1. Introduction
As the fast rise of the service economy in China and the competition becomes fiercer, more and more service firms are coming to realize the pivotal role of front-line employees in creating an excellent service experience. Front-line employees are required to display appropriate emotions during their interactions with customers [
1]. In her seminal work, Hochschild [
2] defined emotional labor as front-line employees’ expression of expected emotions during service encounters. Employees can take two different strategies to perform emotional labor: surface acting and deep acting. Surface acting involves simulating emotions that are not actually felt. In contrast, deep acting involves attempts to actually experience the emotions one is required to display. Considerable evidence indicates that deep acting is more likely to lead to positive outcomes than surface acting [
3,
4,
5,
6].
Given the interactive nature of service process, how front-line employees display their emotions during service encounters determines the service performance. A vast body of research has given interest to identifying the antecedents of the emotional labor. One of the research streams on the antecedents of emotional labor focuses on customer behaviors, such as customer incivility [
7] and customer participation [
8]. However, another stream of research focuses on front-line employees’ individual differences, such as dispositional traits [
9], self-verification striving [
10], and positive affectivity [
11]. Due to the tight connection between leaders and front-line employees, a growing number of studies recently have shown interest in exploring the effects of leadership on emotional labor [
12,
13]. Transformational leadership is defined as the ability of managers to provide followers with challenging goals, motivating them to perform beyond the specified expectations [
14]. Prior research suggested that transformational leadership has important effects on emotional labor [
13,
15]. However, the mechanism between transformational leadership and emotional labor has received little attention in previous literature.
To understand how different emotional labor strategies of front-line employees are influenced by transformational leaders, we examined the mediation effect psychological empowerment on the relationship between transformational leadership and emotional labor. Psychological empowerment, which involves employees’ active orientation to their work role, is an important determinant of employee behaviors [
16]. Through being empowered, front-line employees could get more internal resources in their job [
17]. Previous research has shown that psychological empowerment could mediate the effects of the transformational leadership on employees’ work outcomes [
18,
19,
20,
21]. However, to our best knowledge, few empirical studies have examined the potential mediating mechanisms of psychological empowerment through which transformational leadership influences front-line employees’ emotional labor. Therefore, to address this gap, the purpose of this study is to unveil the underlying processes responsible for the effects of transformational leadership on front-line employees’ emotional labor by introducing psychological empowerment as mediator.
To summarize, we proposed a mediation model in which transformational leadership influences front-line employees’ emotional labor by improving psychological empowerment. Different from previous studies which mainly consider psychological empowerment as a unidimensional construct [
22,
23,
24], the current study tries to further explore how transformational leadership influences emotional labor through four dimensions of psychological empowerment differently: meaning, impact, self-determination, and self-efficacy. By doing so, we may further explain the linkage between transformational leadership and employee’s emotional labor and shed light on how managers might effectively interfere with front-line employees’ emotional labor. In the following sections, we explicate the theorical background of transformational leadership and emotional labor and consider building bridges from four dimensions of psychological empowerment to the relationship between the prior two. We then test our hypotheses using a sample of 436 employees. Finally, we report the results and discuss the implications for theory and practice, offering constructive and specific inspiration for the service industry.
4. Results
To test the mediation effects of psychological empowerment on the relationships between transformational leadership and emotional labor, this study ran a series of regressions using the SPSS PROCESS macro developed by Hayes [
80]. Specifically, following the suggestion of Hayes (2018), this study performed bootstrapping analysis with 5000 replications, which can generate 95% confidence intervals (CI) for total effects, direct effects, and indirect effects. The significance of mediating effect depends on whether CI contains zero or not.
First, this study tested the effects of transformational leadership (TL) on deep acting (DA) via the four dimensions of psychological empowerment. The results of mediation tests are summarized in
Table 3. Coefficients of M-1 indicate that transformational leadership is positively related to deep acting (β = 0.465,
p < 0.001). As mentioned earlier, we have hypothesized that transformational leadership influences deep acting through the meaning (Mean), impact (IMP), self-determination (SD), and self-efficacy (SE). Therefore, we examined the effects of transformational leadership on meaning, impact, self-determination, and self-efficacy, in M-2 to M-5. As expected, transformational leadership was found to be positively associated with meaning (β = 0.431,
p < 0.001), impact (β = 0.406,
p < 0.001), self-determination (β = 0.462,
p < 0.001), and self-efficacy (β = 0.417,
p < 0.001), supporting H1a to H1d. These findings demonstrate that transformational leaders in service firms could boost front-line employees’ experience of psychological empowerment, which is consistent with the findings of prior studies.
