IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i18p3309-d265443.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda”. Workers’ Proactivity in the Association between Emotional Demands and Mental Health

Author

Listed:
  • Greta Mazzetti

    (Department of Education Studies, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy)

  • Silvia Simbula

    (Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy)

  • Chiara Panari

    (Department of Economics, University of Parma, 43125 Parma, Italy)

  • Dina Guglielmi

    (Department of Education Studies, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy)

  • Alessio Paolucci

    (Department of Education Studies, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

The present study aimed to explore the mediating role of hostile customer relations in the association between emotional dissonance and workers’ mental health. Moreover, the moderating role of proactive personality as a buffer against hostile customer relations was assessed. Emotional demands become crucial within professions that involve a direct relationship with clients and, if poorly managed, can negatively affect workers’ health and performance. Accordingly, data were collected on a sample of n = 918 mass-retail employees working for one of the leading Italian supermarket companies. Most participants were women (62.7%) with a mean age = 40.38 (SD = 7.68). The results of a moderated mediation analysis revealed that emotional dissonance was related to more hostile customer relations that, in turn, were associated with higher rates of mental health symptoms. Proactive personality emerged as a protecting factor that prevented the onset of conflicts with clients, particularly among workers experiencing high levels of emotional dissonance. The identification of resources enabling management of emotional demands could suggest suitable adaptive strategies for customer-facing roles, thus preventing the occurrence of adverse mental health symptoms.

