Emotional Labor Strategies, Emotional Exhaustion, and Turnover Intention: An Empirical Study of Chinese Hotel Employees

Abstract

In this research the authors investigate the relationship among emotional labor strategies, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intention, specifically in the hospitality industry. The sample comes from hotel employees in China. The conclusions obtained by the authors are: (1) Surface acting positively influences emotional exhaustion; deep acting negatively influences emotional exhaustion; automatic emotional regulation, however, has little significance on emotional exhaustion. (2) Emotional exhaustion positively influences turnover intention. (3) Emotional labor strategies influence turnover intention through the role of emotional exhaustion. Implications and suggestions for human resource management practice are discussed in the study.