TYPE Original Research

PUBLISHED October 2022

DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

Dysfunctional customer behavior

OPEN ACCESS influences on employees’
emotional labor: The moderating
EDITED BY
Kittisak Jermsittiparsert,
University of City Island, Cyprus

REVIEWED BY
Talat Islam,
roles of customer orientation
and perceived organizational
University of the Punjab, Pakistan
Marci Cottingham,
University of Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Pouya Zargar,
Girne American University,
support
Cyprus

*CORRESPONDENCE
Pengfei Cheng *, Jingxuan Jiang , Sanbin Xie and Zhuangzi Liu
Pengfei Cheng
School of Economics and Management, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
xjtuchan@gmail.com

SPECIALTY SECTION
This article was submitted to Despite increasing interest being given to dysfunctional customer behavior
Organizational Psychology,
a section of the journal
in multiple service sectors, it is unclear how and why different types of
Frontiers in Psychology dysfunctional customer behavior (verbal abuse, disproportionate demand,
RECEIVED 11June 2022 and illegitimate complaint) affect frontline employees’ emotional labor during
ACCEPTED 16 September 2022 the service interactions. Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory,
PUBLISHED 10 October 2022
we propose a conceptual model in which verbal abuse, disproportionate
CITATION
demand, and illegitimate complaint differentially influence frontline
Cheng P, Jiang J, Xie S and Liu Z (2022)
Dysfunctional customer behavior employees’ emotional labor strategies (surface acting and deep acting).
influences on employees’ emotional labor: Further, the boundary conditions of these relationships are considered by
The moderating roles of customer
orientation and perceived organizational
introducing perceived organizational support and customer orientation
support. as moderators. Using survey data from 436 frontline employees of five call
Front. Psychol. 13:966845. centers in China, hypotheses were tested through a hierarchical regression
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845
analysis. The results indicated that verbal abuse and illegitimate complaint
COPYRIGHT
exerted positive effects on surface acting. Particularly, these positive effects
© 2022 Cheng, Jiang, Xie and Liu. This is
an open-access article distributed under were weaker when frontline employees perceived organizational support was
the terms of the Creative Commons high. Also, verbal abuse’s positive effect on surface acting was weaker when
Attribution License (CC BY). The use,
distribution or reproduction in other frontline employees’ customer orientation was high. Customer’s verbal abuse,
forums is permitted, provided the original disproportionate demand, and illegitimate complaint negatively influenced
author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are
frontline employees’ deep acting. The negative effect of disproportionate
credited and that the original publication in
this journal is cited, in accordance with demand on deep acting was weaker when perceived organizational support
accepted academic practice. No use, was high. However, when frontline employees’ customer orientation was high,
distribution or reproduction is permitted
which does not comply with these terms.
the negative effects of disproportionate demand and illegitimate complaints
on deep acting were weaker.

KEYWORDS

dysfunctional customer behavior, perceived organizational support, customer

orientation, conservation of resources theory, emotional labor

Frontiers in Psychology 01 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

Introduction behaviors and emotional labor imply the boundary condition

should be further explored.
To survive within the fiercer competition environments, During the service interaction, dysfunctional customer
service firms are increasingly realizing the importance of service behavior is endemic and prevalent in many service sectors,
experience. Given frontline employees’ pivotal role in creating a especially in call center, airline, and hospitality industries (Boukisa
good service experience, they are expected to display positive et al., 2020). It brings new challenges for employees and
emotions during the service interaction (Hur et al., 2022). Since organizations (Bani-Melhem et al., 2020). Harris and Reynolds
the Seminal work of Hochschild (1983), emotional labor has been (2003) defined dysfunctional customer behavior (DCB) as
a construct of increasing interest for both academics and customer behavior thoughtless or abusive that causes problems for
practitioners because of its relationship with service outcomes and the service organization, its employees, and/or other customers.
employee wellbeing. Hochschild (1983) defined emotional labor Recently, Kang and Gong (2019) redefined DCB as customer
as how employees regulate and display their emotions during a actions in service settings that deliberately violate the generally
service encounter, and described two types of emotional labor accepted norms of conduct for how to treat employees, which
strategies: surface acting and deep acting. Specifically, in surface focuses on customer actions targeting employees. In line with
acting, employees only change their outward emotional display Kang and Gong (2019), we conceptualize DCB as consisting of
without genuinely altering how they feel (Hochschild, 1983). In three dimensions: verbal abuse, disproportionate demand, and
contrast, deep acting is described as a more sincere act (Grandey, illegitimate complaint. Exposure to DCB may lead to several
2003), in which employees attempt to adjust their felt emotions so negative consequences for employees among which are employee
that a genuine, organizationally desired emotional display can withdrawal (Kang and Gong, 2019) and turnover (Gong and
follow (Hochschild, 1983). Prior research on emotional labor Wang, 2019). Although these negative consequences of DCB are
suggests that only genuine emotional display (deep acting) of closely related to emotional labor, few studies empirically examine
employees contributes to positive outcomes, such as customer the relationship between DCB and emotional labor.
emotional experience (Liu et al., 2019) and perceived service To address these research gaps and respond to the call of
quality (Gong et al., 2020). However, surface acting causes Harris and Reynolds (2003) for examining the consequences of
negative outcomes such as customer negative emotion (Ashtar DCB more holistically, we aim to explore the relationship between
et al., 2021), cognitive weariness (Sousan et al., 2022), and burnout DCB and employees’ emotional labor. As a widely cited theory to
(Kim, 2020). explain why employees take different emotion regulation strategies
Given the important role emotional labor plays in shaping (deep acting and surface acting), conservation of resources (COR)
service experience (Gong et al., 2020), considerable research theory suggests that people strive to obtain, retain, protect, and
focuses on identifying antecedents to emotional labor. A stream foster valued resources and minimize any threats of resource loss.
of research investigates the effects of organizational factors on Threats to resource loss are usually in the form of job demands
emotional labor, such as leadership (Lu et al., 2019), (e.g., DCB) and the energy and efforts expended toward meeting
organizational justice (Shapoval, 2019), corporate social such demands. Drawing upon the COR theory, we propose a
responsibility (Oh et al., 2019; Shin and Hur, 2020), and model in which three dimensions of DCB influence frontline
organizational dehumanization (Nguyen et al., 2022). Another employees’ emotional labor strategies. Furthermore, by
stream of research explores antecedents of emotional labor from introducing perceived organizational support (POS) and customer
the employee perspective, such as dispositional traits (Lee and orientation, which represent external and internal resources, as
Madera, 2019), motivation (Hur et al., 2022), and demographic moderators, the boundary conditions of the relationship between
(Rasheed-Karim, 2020). Due to the interactive nature of service DCB and emotional labor are considered. The findings may enrich
encounters, an emerging trend in the emotional labor literature the knowledge of the consequences of DCB and provide effective
has been shifting interest to regarding how customers in a managerial tools for managers to buffer the negative influence of
service encounter influence employees’ emotional labor DCB on frontline employees’ emotional labor.
(Szczygiel and Bazińska, 2021). Medler-Liraz (2016) found that
customer displays positive emotion during the interaction
decrease employees’ need for engaging in deep acting. The Theoretical background and
evidence from Yoo (2016) suggests that customer participation hypothesis development
exhibits the predicted negative influence on surface acting as
well as the positive effect on deep acting. However, the evidence Dysfunctional customer behavior
from Choi and Lawry (2020) suggests that customer
participation positively influences employees’ surface acting Frontline employees in service sectors frequently suffer from
and, in turn, job stress. These studies have dominantly focused customers’ deliberate violation of service interaction norms (Arvan
on customer positive behaviors’ effects on employee’s emotional et al., 2019; Kang and Gong, 2019). Scholars use the term
labor and have ignored customer negative behaviors’ effects. In dysfunctional customer behavior to define customer actions in
addition, the mixed results of the relationship between customer service encounters that deliberately violate the generally accepted