Suggested Citation

  • Greta Mazzetti & Silvia Simbula & Chiara Panari & Dina Guglielmi & Alessio Paolucci, 2019. "“Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda”. Workers’ Proactivity in the Association between Emotional Demands and Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-13, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:18:p:3309-:d:265443
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/18/3309/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/18/3309/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hongbiao Yin & Shenghua Huang & Wenlan Wang, 2016. "Work Environment Characteristics and Teacher Well-Being: The Mediation of Emotion Regulation Strategies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, September.
    2. Jean-Pierre Neveu & Stevan E. Hobfoll & Jonathon Halbesleben & M Westman, 2018. "Conservation of resources in the organizational context : the reality of resources and their consequences," Post-Print hal-02472360, HAL.
    3. Anne-Kathrin Konze & Wladislaw Rivkin & Klaus-Helmut Schmidt, 2017. "Is Job Control a Double-Edged Sword? A Cross-Lagged Panel Study on the Interplay of Quantitative Workload, Emotional Dissonance, and Job Control on Emotional Exhaustion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Inyong Shin & Chang-Wook Jeung, 2019. "Uncovering the Turnover Intention of Proactive Employees: The Mediating Role of Work Engagement and the Moderated Mediating Role of Job Autonomy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-16, March.
    5. Chuk Kyo Kim, 2019. "Role of Government," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Economic Development of Korea, chapter 2, pages 25-40, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Sunhee Kim & Jaesun Wang, 2018. "The Role of Job Demands–Resources (JDR) between Service Workers’ Emotional Labor and Burnout: New Directions for Labor Policy at Local Government," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-31, December.
    7. Wu, Chia-Huei & Parker, Sharon K., 2017. "The role of leader support in facilitating proactive work behaviour: a perspective from attachment theory," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 57311, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Yuh-Jin Chung & Woo-Chul Jung & Hyunjoo Kim & Seong-Sik Cho, 2017. "Association of Emotional Labor and Occupational Stressors with Depressive Symptoms among Women Sales Workers at a Clothing Shopping Mall in the Republic of Korea: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-9, November.
    9. Frese, Michael & Hass, Lydia & Friedrich, Christian, 2016. "Personal initiative training for small business owners," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 5(C), pages 27-36.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Isabell Kuczynski & Martin Mädler & Yacine Taibi & Jessica Lang, 2020. "The Assessment of Psychosocial Work Conditions and Their Relationship to Well-Being: A Multi-Study Report," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-23, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luu Trong Tuan, 2021. "Effects of environmentally-specific servant leadership on green performance via green climate and green crafting," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 925-953, September.
    2. Gintarė Kalinienė & Dalia Lukšienė & Rūta Ustinavičienė & Lina Škėmienė & Vidmantas Januškevičius, 2021. "The Burnout Syndrome among Women Working in the Retail Network in Associations with Psychosocial Work Environment Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-11, May.
    3. Won Ju Hwang & Hye Kyung Yang & Ji Hye Kim, 2020. "What Are the Experiences of Emotional Labor and Workplace Violence that Are More Harmful to Health in Korean Workforce?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-17, October.
    4. Wonhyuk Cho & Winda Dwi Melisa, 2021. "Citizen Coproduction and Social Media Communication: Delivering a Municipal Government’s Urban Services through Digital Participation," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, June.
    5. Hao Zhou & Xinyi Sheng & Yulin He & Xiaoye Qian, 2020. "Ethical Leadership as the Reliever of Frontline Service Employees’ Emotional Exhaustion: A Moderated Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-13, February.
    6. Jean-Sébastien Boudrias & Francesco Montani & Christian Vandenberghe, 2021. "How and When Does Psychological Wellbeing Contribute to Proactive Performance? The Role of Social Resources and Job Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-23, March.
    7. Wendian Shi & Feng Wang & Xiujun Li, 2021. "Depletion Effect of Work-Leisure Conflict: A Daily Diary Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 297-317, November.
    8. Xie, Junyi & Ifie, Kemefasu & Gruber, Thorsten, 2022. "The dual threat of COVID-19 to health and job security – Exploring the role of mindfulness in sustaining frontline employee-related outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 216-227.
    9. Talat Islam & Saima Ahmad & Ishfaq Ahmed, 2023. "Linking environment specific servant leadership with organizational environmental citizenship behavior: the roles of CSR and attachment anxiety," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 855-879, April.
    10. Mohd Fadhli Mohd Fauzi & Hanizah Mohd Yusoff & Rosnawati Muhamad Robat & Nur Adibah Mat Saruan & Khairil Idham Ismail & Ahmad Firdaus Mohd Haris, 2020. "Doctors’ Mental Health in the Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic: The Roles of Work Demands and Recovery Experiences," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-16, October.
    11. Martin Hoegl & Silja Hartmann, 2021. "Bouncing back, if not beyond: Challenges for research on resilience," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(4), pages 456-464, September.
    12. Wenjun Wu & Dengke Yu, 2023. "The role of individual perceptions in the completion of formalistic tasks," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    13. Yi Wang & Xianfang Xue & Han Guo, 2022. "The Sustainability of Market Orientation from a Dynamic Perspective: The Mediation of Dynamic Capability and the Moderation of Error Management Climate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, March.
    14. Francoise Contreras & Juan C. Espinosa & Gustavo A. Esguerra, 2020. "Could Personal Resources Influence Work Engagement and Burnout? A Study in a Group of Nursing Staff," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440199, January.
    15. Luo Lu & Ting-Ting Chang & Shu-Fang Kao & Cary L. Cooper, 2021. "Do Gender and Gender Role Orientation Make a Difference in the Link between Role Demands and Family Interference with Work for Taiwanese Workers?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-17, September.
    16. Mashal Ahmed Watoo & Man Cao & Zhao Shuming, 2023. "High-performance work systems and the work–family interface: a cross-level investigation," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(3), pages 935-954, July.
    17. Sergio Mérida-López & Natalio Extremera & Maria José Chambel, 2021. "Linking Self- and Other-Focused Emotion Regulation Abilities and Occupational Commitment among Pre-Service Teachers: Testing the Mediating Role of Study Engagement," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-14, May.
    18. Yan Chen & Feilian Zhang & Yan Wang & Junwei Zheng, 2020. "Work–Family Conflict, Emotional Responses, Workplace Deviance, and Well-Being among Construction Professionals: A Sequential Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-19, September.
    19. Escrig-Tena, Ana B. & Segarra-Ciprés, Mercedes & García-Juan, Beatriz & Beltrán-Martín, Inmaculada, 2018. "The impact of hard and soft quality management and proactive behaviour in determining innovation performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 1-14.
    20. Ondřej Dvouletý, 2017. "What is the Relationship between Entrepreneurship and Unemployment in Visegrad Countries?," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2017(2), pages 42-53.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:18:p:3309-:d:265443. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.