customer interaction (frequency, routineness and duration) and emotional intelligence (EI) have an impact on emotional labor (surface acting (SA), deep acting and naturally felt emotions (NFE)) and whether the type of interaction (face to face, voice to voice and online) moderates this relationship. Design/methodology/approach - A survey method was employed to collect data from employees working in hotels, customer care and e-booking services (n = 604). The model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings - The study showed that EI was positively linked to deep acting and NFE but negatively associated with SA. Frequency of interaction had a negative relationship with deep acting and NFE but a positive association with SA. Duration of interaction (DOI) had a positive relationship with deep acting and NFE but a negative association with NFE. Routineness of interaction had a negative relationship with deep acting and NFE but surprisingly had a negative relationship with SA. Online interaction moderated the relationship between EI and deep acting. Originality/value - This pioneering study examines the relationship between EI and characteristics of employee-customer interaction with emotional labor in the Indian hospitality context. While the association between EI and emotional labor has been studied, this study is unique in substantiating the moderating effects of interaction type and is among the first to do so empirically.