Frontiers in Psychology 02 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

norms of conduct for how to treat employees (Reynolds and Harris, Conservation of resources theory
2009; Kang and Gong, 2019). Other similar items were used
interchangeably by previous research include deviant customer Conservation of resources (COR) theory suggests that
behavior (Harris and Daunt, 2011), customer misbehavior individuals endeavor to possess, obtain, retain, and protect
(Fullerton and Punj, 2004), customer mistreatment (Park and Kim, valuable resources that may include socio-emotional support,
2019), and problem customers (Bitner et al., 1994). Despite conditions, and emotional energy (Hobfoll, 2001). The
acknowledging DCB is a multidimensional concept, most prior resources that are possessed by individuals are dynamic.
research focuses signal specific form of DCB, such as verbal abuse During the service encounters, frontline employees may
(Cho et al., 2020), and illegitimate complaint (Kim and Baker, perceive a constant depletion of their resources, while they
2019; Arora and Chakraborty, 2020). In recent years, Kang and also attempt to maintain the maximization of valuable
Gong (2019) identified three types of DCB that target frontline resources through gaining external resources (Hobfoll et al.,
employees in service settings, namely verbal abuse, 2018). However, given the importance of individual resources,
disproportionate demand, and illegitimate complaint. Verbal abuse employees are prone to adopt strategies at work to avoid or
refers to customers’ impolite verbal communication with reduce resource depletion, motivated by resource protection
employees such as sarcasm, yelling, and swearing; Disproportionate (Hobfoll, 2001).
demand is defined as the excessive demands by customers that may Frontline employees frequently perform emotional labor to
be impossibly contented through employees (Kang and Gong, obey organizational emotional display rules, which will deplete
2019). Furthermore, customers may use illegitimate complaints as their valuable resources such as emotional energy and patience
a negotiation to gain greatest redress and attention from service (Chi and Grandey, 2019). However, two emotional labor
providers (Kang and Gong, 2019). Given the purposes of this study, strategies (surface acting versus deep acting) result in a different
consistent with Kang and Gong (2019), we focus on the employee- extent of resource depletion for employees. When employees
target DCB: verbal abuse, disproportionate demand, and engage in deep acting, they invest more effort in altering their
illegitimate complaint. inner feelings (Morris and Feldman, 1996; Grandey et al., 2012),
With the proliferation of customer service positions, DCB is in turn, consume more individual resources. In contrast, when
becoming more prevalent in different service scenarios (Bani- employees use surface acting, they deplete fewer resources.
Melhem et al., 2020), and causes great damage to frontline Thus, surface acting is a strategy for employees to “conserve”
employees. In a meta-analysis, Arvan et al. (2019) reported that resources. Employees need to deplete their valuable resources
customer mistreatment leads to both employees’ psychological in responding to each customer’s needs, especially meeting
strains and behavior strains. According to the emotional contagion non-routine work demands such as DCB (Okan et al., 2021).
theory, DCB causes employees to experience negative emotions Therefore, drawing on COR theory, we propose that employees
such as frustration and irritation during service interactions (Hu are motivated to retain and protect valuable resources and use
et al., 2018). For example, Chi et al. (2018) reported that DCB is corresponding emotional labor strategies when they are faced
associated with frontline employees’ negative emotions which with DCB (see Figure 1). In addition, employees’ behavioral
even can spill over into their home lives, subsequently creating strategies are also related to their access to an effective
work–family conflicts. Furthermore, frontline employees may complement of resources. Thus, we propose that POS and
have to regulate negative emotions (emotional labor) when they customer orientation, as important constructs reflecting
are confronted with DCB, which may lead them to feel emotional employees’ access to complementary resources, moderate the
exhaustion. The relationship between DCB and employee impact of DCB on employees’ emotional labor. The conceptual
emotional exhaustion has been addressed by many scholars. Kim model of this research is shown in Figure 1.
et al. (2018) suggest that verbal abuse of customers is positively
related to employees’ emotional exhaustion. Szczygiel and
Bazińska (2021) further state that customer incivility’s effect on Dysfunctional customer behavior and
emotional exhaustion is mediated by surface acting and moderated employees’ emotional labor
by emotional intelligence. In addition, customer incivility’s also is
a predictor of employees’ behavior such as retaliatory behaviors Verbal abuse and employees’ emotional labor
(Gong and Wang, 2019), sabotage service (Hwang et al., 2021), According to emotional contagion theory, emotions can
and turnover (Bamfo et al., 2018). However, the negative factors spread between individuals through presenting both verbal
of customers (e.g., customer verbal abuse, illegitimate complaint, and nonverbal cues (Hatfield et al., 2011; Liu et al., 2019).
disproportionate demand) are generally believed to be difficult to Actually, verbal behaviors are so import in emotional
manage by the service firms. Thus, improving employees’ coping interaction that Hwee Hoon et al. (2004) even use greeting and
abilities possibly might be a key method, while little attention has thanking which represent verbal behaviors to measure
been paid to exploring DCB’s role in influencing employees’ individual’s displaying positive emotions and smiling and eye
positive behavior such as emotional labor (Szczygiel and contact were nonverbal behaviors. Given the importance of
Bazińska, 2021). verbal behavior during the emotion contagion process,

Frontiers in Psychology 03 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

FIGURE 1
Conceptual model.

customer’s verbal abuse, as a typical negative emotion Disproportionate demand and employees’
expression, will evoke negative emotions in frontline emotional labor
employees. Namely, frontline employees are “infected” by Although service firms expect employees to try their best to
customers’ negative emotions via verbal abuse. For frontline meet customer demands, customers’ disproportionate demands
employees who are expected to display positive emotions, (e.g., special treatment) are usually beyond frontline employees’
experiencing negative involves devoting more resources to competence. To meet customers’ disproportionate demand,
regulating their emotions. Furthermore, customer verbal frontline employees have to take extra workload (Hwang et al.,
abuse may reduce frontline employees’ self-esteem, confidence, 2021), which implies more physical effort devoting. Customer’s
and self-efficacy (Sliter and Jones, 2016; Hwang et al., 2021). disproportionate demands, as a kind of job demands (Ashtar et al.,
All of these are fundamental job resources for frontline 2021), according to the job demand-resources (JD-R) theory
employees. In addition, verbal abuse, as a major interpersonal (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017), will increase frontline employees’
stressor, would undermine the customer-employee resource depletion. Because they need to devote much more time
relationship and, in turn, prevent frontline employees from and effort to ensure their productivity. In addition, customers’
gaining personal resources. disproportionate demands could ruin frontline employees’ moods
Taken together, customers’ verbal abuse not only depletes and, in turn, result in employees’ negative emotions (Wang et al.,
employees’ valuable emotional resources through emotional 2011; Wu et al., 2019). For service frontline employees who are
contagion process but also impedes employees from restoring expected to display positive emotions, experiencing negative
resources from service interactions. According to the COR emotions will make them invest efforts to regulate their emotions
theory (Hobfoll et al., 2018), when customers’ verbal abuse to obey the display rules. According to COR theory (Hobfoll,
strengthens frontline employees’ perception of resource loss 2001), when frontline employees are confronted with resources
threats, they are more likely to engage in surface acting which loss caused by customer’s disproportionate demands, they will
depletes less resources, rather than deep acting which depletes take surface acting strategy which depletes less personal resources
more resources. to merely “fake” emotions, rather than deep acting strategy which
depletes more personal resources to change inner emotions and
H1a: Verbal abuse is positively related to employees’ express genuine emotions. (Goussinsky and Livne, 2016). Thus,
surface acting; we propose:

H1b: Verbal abuse is negatively related to employees’ H2a: Disproportionate demand is positively related to
deep acting. employees’ surface acting;

Frontiers in Psychology 04 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

H2b: Disproportionate demand is negatively related to resources loss (Morris and Feldman, 1996; Grandey et al., 2012).
employees’ deep acting. Taken together, we propose:

H3a: Illegitimate complaint is positively related to employees’

