Journal of Tourism & Hospitality
Open Access
ISSN: 2167-0269
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2167-0269
+44 1300 500008
Research Article - (2017) Volume 6, Issue 6
Emotional labor is used as an instrument in order to accomplish elements such as employee performance, good image formation and customer relationship development in tourism, as in other service sectors. Behaviors that are defined as emotional labor, sometimes the structure of the organization, sometimes the demographic characteristics of the person, and the effects of the social structure play an important role in the emergence of different emotions in the workplace. For this reason, in our study it was aimed to determine the effect of personal demographic variables on the emotional labour of hotel employees in the tourism sector. In our research we have reached conclusion that because of their emotional labor in the emotional labor process.of the fewer experience of workers experienced workers should be given priority in face-to-face communication with tourists.
<Keywords: Tourism; Emotional labor; Hotel employees
Today, as in many sectors, tourism sector is considered as an important service sector in terms of providing income to the countries and strengthening the image and status of the countries Increasing importance of tourism as a service sector also brings competition on quality of service. Tourism enterprises that establish an intimate relationship with the customer, meet customer expectations and provide quality service to them, increase the competitive power. Because of the nature of the service sector it requires emotionally more effort. Quality of service is also related to how employees are successful in face-toface communication with customers. If face-to-face communication combines with sincere feelings it will lead to positive results both in terms of job satisfaction and customer satisfaction. In this sense, the emotions and human relationships of employees have become even more remarkable. For this reason, the works related to emotions of the employees have increased. One of the most interesting concepts about employees’ emotions is the concept of “emotional labor”. Emotional labor is expressed as the impression that the worker’s work process arouses in his inner world [1]. Positive evaluation of the employee’s work process by the employee, leads to positive attitudes in the workplace. Emotional labor is important because it covers the verbal and visual communications of gestures and mimics of workers. Emotional labor is seen as an element that enhances personal self-efficacy and increases the performance and productivity of employees. Sometimes, however, the employee does not have a constant positive feeling about his job due to his lack of fit with the work he does, his disagreement with the training he receives and his economic conditions. This leads to negative situations such as work-family conflict, burnout and stress in employees. In hotel enterprises, it is considered as an obligation to apply some measures to improve emotional labor positively and to think about employee productivity, because many employees are employed in today’s conditions, employees of different demographic structures are involved and service businesses use intensive labor factor [2,3].
Emotional labor
Emotions are feelings that people want to tell and manage. According to Martin, emotions emerge through social interactions and are influenced by social, interpersonal and cultural conditions [4]. The emotional phenomenon has been a concept that has been studied and presented by researchers since 1800’s. The role of the emotional phenomenon in business life has begun to be considered after the 1980s. The important concept of this subject for research is emotional empathy [5-8]. The concept of emotional labor in the field literature was first used in 1983 by the American sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild in the publication of the book “Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feelings”. Hochschild defines emotional labor as an attempt to regulate facial expressions and body movements (gestures and mimics) that can be observed by others in the society in which they are found. The author argued that emotional labor is part of the labor force, such as physical and mental labor [9]. Hochschild defines emotional labor as the facial and body manifestation of emotions that can be analyzed. In face-to-face and voice-to-voice communication it is important for worker that he or she can promote appropriate attitudes towards the customer by encouraging or suppressing the desired feelings [5]. Although the researcher was Hochschild, who first used the concept of ‘Emotional Labor’, different researchers [10-15] contributed to the subject from different aspects. While Hochschild describes emotional labor as the management of emotions to create face and body actions that can be clearly observed according to salary, Ashforth and Humphrey describe it effort to show appropriate emotions. On the other hand, Morris and Feldman [15] have expressed emotional labor as an effort, plan, and control necessary to show the emotions that organizations want as they interact with each other [4]. Organizations are turning to forms of communication involving emotional labor in order to maintain long-term relationships with their surroundings. Having positive emotional expressions, sustaining positive relationships and suppressing negative emotional expressions are very important in terms of customer satisfaction. Lupton suggests that the conclusions of the effects of expression of emotions must not be ignored, both on the person himself and on others. Successful management of emotions is to be able to really understand what are these feelings and how to express them appropriately. Building good relationships with customers depends on high-level emotional control during service, for organizations the emotional climate of service is very important in order to retain existing customers and gain new customers. An effort to reconcile feelings with the goals of institutions shows the feature of emotions that can be managed and turned into bargaining