Then, the results of M-6, which regressed deep acting on transformational leadership and four mediators (meaning, impact, self-determination, and self-efficacy) simultaneously, show that transformational leadership’s positive effect (β = 0.304,
p < 0.001) on deep acting remains. Three dimensions of psychological empowerment (impact (β = 0.106,
p < 0.05), self-determination (β = 0.191,
p < 0.001), and self-efficacy (β = 0.111,
p < 0.05) are positively related to deep acting, supporting H3a, H4a, and H5a. However, meaning’s effect on deep acting is not significant, rejecting H2a. The results of bootstrap analyses, summarized in
Table 4, suggest that the CIs for impact (CI = 0.005, 0.116), self-determination (CI = 0.040, 0.198), and self-efficacy (CI = 0.006, 0.123) do not include zero and CI for meaning (CI = −0.075, 0.038) include zero. Taken together, the effect of transformational leadership on deep acting is partially mediated by impact, self-determination, and self-efficacy.
Secondly, we tested the effects of transformational leadership (TL) on surface acting (SA) via the four dimensions of psychological empowerment. As presented in
Table 3, coefficients of M-7 indicate that transformational leadership shows a negative effect on surface acting (β = −0.250,
p < 0.001). Then, coefficients of M-8 suggested that after entering four mediators (meaning, impact, self-determination, and self-efficacy), the effect of transformational leadership on surface acting becomes non-significant (β = −0.094,
p > 0.05). In addition, impact (β = −0.172,
p < 0.01) and self-efficacy (β = −0.232,
p < 0.001) are negatively related to surface acting, supporting H3b and H5b. However, neither meaning (β = −0.059,
p > 0.05) or self-determination’s effects (β = 0.079,
p > 0.05) on surface acting are significant, rejecting H2b and H4b. In
Table 5, the results of bootstrap analyses indicate that CIs for impact (CI =−0.158, −0.21) and self-efficacy (CI = −0.190, −0.055) do not include zero, while CIs for meaning (CI = −0.089, 0.030) and self-determination (CI = −0.029, 0.124) include zero. In addition, the direct effects of transformational leadership were not significant (CI = −0.246, 0.021). Taken together, the effect of transformational leadership on surface acting is fully mediated by impact and self-efficacy.
To summarize, for the effects of transformational leadership on emotional labor, all of our hypotheses are supported except H2a, H2b, and H4b (see
Table 6). The results indicate that transformational leadership influences deep acting and surface acting through distinct mediating paths. Specifically, transformational leadership’s positive effects on front-line employees’ deep acting are partially mediated by impact, self-determination, and self-efficacy. In contrast, transformational leadership’s negative effects on front-line employees’ surface acting are fully mediated by impact and self-efficacy.
5. Discussion
The current study proposed and tested a conceptual model to explore the mechanism by which transformational leadership influences the emotional labor strategies of front-line employees. Our results demonstrate that transformational leadership exerts positive and negative effects on deep acting and surface acting, respectively. Psychological empowerment serves as a mediator of the linkage between transformational leadership and two emotional labor strategies. Specifically, the positive effect of transformational leadership on deep acting is partially mediated by three dimensions of psychological empowerment: impact, self-determination, and self-efficacy. The negative effect of transformational leadership on surface acting is fully mediated by two dimensions of psychological empowerment: impact and self-efficacy.
5.1. Contributions to Theory
Firstly, the results of this study help us better understand the psychological process by which organizational factors (e.g., transformational leadership) drive front-line employees’ emotional labor. Although previous studies have paid attention to the effects of transformational leadership on front-line employees’ emotional labor, such as Luo et al. [
13], the psychological mechanism of these effects remain unclear. Grandey et al. [
62] mentioned in their work that front-line employees’ emotional labor is a form of discretionary behavior, which is driven more by intrinsic motivation. It is therefore reasonable to explain how transformational leadership can effectively influence front-line employees’ emotional labor from an intrinsic motivation perspective. The findings of this study uncover the “black box” between transformational leadership and emotional labor by introducing psychological empowerment as a mediator. This study supplements Luo and Guchait’s work [
13], which merely examines the direct effect of transformational leadership on emotional labor.