Illegitimate complaint and employees’ surface acting;
emotional labor
Service firms usually place great emphasis on customer H3b: Illegitimate complaint is negatively related to employees’
complaints (Kang and Gong, 2019). Complaints not only can deep acting.
serve as a communication channel for customers to express
their dissatisfaction and protect their self-interest when
suffering service failure but also provide valuable opportunities Moderating effects of perceived
for service firms to take recovery actions and avoid customer organizational support
switching. However, customers, motivated by opportunism or
self-interest, may take advantage of this chance to perform Eisenberger et al. (1986) defined perceived organizational
dysfunctional behaviors (e.g., illegitimate complaint) to obtain support (POS) as “employees’ perceptions that the organization
interests (Harris and Reynolds, 2003). For instance, customers values their contributions and cares about their wellbeing.” POS
may make illegitimate complaint without an actual experience provides employees tangible (material rewards) and/or intangible
of service failure (Baker et al., 2012). Illegitimate complaints (emotional energy) resources, and is associated with employees’
from customers are so common that they bring enormous abilities and attitudes, such as self-efficacy and job satisfaction
challenges to frontline employees and service organizations. On (Caesens et al., 2017; Islam and Ahmed, 2018). According to Chan
the one hand, illegitimate complaints are likely to be detrimental and Wan (2012), POS can be viewed as a kind of resource which
to employees’ emotions. For example, Huang and Miao (2016) could enable employees to cope with stressful job conditions, such
found that illegitimate complaint by consumers is positively as the DCB scenarios. POS can shift employees’ attention away
related to negative emotions of employees (e.g., frustration and from job stressors and help them reinterpret the job environment
sadness). Frontline employees that felt negative emotions need from a more optimistic perspective so that it seems less threatening
devote more psychological resources to smoothen the process (Yoo and Arnold, 2016; Wen et al., 2019). Actually, in the
of service delivery (Huang and Miao, 2016). Thus, we can infer emotional labor literature, there are two similar strategies
that illegitimate complaints make frontline employees lose more (attentional deployment and cognitive reappraisal) that are
resources during the service encounters. primarily taken by employees to engage in deep acting. Attentional
On the other hand, illegitimate complaint may thwart deployment refers to changing the experience of emotions by
employees from gaining resources from service encounters. shifting one’s attention to specific aspects of the situation (Gross,
Harmony interactions between frontline employees and customers 2008); Cognitive reappraisal refers to evoking specific emotions
lead to high service performance which can improve frontline by reappraising the situation (Gross, 2008). Hence, we can expect
employees’ self-efficacy and sense of personal accomplishment. that frontline employees with high POS are prone to take deep
No matter self-efficacy or sense of personal accomplishment are acting, rather than surface acting, to deal with DCB.
important psychological resources for employees (Wang et al., POS also fulfills employees’ socioemotional needs for
2011). When frontline employees suffer from illegitimate emotional support, self-esteem, affiliation, and social approval
complaints by customers, it is difficult for employees to build (Eisenberger et al., 2020), which are bases of individual’s
customer-employee interpersonal relationships and feel self- psychological resources. When frontline employees perceive high
efficacy and individual accomplishment. Furthermore, illegitimate organizational support, they can obtain personal resources from
complaints can also undermine the mutual trust employees and their organization. High-level personal resources can make
customers, which will make the service interaction ineffective. employees not hesitate to invest more cognitive efforts in evoking
Therefore, when employees encountered customers’ illegitimate specific emotions and expressing them authentically (deep acting;
complaints, they are prone to perceive fatigue and depleted Hur et al., 2013), rather than only change their outward emotional
psychological resources (e.g., emotional energy). display without genuinely altering how they actually feel (surface
According to COR theory, when individuals face threats of acting). Furthermore, POS make frontline employees feel
resource loss, they strive to retain and protect valuable resources obligation toward their organization as well as the expectation
(Hobfoll, 2001). To minimize the loss during the service that their efforts will be rewarded (Thompson et al., 2020). As a
encounters, frontline employees who are coping with customers’ result, employees with high POS would be motivated to
illegitimate complaints may choose to distance themselves from internalize organization’s goal and value by complying with
customers by engaging in surface acting (Grandey et al., 2007). emotion display rules, such as “service with smile.” Given that
Compared with engaging in surface acting, engaging in deep deep acting is a kind of discretionary behavior driven by intrinsic
acting needs frontline employees to devote more cognitive efforts motivation (Hur et al., 2022), it is reasonable to infer that
and emotional energies and, in turn, results in more individual frontline employees with high POS are more likely to respond

Frontiers in Psychology 05 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

DCB by deep acting. In contrast, employees with low POS are H7: The negative influences of verbal abuse (H7a),
more likely to engage in surface acting to respond DCB. Taken disproportionate demand (H7b), and illegitimate complaint
together, we propose: (H7c) on employees’ deep acting are weaker (stronger) when
customer orientation is high (low).
H4: The positive influences of verbal abuse (H4a),
disproportionate demand (H4b), and illegitimate complaint
(H4c) on employees’ surface acting are weaker (stronger) Materials and methods
when POS is high (low).
Sample and procedure
H5: The negative influences of verbal abuse (H5a),
disproportionate demand (H5b), and illegitimate complaint A large telecommunications company with five call centers in
(H5c) on employees’ deep acting are weaker (stronger) when China was selected to carry out the survey for three reasons. First,
POS is high (low). Call center provides a high-contact service characterized by
intense customer-employee interaction, which facilitates
investigating emotional labor. Second, DCB is very prevalent in
Moderating effects of customer call centers, especially for employees who are in charge of dealing
orientation with customers’ complaints (Grandey et al., 2004; Boukisa et al.,
2020). Finally, call center is frequently used in service research as
Customer orientation (CO) is defined as an employee’s a representative context to study DCB (Kang and Gong, 2019).
tendency or predisposition to meet customer needs in an With the help of top managers, all frontline employees were
on-the-job context (Brown et al., 2002). Customer orientation encouraged to participate in our survey. Five trained research
can influence frontline employees’ job perception, attitudes, and assistants collected the data on site during shift meetings. To
behaviors in service interaction with customers (Huang and guarantee the validity of the data, before the survey, research
Brown, 2016; Kim and Qu, 2020). Firstly, CO can reduce the assistants introduce the purpose of this research and emphasize
extent of job stress employees perceive when confront with anonymity and confidentiality of their responses. It took about
DCB. Although DCB interrupts the flow of normal service 15 min to fill the questionnaire.
processes and routines, CO can protect employees from suffering A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed in five call
role ambiguity and role conflict. Because CO provides frontline centers with 100 for each. When the questionnaires were
employees with strong guidance regarding the purpose of job completed, respondents sealed the questionnaires in an envelope
(Huang and Brown, 2016). Frontline employees with high CO and returned it to the research assistants by themselves. Of the
can cope with DCB more effectively than employees with low total of 500 distributed questionnaires, 483 were returned. After
CO. Thus, CO can serve as a buffer from the potentially eliminating 47 responses incomplete, finally, 436 responses were
deleterious effects of DCB. retained for data analysis, with an effective response rate of 87.2%.
Second, CO increases employees’ work engagement or the level The sample consisted of 9.63% males and 90.37% females.
of effort spent in dealing with DCB. According to the COR theory, Participants were of varying ages (6.65% were no more than
CO as a personal resource enhances employees’ job engagement and 21 years of age; 26.38% were between 21 and 25 years of age;
confidence (Zablah et al., 2012), which, in turn, fosters employees 30.28% were between 26 and 30 years of age; 23.39% were between
to provide an expression of genuine emotion (deep acting) rather 31 and 35 years of age; 13.30% were more than 35 years of age).
than a low level of authenticity of emotional display (Yoo and Regarding the education level, 21.79% of the participants had a
Arnold, 2014). Also, CO may act as an intrinsic motivator that high school education, 78.21% had received college education or
drives employees to invest their job efforts in satisfying customers’ above in which 19.72% were bachelor’s degree holders or above.
needs (Zablah et al., 2012; Moon et al., 2019). Hence, when facing
DCB, frontline employees with high CO are likely to change their
internal feelings and display authentic emotions through a conscious Measure
and effortful process. In contrast, frontline employees with low CO
believe that they do not have enough resources and methods to cope Dysfunctional customer behavior. Dysfunctional customer
with DCB no matter how much effort they invest. This will behavior was measured with the scale developed by Kang and Gong
undermine employees’ motivation and thereby consequently leads (2019). This scale has been previously adopted in service context.
to engaging in surface acting. Taken together, we propose: Four items measure verbal abuse (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.885), four
items measure disproportionate demand (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.840),
H6: The positive influences of verbal abuse (H6a), and five items measure illegitimate complaint (Cronbach’s
disproportionate demand (H6b), and illegitimate complaint alpha = 0.913). Sample items of three subscales include “Customers
(H6c) on employees’ surface acting are weaker (stronger) yelled at me,” “Customers demanded special treatment,” and
when customer orientation is high (low). “Customers complained without reason,” respectively.