element. The wages paid to employees in the service sector are paid not only for the technical aspects of the employee but also for emotional labor exhibitions that have an exchange value. Emotional labor is seen as an important part of the work in terms of how the work can be done and presented, especially for employees who interact with customers [11]. The emotional labor literature focuses on customer service by establishing a positive relationship of working staff with customers. The basis of this job is making customer feeling good. In general, emotional labor is the display of emotions that an enterprise needs to demonstrate on the job to provide customer satisfaction [12]. Although emotions become a part of the work and the introduction of employees into a certain emotional form by the employees increases customer satisfaction, it can negatively affect employees due to emotional incompatibilities that may arise. A negative consequence of emotional labor is that the work-family conflict is a conflict with the role of the individual in relation to the role of the family in relation to the family, ie, to prevent the fulfillment of family obligations due to work-related obligations. Emotional mismatches and other negative emotions experienced byemotional laborers are thought to cause workfamily conflict [3]. For this reason, the emotional labor consequences suggested by Hochschild also initiated a controversial debate still continuing today among researchers. While some researchers Ashforth and Humphrey argue that emotional labor has both positive and negative consequences, some researchers Hochschild argue that it has only negative consequences [4]. In addition to job efficiency in general, emotional labor also has negative effects on employees [13] such as emotional exhaustion [16,17] and self-confidence.
According to the conclusion of the work done on nurses by Ghalandari et al. [7], the emotional labor of the enterprises could be controlled and the transactional activities could be increased. These results are different in every professional worker. According to Wang, managers should be careful about what kind of emotional labor strategy they will implement [4]. According a study conducted by Shani and his colleagues [18] on working staff in the front office department in restaurant, accommodation and airport enterprises [11] the working individuals who characterize their managers as unconcerned and unsupportive show superficial behaviors. In the study of Medler-Liraz [14], the concept of emotional labor was defined as the process of regulation for the purposes of the organization and the focus was on how to best serve the guest greeting. Moreover, emotional behaviors are grouped into superficial and deep behaviors. Employees who exhibit superficial behaviors hide their emotions that they really feel, behave like they do not feel, while employees who exhibit profound behaviors regulate their own attitudes according to their inner feelings and enjoy inner relations and relationships established for work. According to the conclusion of this study investigating the influence of negative and positive emotions on their emotional behavior in the service sector and their connection with getting a tip, the staff who were loaded with negative emotions and showed superficial or deep behavior had more tips than the personnel who showed superficial or deep behavior under the infulence of positive feelings. It has been shown as a reson for this, the employee who is under the influence of negative emotions is more cautious and detailed in his work, at the same time he is more cautious towards the customer [10]. In contrast, it is emphasized the importance of positive feelings by Hoffman’s [9] study and positive emotions have expanded the creativity of how the individual behaves but negative emotions can limit this [9]. According to the results of the research done by Tepeci [19] showed that that the job satisfaction of individuals who exhibit profound behavior is increasing whereas those job satisfaction who display superficial behaviors have decreased [12].
Apart from this, it has been pointed out that work stress, exhaustion and job satisfaction are the most important factors affecting the emotional states of employees [13]. When all these factors are taken into consideration, from the aspect of emotional labor, it is the way in which employees work out different emotional labor strategies. These strategies are in-depth behavior, superficial behavior and sincere behavior. Superficial behavior can be defined as the form of behavior in which individuals control emotional impressions and adapt them to expectations, if they do not change their true feelings. In other words, in superficial behavior, it is the workers who change their behaviors, not their real feelings, and they do it in order to protect their work by following their rules. In deep action, the person tries to harmonize his real feelings with his expected behavior. In other words, in this type of behavior, the individual tries to experience the emotion he or she has to show [18-20]. The different side of deep behavior from superficial behavior is that not only behavior but also emotions are harmonized to the behavior rules in this method. Sincere behavior is the type of behavior that occurs if the occupants already feel the emotions that they are already experiencing [16]. Emotional labor causes employees to improve their performance, improve their self-esteem and selfsufficiency positively, increase performance and raise financial returns, prevent possible problems with customers, and most importantly, create individuals who do job with love. According to Ashforth and Lee emotional labor increases work productivity and reduces control and interpersonal problems [4]. This situation is becoming more and more important especially in the hotel enterprises in the tourism sector, which considers continuous customer satisfaction. The following research hypotheses have been tested in the light of information obtained from the relevant field type scan:
H1: There is a meaningful difference in the emotional labor of the employees of the hotel according to the sexes.