Secondly, the results of this study contribute to the literature on transformational leadership as well. Despite an array of prior studies that have demonstrated that transformational leadership is an effective leadership style for bootstring proactive employee behaviors, such as OCB [
81] and innovation behaviors [
58,
60], only a few studies have recently turned their interests to examine transformational leadership’s effects on front-line employees’ emotional labor [
13], which is a very common form of proactive behavior during their daily work. Not only does this study confirm transformational leadership’s effects on front-line employees’ emotional labor in the context of service, but this study also illustrates the psychological process of these effects by examining psychological empowerment’s mediating effects. These findings answer Siangchokyoo’s [
82] call for more detailed studies to examine the role of empowerment plays during the link of transformational leadership and employees’ behavior.
Thirdly, this study extends research on psychological empowerment. Although prior studies have confirmed that psychological empowerment, as an important psychological construct, is a typical consequence of transformational leadership [
82], only a few studies have further extended this link to employees’ behavior. The results of this study confirm the existence of the logical path: transformational leadership–psychological empowerment–emotional labor. Furthermore, by considering psychological empowerment as a four-dimension construct (meaning, impact, self-determination, and self-efficacy), this study distinguishes the different roles of four dimensions of psychological empowerment play during the link of transformational leadership and different emotional labor strategies. It therefore pushes forward our understanding of the distinctiveness of four psychological empowerment dimensions.
5.2. Managerial Implications
As competition becomes fiercer [
83], service managers are increasingly highlighting the emotions front-line employees display during their interaction with customers. However, given the discretionary nature of front-line employees’ emotional labor, it is a big challenge for managers to effectively influence their subordinates’ emotional labor. The results of this study may present interesting insights for managers in intervening in their subordinates’ emotional labor.
Firstly, service firms have to realize the importance of a leader in influencing front-line employees’ emotional labor. According to the findings of this study, transformational leadership is an ideal leadership style for front-line employees. Therefore, during the leader recruiting or promotion process, it is necessary to set criteria considering candidates’ competence or personality, which make them easier to perform transformational leadership behaviors. By doing so, service firms can guarantee that leaders are suitable for their job and can effectively exert influence on front-line employees.
Secondly, service managers should alter their leadership style to transformational leadership, which has been suggested to promote front-line employees’ deep acting and reduce surface acting. Therefore, training programs for service managers should focus on the skills of engaging transformational leadership behaviors. According to the definition of transformational leadership, typical transformational leadership behaviors include idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and individualized consideration [
41]. Once leaders take these behaviors in their routine work, the front-line employees tend to take deep acting rather than surface acting during service encounters. Furthermore, organizational culture also can foster a climate suitable for transformational leadership. If the organizational culture encourages employee self-growth, providing employee future vision, and caring for employee needs and well-being, the leaders are prone to take transformational leadership to comply with the organizational culture.
Thirdly, efforts should be devoted to enhancing front-line employees’ psychological empowerment. The results of this study show that psychological empowerment plays an important role in the link of transformational leadership and emotional labor. In order to enhance front-line employees’ psychological empowerment, service firms should especially improve employees’ sense of impact. For example, service firms can send signals of caring and valuating employees’ contribution by providing positive feedback, such as rewarding. To improve front-line employees’ self-determination, managers can invite front-line employees to take part in the decision-making. Additionally, enhancing front-line employees’ job autonomy through empowerment is an effective way to improve front-line employees’ self-determination. In addition, enhancing self-efficacy is necessary to eliminate front-line employees’ surface acting. Managers should encourage employees to set challenging goals and provide support to help them to overcome difficulties and complete the tasks.
5.3. Limitations and Future Research
Although this study makes theoretical and practical contributions, there are also several limitations. First, the research context of this study focusses on call centers. Even though emotional labor is very common for call center employees, employees’ emotional labor strategies or efforts may be different for other service industries, such as hotel or retail. Therefore, the generalizability of the findings is limited. Future studies should broaden the research contexts to cross industries.
Second, this study has proposed and empirically tested the relationship of transformational leadership, psychological empowerment, and emotional labor. However, the boundary conditions of this relationship are neglected. For example, recent research has demonstrated that the relationship between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment is moderated by organizational structures [
84]. Thus, future studies should explore boundary conditions that may moderate the relationship between transformational leadership, psychological empowerment, and emotional labor.
Third, given that the findings of this study suggest a partial mediation between transformational leadership and deep acting, future research should consider other alternative mediating mechanisms. For example, because transformational leaders are more likely to encourage their followers to engage job crafting to enhance their performance [
85], it is reasonable to expect that job crafting might mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and deep acting. Therefore, future studies should extend the current findings and explore other potential mediators.