Frontiers in Psychology 06 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

Emotional labor. The emotional labor of frontline employees analysis. The variance explained for the first factor accounted for
was measured with six items adapted from Brotheridge and Lee only 24.85% of the total variance. Therefore, CMV was not a
(2003). Scale items captured two components (three items for problem in this study.
surface acting and three items for deep acting). Sample items Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess
include “Hide my true feelings about a situation” and “Make an the convergent and discriminant validity of all of the constructs.
effort to actually feel the emotions that I need to display to others.” CFA is widely used for validity test (Bentler and Bonett, 1980;
The Cronbach’s alphas for surface acting and deep acting scales Ahmed et al., 2021). We used one measurement model to estimate
were 0.900 and 0.899, respectively. all the focal latent constructs (verbal abuse, disproportionate
Perceived organizational support. Perceived organizational demand, illegitimate complaint, surface acting, deep acting,
support was measured by the six-item scale developed by perceived organizational support, and customer orientation). The
Eisenberger et al. (1997) (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.870). A sample item model fit indices were used in this study: normed fit index
was “My organization cares about my opinions “. (NFI > 0.90), comparative fit index (CFI > 0.90), incremental fit
Customer orientation. The five-item scale developed by index (IFI > 0.90), goodness of fit index (GFI > 0.90), root mean
Susskind et al. (2003) was used to measure customer orientation residual (RMR < 0.05), root mean square error of approximation
in our study (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.866). Sample items include “If (RMSEA < 0.05). The overall fit indices for the measurement model
possible, I meet all requests made by my customers.” In addition, indicate an acceptable fit to the data: χ2/df = 1.560, p < 0.001;
for all measures, without demographical variables, a five-point NFI = 0.925; CFI = 0.971; IFI = 0.972; GFI = 0.919, RMR = 0.048,
Likert-type scale was used ranging from 1 to 5 with 1 indicating RMSEA = 0.036. The factor loadings of all items were greater than
“strongly disagree” and 5 indicating “strongly agree.” 0.6. Next, according to the procedures proposed by Fornell and
Control variables. To reduce the likelihood of employees’ Larcker (1981), the results showed that the square roots of average
demographic characteristics confounding the relationships variance extracted values (AVE) for all constructs, ranging from
examined, we controlled gender (1 = male; 2 = female), age, tenure, 0.729 to 0.869 (see Table 1), were greater than the correlation
and education. Regarding gender differences, the emotional between all constructs (see Table 1). Therefore, these results
literature suggests that women show greater emotional indicate that the convergent validity and discriminant validity of
expressiveness and exhibit more intensive emotional labor during all constructs are acceptable. Finally, the reliability of all constructs
service interaction than men (Cetin et al., 2018). We controlled age in our research is satisfactory, with the Cronbach’s alpha ranging
and tenure, as prior research suggests that older employees are from 0.840 to 0.913 (see Table 1). Table 1 also contains the means,
likely to report higher self-control of emotional expressions during standard deviations, and intercorrelations of constructs involved in
service interactions (Hyun Jung, 2016). Rasheed-Karim (2020) also this study.
reported that age affects the frequency of emotional labor.

Results
Common method bias, confirmatory
factor analysis, and reliability Test of main effects

To rule out the possibility of common method bias, The study applied the hierarchical regression analysis to test
we conducted Harman’s one-factor test to examine the common the hypotheses, and the results are detailed below and summarized
method variance (CMV; Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). Seven in Table 2. Specifically, we use the SPSS 22.0 to process and
factors with eigenvalues exceeding 1 were extracted from factor analyzed data. Hypothesis 1 to 3 predicted the relationship

TABLE 1 Descriptive analysis, correlations, reliabilities, and tests of discriminant validity for all research variables.

Correlation Matrix
Variables Means SD α
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1. Verbal abuse 3.223 0.950 0.817 0.885
2. Disproportionate demand 3.129 0.861 0.454*** 0.754 0.840
3. Illegitimate complaint 3.275 0.944 0.620*** 0.505*** 0.824 0.913
4. Surface acting 3.658 0.893 0.342*** 0.122* 0.340*** 0.869 0.900
5.Deep acting 3.700 0.939 −0.331*** −0.334*** −0.384*** −0.047 0.867 0.899
6. Perceived organizational support 3.413 0.897 −0.202*** −0.071 −0.069 −0.191*** 0.216*** 0.729 0.870
7. Customer orientation 3.842 0.938 −0.125* 0.091 −0.086 −0.169** 0.173** 0.284*** 0.757 0.866

The square roots of AVE are presented in diagonal elements (bold values).
*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

Frontiers in Psychology 07 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

TABLE 2 Test of main effect.

Surface acting Deep acting

Independent variable
M1 M2 M-3 M-4
Control variable Gender −0.131*** −0.095* −0.067 −0.078
Age 0.072 0.072 −0.136* −0.148**
Education −0.009 0.007 0.003 0.000
Tenure −0.063 −0.116* −0.068 −0.001

Verbal abuse 0.230*** −0.144**

Disproportionate demand −0.061 −0.140**
Illegitimate complaint 0.217*** −0.184**
R2 0.020 0.153 0.038 0.179
F 2.225 11.084*** 4.283** 13.305***

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

between the three types of DCB (verbal abuse, disproportionate complaint (β = 0.227, p < 0.001) are positively related to surface
demand, and illegitimate complaint) and employees’ emotional acting, while POS is negatively related to surface acting
labor strategies. (β = −0.116, p < 0.05). Then, we entered the verbal abuse × POS
To test the effects of DCB on surface acting, we firstly interaction term in M-6 and its effect on surface acting is negative
regressed surface acting on control variables (M-1) and then on and significant (β = −0.265, p < 0.001). In addition, the changes in
verbal abuse, disproportionate demand, and illegitimate complaint R-squared between M-5 and M-6 are significant (△R2 = 0.064,
(M-2). As shown in Table 2, both customers’ verbal abuse p < 0.001), thus POS significantly moderates the relationship
(β = 0.230, p < 0.001) and illegitimate complaint (β = 0.217, between verbal abuse and surface acting, supporting H4a.
p < 0.001) are positively related to employees’ surface acting, However, the disproportionate demand × POS interaction term’s
supporting H1a and H3a. However, disproportionate demand was effect on surface acting is not significant (M-7) and H4b is
not significantly related to surface acting (M-2 in Table 2, rejected. According to the results of M-8, illegitimate complaint ×
β = −0.061，p > 0.05), and H2a was rejected. POS is significantly related to surface acting (β = −0.132, p < 0.01),
To test the effects of DCB on deep acting, we regressed deep and the changes in R-squared between M-5 and M-8 are also
acting on verbal abuse, disproportionate demand, and illegitimate significant (△R2 = 0.016, p < 0.01), supporting H4c.
complaint (M-4). As shown in Table 2, H1b, H2b, and H3b were The results of M-9 to M-12 indicated moderating effects of
supported because the effects of customers’ verbal abuse POS on the relationships between DCB and deep acting.
(β = −0.144, p < 0.01), disproportionate demand (β = −0.140, Specifically, the results of Model 9 (M-9) indicated that both
p < 0.01), and illegitimate complaint (β = −0.184, p < 0.01) on verbal abuse (β = −0.111, p < 0.05), disproportionate demand
employees’ deep acting were both significant and negative. (β = −0.133, p < 0.01), and illegitimate complaint (β = −0.199,
p < 0.001) were negatively related to deep acting, while POS was
positively related to deep acting (β = 0.174, p < 0.001). The
Test of moderation effects of POS and interactions term of POS and verbal abuse did not affect deep
CO acting significantly and H5a was rejected (M-10). When the
interaction item of POS and disproportionate demand was entered
To test the moderating effects of POS and customer in M-11, the results indicated that the interaction term was
orientation, we conducted a series of hierarchical regression significantly related to deep acting (β = 0.120, p < 0.01). The
analyses. In line with Aiken et al. (1991) guidelines for moderated changes in R-squared between M-9 and M-11 were significant
regression, we mean-centered the independent variables (verbal (△R2 = 0.014, p < 0.01). H5b was supported. Finally, the
abuse, disproportionate demand, and illegitimate complaint) and interaction item of POS and illegitimate complaint did not affect
moderators (POS and customer orientation) at their own mean deep acting significantly and H5c was rejected.
before creating interaction terms. The variables were entered To interpret the nature of the interactions, we plotted the
sequentially in the regression model: First the main effects, then verbal abuse-surface acting, illegitimate complaint-surface acting,
the interaction items. and disproportionate demand-deep acting relationships at
To test the moderating effects of POS, as we predicted in H4 different levels of POS (i.e., 1 SD above/below the mean),
and H5, a series of moderated regressions were conducted (M-5 respectively (Figures 2–4). Both verbal abuse-surface acting and
to M-12). The results are presented in Table 3. Specially, we first illegitimate complaint-surface acting relationships were more
test the main effects as shown in M-5 in Table 3. The results strongly positive among frontline employees with low POS than
indicate that verbal abuse (β = 0.208, p < 0.001) and illegitimate among frontline employees with high POS (Figures 2, 3). For the

Frontiers in Psychology 08 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

TABLE 3 The moderation effect of Perceived organizational support.