H2: There is a statistically significant difference in the emotional labor of hotel workers according to their age.
H3: According to the marital status of the hotel workers there is a statistically significant difference in emotional labor.
H4: There is a statistically significant difference in emotional labor according to the level of education of hotel employees.
H5: There is a statistically significant difference in the emotional labor of the employees of the hotel according to their departments.
H6: There is a statistically significant difference in the emotional labor of hotel workers according to their income situation.
H7: There is a statistically significant difference in the emotional labor of hotel workers according to work experience.
H8: There is a statistically significant difference in the emotional labor of hotel employees according to weekly working hours.
H9: There is a statistically significant difference in the emotional labor of hotel employees according to their cadre status.
Within the scope of the study, it was aimed to determine the effect of the personal demographic variables of the hotel employees in the tourism sector on emotional labor.
Within this aim, a survey data collection toll was implemented from 151 individuals that works for Five Star Hotel in Antalya, considering the effect of organizational structure and intensive hotel business on their emotional labor.
The type of random sampling method selection Simplified sampling method was used and the application of the research between February and April has created sample limitation. First, the reliability and validity of the scale were tested. Later hypotheses developed for the purpose of research have been tested. For the analysis of the data, “SPSS” was used. The Emotional Labor Scale was developed by Brotheridge and Lee in 2003, in 2000 Dursun, Aytaç and Bayram adapted the scale to Turkish language and validity reliability study were done by them. The scale consists of 9 items and 3 dimensions. These are fake sentiments (items 1, 2 and 3), in-depth action (items 4,5,6), and hidden feelings (items 7,8,9). Each item was graded using a 5-point Likert as “never” and “very often”. Kolmogorov-Simirnov test was performed to determine whether the data were normally distributed in multivariate analyzes, there was no problem in the test values and significance values for each variable and the data have normal distribution. Parametric tests were preferred because the obtained data showed normal distribution. Factor analysis and Alfa (α) model (Cronbach Alpha Coefficient) were used for reliability analysis of the scale used.
Validity and reliability analysis of the scale
Cronbach Alpha coefficient and factor analysis were applied firstly in the reliability analysis. Depending on the alpha (α) coefficient, if the reliability of the scale is between 0.00 ≤ α<0.40, the sacel is not reliable, if the scale reliability is between 0.40 ≤ α<0.60, reliability is low, if the scale reliability 0.60 ≤ α<0.80,the sacel has very high reliability and if the scale reliability is between 0.80 ≤ α<1.00, the scale is highly reliable [10]. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the Emotional Labor Scale used in the research is 0.84. The Cronbach Alpha value suggests that the scale used for the study is highly reliable. In the factor analysis, the KMO value of the emotional labor scale is 0.787, and the Bartlet Sphericity test results are significant. After factor analysis and varimax rotation, the eigenvalue of the EL scale was determined as three dimensions that larger than one and this three dimensions explained 77.826% of the total variance. The fact that the Cronbach Alpha values for the factors are positive and above 60% indicates that the scale is quite reliable (Table 1).
| Variables | Expressions | Factor Loads | Factor Validity | Factor Variance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fake Feelings | 1. I pretend to feel the emotions that I really do not feel. | 0,878 | 0,56 | 27,028 |
| 2. I show the emotions that really dont feel but expected to show. | 0,915 | |||
| 3. I show the emotions that don´t feel. | 0,810 | |||
| In-depth Action | 4.I try to really feel the feelings that I have to show as part of my work. | 0,801 | 0,56 | 26,942 |
| 5. I really try to feel the emotions that I need to show. | 0,876 | |||
| 6. I make an effort to really feel the emotions that I have to show to others. | 0,878 | |||
| Hidden Emotions | 7. I hide my feelings. | 0,712 | 0,52 | 23,856 |
| 8. I hide my real feelings about a situation. | 0,871 | |||
| 9.I resist to express my real feelings. | 0,830 | |||
| KMO:0,787 P:0,000(Barlett’s Test) |
Total Variance: 77,826 | |||
Table 1: Emotional labor factor analysis.
Emotional Labor factor analysis results are shown in Table 1.