Surface acting Deep acting

Independent variable
M-5 M-6 M-7 M-8 M-9 M-10 M-11 M-12
Control Gender −0.075 −0.090* −0.076 −0.095* −0.106* −0.103* −0.098* −0.098*
Age
variable 0.060 0.054 0.059 0.053 −0.131** −0.129** −0.116* −0.127**
Education 0.016 0.017 0.015 0.009 −0.013 −0.014 −0.009 −0.011
Tenure −0.119* −0.123* −0.119* −0.116* 0.004 0.005 0.005 0.003

Verbal abuse 0.208*** 0.146** 0.207*** 0.201*** −0.111* −0.098 −0.109* −0.108
Disproportionate demand −0.065 −0.042 −0.066 −0.049 −0.133** −0.138** −0.125* −0.140**
Illegitimate complaint 0.227*** 0.226*** 0.228*** 0.202*** −0.199*** −0.198*** −0.205*** −0.188**
POS −0.116* −0.076 −0.115* −0.103* 0.174*** 0.166*** 0.163*** 0.169***
Verbal abuse × POS −0.265*** 0.057
Disproportionate demand × POS −0.015 0.120**
Illegitimate complaint × POS −0.132** 0.056
R2 0.166 0.230 0.166 0.182 0.207 0.210 0.221 0.210
F 10.627*** 14.177*** 9.439*** 10.551*** 13.926*** 12.575*** 13.415*** 12.573***
△R2 0.064*** 0.000 0.016** 0.003 0.014** 0.003

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

FIGURE 3
FIGURE 2
Moderating effect of POS on the relationship between illegitimate
Moderating effect of POS on the relationship between verbal complaint and surface acting.
abuse and surface acting.

H6a. However, neither interaction item of CO and

disproportionate demand-deep acting relationship, when frontline disproportionate demand nor the interaction item of CO and
employees reported high POS, the negative relationship is illegitimate complaint affects surface acting significantly (M-15
weakened (Figure 4). and M-16). Thus, hypotheses 6b and 6c were rejected.
To test the moderating effect of CO, as predicted in H6 and Hypothesis 7 predicted that CO moderates the effects of
H7, we ran a series of moderated regressions (M-13 to M-20). The customer verbal abuse (H7a), disproportionate demand
results were presented in Table 4. Especially, the results of main (H7b), and illegitimate complaint (H7c) on employees’ deep
effects test (M-13) showed that CO was negatively related to acting. The results of the main effect test, as shown in M-17,
surface acting (β = −0.113, p < 0.05). Then, the interaction term of suggested that CO was positively related to deep acting
CO and verbal abuse was entered in M-14. The results suggested (β = 0.171, p < 0.001). The interaction term of CO and verbal
that the interaction term was negatively related to surface acting abuse was not significantly related to deep acting (M-18). H7a
(β = −0.173, p < 0.001), and changes in R-squared between M-13 was rejected. In M-19, the interaction term of CO and
and M-14 were significant (△R2 = 0.027, p < 0.001), supporting disproportionate demand was positively related to deep acting

Frontiers in Psychology 09 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

(β = 0.238, p < 0.001). The changes in R-squared between M-17 relationship, when frontline employees reported high CO, the
and M-19 were significant (△R2 = 0.050, p < 0.001), supporting postive relationship was weakened (Figure 5). Both
H7b. Finally, in M-20, the interaction item of CO and disproportionate demand-deep acting and illegitimate complaint-
illegitimate complaints was positively related to deep acting deep acting relationships were more strongly negative among
(β = 0.165, p < 0.001), and changes in R-squared between M-17 frontline employees with low CO than among frontline employees
and M-20 were also significant (△R2 = 0.025, p < 0.001), with high CO (Figures 6, 7).
supporting H7c.
To interpret the nature of the interactions, we plotted the
verbal abuse-surface acting, disproportionate demand-deep Discussion and conclusion
acting, and illegitimate complaint-deep acting relationships at
different levels of CO (i.e., 1 SD above/below the mean), As the prevalence of DCB in many service sectors, how to
respectively (Fifure5–7). For the verbal abuse-surface acting cope with this challenge becomes an interesting question that

FIGURE 4 FIGURE 5
The moderating effect of POS on disproportionate demand— Moderating effect of customer orientation on the relationship
deep acting. between verbal abuse and surface acting.

TABLE 4 The moderation effect of customer orientation.

Surface acting Deep acting

Independent variable
M-13 M-14 M-15 M-16 M-17 M-18 M-19 M-20
Control Gender −0.077 −0.071 −0.062 −0.082 −0.104* −0.105* −0.041 −0.095*
Age
variable 0.074 0.060 0.075 0.070 −0.151** −0.147** −0.144** −0.143**
Education 0.010 0.022 0.011 0.014 −0.005 −0.008 0.002 −0.014
Tenure −0.116* −0.126* −0.113* −0.117* −0.001 0.002 0.013 0.002

Verbal abuse 0.218*** 0.222*** 0.215*** 0.229*** −0.127* −0.128* −0.138** −0.148**
Disproportionate demand −0.044 −0.065 −0.034 −0.058 −0.165** −0.159** −0.125* −0.138**
Illegitimate complaint 0.211*** 0.223*** 0.215*** 0.204*** −0.174** −0.177** −0.157** −0.162**
CO −0.113* −0.062 −0.115* −0.092 0.171*** 0.157** 0.164*** 0.129**
Verbal abuse × CO −0.173*** 0.047
Disproportionate demand × CO 0.059 0.238***
Illegitimate complaint × CO −0.086 0.165***
R2 0.166 0.192 0.169 0.172 0.206 0.208 0.256 0.231
F 10.594*** 11.276*** 9.603*** 9.855*** 13.874*** 12.450*** 16.296*** 14.222***
△R2 0.027*** 0.003 0.007 0.002 0.050*** 0.025***

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

Frontiers in Psychology 10 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

effects of verbal abuse and illegitimate complaint on surface

acting, while positively moderates the influence of
disproportionate demand on deep acting. We also found that
the positive effect of verbal abuse on surface acting and the
negative effect of disproportionate demand and illegitimate
complaints on deep acting are weaker in conditions of high
(rather than low) customer orientation.

Theoretical contributions

This research contributes to the literature on dysfunctional

customer behavior and emotional labor. First, our study extends
previous research on DCB by enriching the knowledge on the
consequences of DCB. Drawing on COR theory, we proposed and
empirically tested the relationships between three types of DCB
FIGURE 6 on emotion labor. Harris and Reynolds (2003) proposed three
Moderating effect of customer orientation on the relationship categories of consequences of DCB: consequences for customer
between disproportionate demand and deep acting.
contact employees, consequences for customers, and
consequences for organizations. Although not be empirically
tested, their propositions and callings for exploring consequences
of DCB more holistically have inspired many scholars to seek
consequences of DCB mainly from employee, customer, and
organization perspectives. Different from prior research focusing
on the “long-term” effects of DCB on employees’ wellbeing (such
as burnout, emotional exhaustion, job anxiety, and job stress;
Bamfo et al., 2018; Gong and Wang, 2019; Raza et al., 2021;
Szczygiel and Bazińska, 2021), our study aims to explore how
frontline employees’ response DCB instantly during the service
encounters. By empirically examining DCB’s effect on frontline
employees’ encounter-specific behavior—emotional labor, our
study answers Harris and Reynolds’s (2003) calls and fills the gap
of DCB’s instant effects. Furthermore, different from most of the
previous research focusing on one specific form of DCB (Grandey
et al., 2004; Park and Kim, 2019; Gong and Wang, 2021), our
study, consist with Kang and Gong (2019), tests the effects of
three types of employee-targeting DCB on emotional labor
FIGURE 7
simultaneously. By doing so, we can compare the relative strength
Moderating effect of customer orientation on the relationship of different types of DCB’s effects on emotional labor. For
between illegitimate complaint and deep acting.
instance, both verbal abuse and illegitimate complaint are
positively related to surface acting, while disproportionate
demand is not.
attracts the attention of both researchers and practitioners Second, we also advance research on emotional labor from
(Szczygiel and Bazińska, 2021; Zhan et al., 2021). We developed the perspective of customer. Given the interactive nature of
and tested a conceptual model of the differential influence of the service encounters and the importance of employees’ emotional
three types of DCB on employees’ emotional labor strategies labor (Ashtar et al., 2021), identifying the antecedents of
(surface acting and deep acting). Also, the moderating effects of emotional labor from customer perspective is warranted.
POS and customer orientation on these relationships were Previous research has indicated that customer misbehaviors were
examined. Using data from 436 frontline employees in call positively related to employee emotional labor (Sliter et al., 2010;
centers, the results demonstrate that customers’ verbal abuse Hu and King, 2017). Customer incivility was found to
and illegitimate complaint directly and positively affect be associated with employees’ surface acting as well (Hur et al.,
employee surface acting, while verbal abuse, disproportionate 2015; Szczygiel and Bazińska, 2021). However, few studies
demand, and illegitimate complaint directly and negatively examined the relationship between DCB and different emotional
impact employees’ deep acting. POS negatively moderates the labor strategies, particularly the effect of DCB on employees’ deep

Frontiers in Psychology 11 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

acting. To our knowledge, our study is the first to empirically the service firm is equipped with surveillance system, DCB can
elucidate the relationships between these three different types of also be monitored by analyzing the recording data.
dysfunctional customer behaviors and two emotional labor Finally, considering the buffer effects of POS and customer
strategies among call centers’ frontline employees, which helps to orientation, we recommend managers improve the level of
enrich the literature on the antecedents of emotional labor. frontline employees’ customer orientation by recruiting employees
Third, what had received little attention to the boundary who are customer-oriented. Managers can screen applicants by
conditions under which DCB exerts more or less detrimental setting a survey that contains customer orientation scales before
effects on employee emotional labor. Perceived organizational the interview. Also, service firms can improve employees’
support has been shown to moderate the effects of DCB on customer orientation by cultivating service climate. To improve
employees’ wellbeing and behaviors, such as burnout (Han et al., POS, managers, as representatives of organization, should take
2016), employee service sabotage (Hwang et al., 2021), and job measures to support their employees. Specifically, managers can
anxiety (Raza et al., 2021). Our study demonstrated that POS (as take empowering leadership which can enhance employees’
external resources) and customer orientation (as internal perception of respect and trust in the organization. Service firms
resources) attenuate the effects of different types of DCB on should carefully create a trusting and supportive climate and make
emotional labor of frontline employees, provided a better frontline employees feel support from their organization.
understanding of the mechanism underlying the influence, and
contributed to the previous literature. Specifically, our findings
suggest that frontline employees with high POS are likely to Limitations and future directions
engage in deep acting when they are confronted with
disproportionate demand. Similarly, supervisor support has been Some limitations should be noted. First, the sample in this
shown to moderate the influence of interpersonal mistreatment study was collected at the call centers. While call centers fit
on nurses’ deep acting (Goussinsky and Livne, 2016). into the context of the current research, which may limit the
Furthermore, when frontline employees with high POS suffer generalizability of our findings to other industries. Future
from customer verbal abuse and illegitimate complaint, they are research may consider choosing other industries (e.g., hotels).
not even willing to pretend positive emotions (surface acting). Second, due to the specific characteristics of service
This finding is consistent with the latest research by Huang et al. encounters in call centers, this study examined the
(2021). They argue that necessary evil (e. g. displaying negative relationship between DCB and employees’ emotional labor
emotions), refers to action that can cause unpleasant experiences when only one customer was present. To enhance
to dysfunctional customers, is a new effective way for frontline generalizability of the findings, future studies should examine
employees to cope with DCB. In addition, although we highlight whether employees respond to DCB in the same way when
that DCB is associated with frontline employees’ emotional labor, other customers are present. Third, this study merely
customer orientation helps alleviate this relationship, which examined the moderating roles of POS and customer
provides a new prospect for further exploration. orientation. Future studies should consider other
organizational factors’ moderating effect on the relationship
between DCB and emotional labor such as organizational
Managerial implications culture which comprises basic internalized beliefs and values
that guide employees’ perceptions and actions. Furthermore,
Our findings shed light on how service firms can enhance the present research focused on the effects of DCB on
frontline employees’ ability to cope with DCB. First, given the employees’ emotional labor, while downstream consequences
important role of frontline employees’ emotional labor in creating of this mechanism might also be meaningful such as burnout.
good service experience, service firms should improve frontline Finally, this study tested the hypotheses using data collected
employees’ emotional skills by setting training plans. For example, from employee perspective. Although we did take some steps
managers can design scripts and scenarios to simulate DCB to reduce the influence of common method bias such as
context and help employees to rebuild service processes and randomizing the order of measures, future research could
routines to cope with DCB more effectively. Once the new process collect employee-customer dyadic data or use multiple time
and routines are formed, frontline employees could cope with points to reduce the possible common method bias and self-
DCB at low cost of resource depletion. That means employees can reporting bias.
invest more cognitive efforts to engage in deep acting, rather than
surface acting.
Second, considering the harmful consequences of DCB, Data availability statement
service firms should monitor the level of DCB. At the end of the
workday, managers could organize a short conversation with The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will
frontline employees and talk about DCB they have just suffered. If be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Frontiers in Psychology 12 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

Author contributions Conflict of interest

PC and SX contributed to the original idea and designed the The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
study. JJ performed the statistical analysis and wrote the first draft of absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could
the manuscript. PC, JJ, and ZL revised it critically for important be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
intellectual content. All authors contributed to the article and
approved the submitted version.

Publisher’s note
Funding
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors
This work was funded by the Soft Science Research Program and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations,
of Shaanxi Province of China (NO: 2021KRM157) and Scientific or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product
Research Program Funded by Shaanxi Provincial Education that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its
Department (Program No. 21JZ041). manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

References
Ahmed, I., Islam, T., Ahmad, S., and Kaleem, A. (2021). A COVID-19 contextual of organizational dehumanization. Eur. J. Work Organ. Psy. 26, 527–540. doi:
study of customers’ mistreatment and counterproductive work behavior at coffee 10.1080/1359432x.2017.1319817
cafés. Br. Food J. 123, 3404–3420. doi: 10.1108/BFJ-07-2020-0664
Cetin, I., Icoz, O., and Gokdeniz, A. (2018). Factors affecting the emotional labor
Aiken, L.S., West, S.G., and Reno, R.R. (1991). Multiple Regression: Testing and in food services: the case of Van as a tourism destination. Turizam 22, 133–144. doi:
Interpreting Interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. 10.5937/turizam22-19040
Arora, S. D., and Chakraborty, A. (2020). Legitimate and illegitimate consumer Chan, K. W., and Wan, E. W. (2012). How can stressed employees deliver better
complaining behavior: a review and taxonomy. J. Serv. Mark. 34, 921–937. doi: customer service?? The underlying self-regulation depletion mechanism. J. Mark.
10.1108/JSM-12-2019-0490 76, 119–137. doi: 10.1509/jm.10.0202
Arvan, M. L., Dreibelbis, R. C., and Spector, P. E. (2019). “Customer service stress: Chi, N.-W., and Grandey, A. A. (2019). Emotional labor predicts service
a meta-analysis of customer mistreatment” in Examining the Role of Well-Being in performance depending on activation and inhibition regulatory fit. J. Manag. 45,
the Marketing Discipline. Vol. 17. eds. P. L. Perrewé and P. D. Harms (Bingley: 673–700. doi: 10.1177/0149206316672530
Emerald Publishing Limited), 117–136. Chi, N.-W., Yang, J., and Lin, C.-Y. (2018). Service workers’ chain reactions to
Ashtar, S., Yom-Tov, G. B., Akiva, N., and Rafaeli, A. (2021). When do service daily customer mistreatment: behavioral linkages, mechanisms, and boundary
employees smile? Response-dependent emotion regulation in emotional labor. J. conditions. J. Occup. Health Psychol. 23, 58–70. doi: 10.1037/ocp0000050
Organ. Behav. 42, 1202–1227. doi: 10.1002/job.2562 Cho, H., Pavek, K., and Steege, L. (2020). Workplace verbal abuse, nurse-reported
Baker, M. A., Magnini, V. P., and Perdue, R. R. (2012). Opportunistic customer quality of care and patient safety outcomes among early-career hospital nurses. J.
complaining: causes, consequences, and managerial alternatives. Int. J. Hosp. Manag. Nurs. Manag. 28, 1250–1258. doi: 10.1111/jonm.13071
31, 295–303. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2011.06.004 Choi, L., and Lawry, C. A. (2020). Labors of love: service employees on customer
Bakker, A. B., and Demerouti, E. (2017). Job demands–resources theory: taking participation. J. Serv. Theory Pract. 585–607. doi: 10.1108/JSTP-01-2020-0006
stock and looking forward. J. Occup. Health Psychol. 22, 273–285. doi: 10.1037/ Eisenberger, R., Cummings, J., Armeli, S., and Lynch, P. (1997). Perceived
ocp0000056 organizational support, discretionary treatment, and job satisfaction. J. Appl.
Bamfo, B. A., Dogbe, C. S. K., and Mingle, H. (2018). Abusive customer Psychol. 82, 812–820. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.82.5.812
behaviour and frontline employee turnover intentions in the banking industry: Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., and Sowa, D. (1986).
the mediating role of employee satisfaction. Cogent Bus. Manag. 5:1522753. doi: Perceived organizational support. J. Appl. Psychol. 71, 500–507. doi: 10.1037/2
10.1080/23311975.2018.1522753 F0021-9010.71.3.500
Bani-Melhem, S., Quratulain, S., and Al-Hawari, M. A. (2020). Customer incivility Eisenberger, R., Rhoades Shanock, L., and Wen, X. (2020). Perceived
and frontline employees’ revenge intentions: interaction effects of employee organizational support: why caring about employees counts. Annu. Rev. Organ.
empowerment and turnover intentions. J. Hosp. Market. Manag. 29, 450–470. doi: Psych. Organ. Behav. 7, 101–124. doi: 10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012119-044917
10.1080/19368623.2019.1646180
Fornell, C., and Larcker, D. F. (1981). Structural equation models with
Bentler, P. M., and Bonett, D. G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of unobservable variables and measurement error: algebra and statistics. J. Mark. Res.
fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychol. Bull. 88, 588–606. doi: 18, 382–388. doi: 10.1177/002224378101800313
10.1037/0033-2909.88.3.588
Fullerton, R. A., and Punj, G. (2004). Repercussions of promoting an ideology of
Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H., and Mohr, L. A. (1994). Critical service encounters: consumption: consumer misbehavior. J. Bus. Res. 57, 1239–1249. doi: 10.1016/
the employee's viewpoint. J. Mark. 58, 95–106. doi: 10.1177/002224299405800408 S0148-2963(02)00455-1
Boukisa, A., Christosb, K., Dauntc, K. L., and Papastathopoulosd, A. (2020). Gong, T., Park, J., and Hyun, H. (2020). Customer response toward employees’
Effects of customer incivility on frontline employees and the moderating role emotional labor in service industry settings. J. Retail. Consum. Serv. 52:101899. doi:
of supervisor leadership style. Tour. Manag. 77:103997. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman. 10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.101899
2019.103997
Gong, T., and Wang, C.-Y. (2019). How does dysfunctional customer behavior
Brotheridge, C. M., and Lee, R. T. (2003). Development and validation of the affect employee turnover. J. Serv. Theory Pract. 29, 329–352. doi: 10.1108/
emotional labour scale. J. Occup. Organ. Psychol. 76, 365–379. doi: 10.1348/ jstp-04-2018-0081
096317903769647229
Gong, T., and Wang, C.-Y. (2021). The effects of a psychological brand contract
Brown, T. J., Mowen, J. C., Donavan, D. T., and Licata, J. W. (2002). The customer breach on customers' dysfunctional behavior toward a brand. J. Serv. Theory Pract.
orientation of service workers: personality trait effects on self-and supervisor 31, 607–637. doi: 10.1108/JSTP-09-2020-0217
performance ratings. J. Mark. Res. 39, 110–119. doi: 10.1509/jmkr.39.1.110.18928
Goussinsky, R., and Livne, Y. (2016). Coping with interpersonal mistreatment: the
Caesens, G., Stinglhamber, F., Demoulin, S., and De Wilde, M. (2017). role of emotion regulation strategies and supervisor support. J. Nurs. Manag. 24,
Perceived organizational support and employees’ well-being: the mediating role 1109–1118. doi: 10.1111/jonm.12415

Frontiers in Psychology 13 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

Grandey, A. A. (2003). When “the show must go on”: surface acting and deep Kim, J. S. (2020). Emotional labor strategies, stress, and burnout among hospital
acting as determinants of emotional exhaustion and peer-rated service delivery. nurses: a path analysis. J. Nurs. Scholarsh. 52, 105–112. doi: 10.1111/jnu.12532
Acad. Manag. J. 46, 86–96. doi: 10.5465/30040678
Kim, K., and Baker, M. A. (2019). The customer Isn’t always right: the
Grandey, A. A., Dickter, D. N., and Sin, H.-P. (2004). The customer is not always implications of illegitimate complaints. Cornell Hosp. Q. 61, 113–127. doi:
right: customer aggression and emotion regulation of service employees. J. Organ. 10.1177/1938965519889288
Behav. 25, 397–418. doi: 10.1002/job.252
Kim, J., Kim, H.-R., Lacey, R., and Suh, J. (2018). How CSR impact meaning of
Grandey, A. A., Foo, S. C., Groth, M., and Goodwin, R. E. (2012). Free to work and dysfunctional customer behavior. J. Serv. Theory Pract. 28, 507–523. doi:
be you and me: a climate of authenticity alleviates burnout from emotional labor. J. 10.1108/jstp-01-2018-0018
Occup. Health Psychol. 17, 1–14. doi: 10.1037/a0025102
Kim, H., and Qu, H. (2020). Effects of employees’ social exchange and the
Grandey, A. A., Kern, J. H., and Frone, M. R. (2007). Verbal abuse from outsiders mediating role of customer orientation in the restaurant industry. Int. J. Hosp.
versus insiders: comparing frequency, impact on emotional exhaustion, and the role Manag. 89:102577. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102577
of emotional labor. J. Occup. Health Psychol. 12, 63–79. doi: 10.1037/1076-8998.12.1.63
Lee, L., and Madera, J. M. (2019). A systematic literature review of emotional labor
Gross, J. J. (2008). Emotion regulation. Handb. Emot. 3, 497–513. doi: 10.1.1.934.3311 research from the hospitality and tourism literature. Int. J. Contemp. Hosp. Manag.
Han, S. J., Bonn, M. A., and Cho, M. (2016). The relationship between customer 31, 2808–2826. doi: 10.1108/IJCHM-05-2018-0395
incivility, restaurant frontline service employee burnout and turnover intention. Int. Liu, X.-Y., Chi, N.-W., and Gremler, D. D. (2019). Emotion cycles in services:
J. Hosp. Manag. 52, 97–106. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2015.10.002 emotional contagion and emotional labor effects. J. Serv. Res. 22, 285–300. doi:
Harris, L. C., and Daunt, K. L. (2011). Deviant customer behaviour: a study 10.1177/1094670519835309
of techniques of neutralisation. J. Mark. Manag. 27, 834–853. doi: 10.1080/ Lu, J., Zhang, Z., and Jia, M. (2019). Does servant leadership affect employees’
0267257x.2010.498149 emotional labor? A social information-processing perspective. J. Bus. Ethics 159,
Harris, L. C., and Reynolds, K. L. (2003). The consequences of dysfunctional 507–518. doi: 10.1007/s10551-018-3816-3
customer behavior. J. Serv. Res. 6, 144–161. doi: 10.1177/1094670503257044 Medler-Liraz, H. (2016). The role of service relationships in employees’ and
Hatfield, E., Rapson, R. L., and Le, Y.-C. L. (2011). “Emotional contagion and customers’ emotional behavior, and customer-related outcomes. J. Serv. Mark. 30,
empathy,” in The Social Neuroscience of Empathy. eds. J. Decety and W. Ickes 437–448. doi: 10.1108/jsm-05-2014-0156
(Cambridge, MA: MIT). Moon, T. W., Hur, W.-M., and Hyun, S. S. (2019). How service employees’
Hobfoll, S. E. (2001). The influence of culture, community, and the nested-self in work motivations lead to job performance: the role of service employees’ job
the stress process: advancing conservation of resources theory. Appl. Psychol. 50, creativity and customer orientation. Curr. Psychol. 38, 517–532. doi: 10.1007/
337–421. doi: 10.1111/1464-0597.00062 s12144-017-9630-8

Hobfoll, S. E., Halbesleben, J., Neveu, J.-P., and Westman, M. (2018). Conservation Morris, J. A., and Feldman, D. C. (1996). The dimensions, antecedents, and
of resources in the organizational context: the reality of resources and their consequences of emotional labor. Acad. Manag. Rev. 21, 986–1010. doi: 10.5465/
consequences. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psych. Organ. Behav. 5, 103–128. amr.1996.9704071861

Hochschild, A.R. (1983). The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Nguyen, N., Besson, T., and Stinglhamber, F. (2022). Emotional labor: the role of
Feeling. Los Angeles: University of California Press. organizational dehumanization. J. Occup. Health Psychol. 27, 179–194. doi: 10.1037/
ocp0000289
Hu, H.-Y., and King, B. (2017). Impacts of misbehaving air passengers on frontline
employees: role stress and emotional labor. Int. J. Contemp. Hosp. Manag. 29, Oh, S. H., Hwang, Y., and Kim, H. (2019). Is deep acting prevalent in socially
1793–1813. doi: 10.1108/IJCHM-09-2015-0457 responsible companies? The effects of CSR perception on emotional labor strategies.
Front. Psychol. 10, 1–12. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00308
Hu, X., Zhan, Y., Garden, R., Wang, M., and Shi, J. (2018). Employees’ reactions
to customer mistreatment: the moderating role of human resource management Okan, M., Elmadag, A. B., and İdemen, E. (2021). Frontline employee age and
practices. Work & Stress 32, 49–67. doi: 10.1080/02678373.2017.1330836 customer mistreatment: a meta-analysis. J. Serv. Mark. 35, 98–115. doi: 10.1108/
jsm-06-2019-0246
Huang, Y.-S., and Brown, T. J. (2016). How does customer orientation influence
authentic emotional display? J. Serv. Mark. 30, 316–326. doi: 10.1108/ Park, Y., and Kim, S. (2019). Customer mistreatment harms nightly sleep and
jsm-12-2014-0402 next-morning recovery: job control and recovery self-efficacy as cross-level
moderators. J. Occup. Health Psychol. 24, 256–269. doi: 10.1037/ocp0000128
Huang, Y.-S. S., Fang, X., and Liu, R. (2021). Necessary evil: a strategy to manage
dysfunctional customer behavior. J. Serv. Mark. 36, 741–753. doi: 10.1108/ Podsakoff, P. M., and Organ, D. W. (1986). Self-reports in organizational research:
JSM-07-2020-0317 problems and prospects. J. Manag. 12, 531–544. doi: 10.1177/014920638601200408
Huang, Z., and Miao, L. (2016). Illegitimate customer complaining behavior Rasheed-Karim, W. (2020). The effect of stressful factors, locus of control and age
in hospitality service encounters. J. Hospit. Tour. Res. 40, 655–684. doi: 10.1177/ on emotional labour and burnout among further and adult education teachers in
1096348013515916 the UK. Int. J. Emerg. Technol. Learn. 15, 26–37. doi: 10.3991/ijet.v15i24.19305
Hur, W.-M., Moon, T. W., and Han, S.-J. (2015). The effect of customer incivility Raza, B., St-Onge, S., and Ali, M. (2021). Consumer aggression and frontline
on service employees’ customer orientation through double-mediation of surface employees’ turnover intention: the role of job anxiety, organizational support, and
acting and emotional exhaustion. J. Serv. Theory Pract. 25, 394–413. doi: 10.1108/ obligation feeling. Int. J. Hosp. Manag. 97:103015. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.103015
jstp-02-2014-0034 Reynolds, K. L., and Harris, L. C. (2009). Dysfunctional customer behavior severity:
Hur, W.-M., Shin, Y., and Moon, T. W. (2022). Linking motivation, emotional an empirical examination. J. Retail. 85, 321–335. doi: 10.1016/j.jretai.2009.05.005
labor, and service performance from a self-determination perspective. J. Serv. Res.
Shapoval, V. (2019). Organizational injustice and emotional labor of hotel
25, 227–241. doi: 10.1177/1094670520975204
front-line employees. Int. J. Hosp. Manag. 78, 112–121. doi: 10.5465/ambpp.
Hur, W. M., Won Moon, T., and Jun, J. K. (2013). The role of perceived 2015.17494abstract
organizational support on emotional labor in the airline industry. Int. J. Contemp.
Shin, I., and Hur, W. M. (2020). How are service employees' perceptions of
Hosp. Manag. 25, 105–123. doi: 10.1108/09596111311290246
corporate social responsibility related to their performance? Prosocial motivation
Hwang, J., Yoo, Y., and Kim, I. (2021). Dysfunctional customer behavior, employee and emotional labor as underlying mechanisms. Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ.
service sabotage, and sustainability: can social support make a difference? Int. J. Manag. 27, 2867–2878. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S277850
Environ. Res. Public Health 18:3628. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18073628
Sliter, M., Jex, S., Wolford, K., and McInnerney, J. (2010). How rude! Emotional
Hwee Hoon, T., Maw Der, F., and Min Hui, K. (2004). The effects of customer labor as a mediator between customer incivility and employee outcomes. J. Occup.
personality traits on the display of positive emotions. Acad. Manag. J. 47, 287–296. Health Psychol. 15, 468–481. doi: 10.1037/a0020723
doi: 10.2307/20159579
Sliter, M., and Jones, M. (2016). A qualitative and quantitative examination of the
Hyun Jung, L. E. E. (2016). Effect of public-service employee age and performance antecedents of customer incivility. J. Occup. Health Psychol. 21, 208–219. doi:
of emotional labor on job pride. Soc. Behav. Personal. 44, 1339–1348. doi: 10.2224/ 10.1037/a0039897
sbp.2016.44.8.1339
Sousan, A., Farmanesh, P., and Zargar, P. (2022). The effect of surface acting on
Islam, T., and Ahmed, I. (2018). Mechanism between perceived organizational job stress and cognitive weariness among healthcare workers during the COVID-19
support and transfer of training: explanatory role of self-efficacy and job satisfaction. pandemic: exploring the role of sense of community. Front. Psychol. 13:826156. doi:
Manag. Res. Rev. 41, 296–313. doi: 10.1108/MRR-02-2017-0052 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.826156
Kang, M., and Gong, T. (2019). Dysfunctional customer behavior: Susskind, A. M., Kacmar, K. M., and Borchgrevink, C. P. (2003). Customer service
conceptualization and empirical validation. Serv. Bus. 13, 625–646. doi: providers' attitudes relating to customer service and customer satisfaction in the
10.1007/s11628-019-00398-1 customer-server exchange. J. Appl. Psychol. 88, 179–187. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.88.1.179

Frontiers in Psychology 14 frontiersin.org

Cheng et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

Szczygiel, D. D., and Bazińska, R. A. (2021). Emotional intelligence mitigates the Yoo, J. (2016). Perceived customer participation and work engagement: the path
effects of customer incivility on surface acting and exhaustion in service occupations: a through emotional labor. Int. J. Bank Mark. 34, 1009–1024. doi: 10.1108/
moderated mediation model. Front. Psychol. 11:506085. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.506085 ijbm-09-2015-0139
Thompson, P. S., Bergeron, D. M., and Bolino, M. C. (2020). No obligation? How Yoo, J. J., and Arnold, T. J. (2014). Customer orientation, engagement, and
gender influences the relationship between perceived organizational support and developing positive emotional labor. Serv. Ind. J. 34, 1272–1288. doi: 10.1080/
organizational citizenship behavior. J. Appl. Psychol. 105, 1338–1350. doi: 10.1037/ 02642069.2014.942653
apl0000481
Yoo, J., and Arnold, T. J. (2016). Frontline employee customer-oriented attitude
Wang, M., Liao, H., Zhan, Y., and Shi, J. (2011). Daily customer mistreatment and in the presence of job demands and resources: the influence upon deep and surface
employee sabotage against customers: examining emotion and resource acting. J. Serv. Res. 19, 102–117. doi: 10.1177/1094670515589956
perspectives. Acad. Manag. J. 54, 312–334. doi: 10.5465/amj.2011.60263093
Zablah, A. R., Franke, G. R., Brown, T. J., and Bartholomew, D. E. (2012). How
Wen, J., Huang, S., and Hou, P. (2019). Emotional intelligence, emotional labor, and when does customer orientation influence frontline employee job outcomes? A
perceived organizational support, and job satisfaction: a moderated mediation meta-analytic evaluation. J. Market. 76, 21–40. doi: 10.1509/jm.10.0231
model. Int. J. Hosp. Manag. 81, 120–130. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2019.01.009
Zhan, X., Luo, W., Ding, H., Zhu, Y., and Guo, Y. (2021). Are employees'
Wu, H., Wang, X., and Chen, P. (2019). Coping with customer mistreatment: emotional labor strategies triggering or reducing customer incivility: a sociometer
joining job routinization and proactive personality. J. Manag. Psychol. 34, 519–532. theory perspective. J. Serv. Theory Pract. 31, 296–317. doi: 10.1108/
doi: 10.1108/JMP-10-2018-0473 JSTP-01-2020-0009

Frontiers in Psychology 15 frontiersin.org