Findings related to demographics of participants: Findings related to demographic variables are presented in Table 2. 56.6% were male, 40.1% were female, 3.3% were under the age of 18, 37.5% were 18-26, 30.3% were 27-35, 17.1% 46% were married, 46.7% were single, 5.9% were divorced, 17.1% were primary school graduates, 33.6% were high school graduates, 12.5% were associate degree graduates, 32.9% were undergraduate graduates, 3,3% were graduate school graduates, 66.4% were permanent, 27% 15.8% were 30-40, 70.4% were 41-50, 7.9% were 51-60, 3.9% worked 61-70 hours, 13.2% less than 1 year, 30,9% for 1-5 years, 30,3% for 6-10 years, 11.8% for 11-15 years, 11,2% for 16 years and having a working year, 2% for 500 years and, 9.9% is 500-1000, 53.3% is 1001-1500 and 30.3% is 1501-2000 TL. 13.8% of employees participated in the survey work as hosekeeping, 34.2% F & B, 6.6% technical, 17.8% front office, 2.6% sales, 1.3% accounting, 4.6% for security, 0.7% for purchasing and 0.7% for education.
| Variables | f | % | Variables | f | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Under 18 years | 5 | 3,3 | Gender | Female | 61 | 40,1 |
| 18-26 | 57 | 37,5 | Male | 86 | 56,6 | ||
| 27-35 | 46 | 30,3 | Education | Primary | 26 | 17,1 | |
| 36-44 | 26 | 17,1 | High school | 51 | 33,6 | ||
| 45 years- over | 18 | 11,8 | Associate | 19 | 12,5 | ||
| Marital Status | Married | 71 | 46,7 | Bachelor | 50 | 32,9 | |
| Single | 71 | 46,7 | Master | 5 | 3,3 | ||
| Divorced | 9 | 5,9 | Staff Status | Continuous | 101 | 66,4 | |
| Income Status | 500 ve altı | 3 | 2,0 | Temporary | 41 | 27,0 | |
| 500-1000 | 15 | 9,9 | Departments | Housekeeping | 21 | 13,8 | |
| 1001-1500 | 81 | 53,3 | F & B | 52 | 34,2 | ||
| 1501-2000 | 46 | 30,3 | Technique | 10 | 6,6 | ||
| Weekly Working Time | 30-40 | 24 | 15,8 | Front office | 27 | 17,8 | |
| 41-50 | 107 | 70,4 | Sales | 4 | 2,6 | ||
| 51-60 | 12 | 7,9 | Accounting | 2 | 1,3 | ||
| 61-70 | 6 | 3,9 | Security | 7 | 4,6 | ||
| Job experience | Less than 1 year | 20 | 13,2 | Purchase | 1 | ,7 | |
| 1-5 | 47 | 30,9 | Education | 1 | ,7 | ||
| 6-10 | 46 | 30,3 | |||||
| 11-15 | 18 | 11,8 | |||||
| 16 and over | 17 | 11,2 | |||||
Table 2: Demographic features.
Research hypothesis findings: During quantitative analysis, the Kolmogorov-Simirnov test was performed to determine whether the data used were distributed normally, it was found that there was no problem in the test values and significance values for each variable and the data have normal distribution. As a result parametric tests (t-Test and One-Way ANOVA) were performed due to normal distribution. In the test of H1 and H9 hypotheses for the demographic variables of the study, t test was used and One-Way ANOVA was used to test hypotheses H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, H7, and H8. As the results of analyzes there is no significant diffenece in the levels of emotional labor according to gender (t=-1,207, p>0,05), cadre status (t=-1,757, p>0,05), education status (F (4; 145)=0.895, p>0,05), departments (F (8; 116)=0.980, p>0.05), weekly working time (F (3; 145)=1.034, p>0.05).
In this case; Hypotheses H1, H9, H4, H5 and H8 are not supported.
But according to age (F (4; 146)=2.387, p ≤ 0.05), marital status (F (2; 147)=8.828, p<0,05))=3.287, p<0,05), work experience (F (4; 143)=3.959, p<0,05) there is a differentation in the level of emotional labor.
According to Table 3, it is observed that mean for women participating in the survey is (x =2.837) and for men is (x =3.031).
| N |  |
Standard deviation | t | p | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H1 (unsupported) | Woman | 61 | 2,8377 | 1,00701 | -1,207 | 0,229 |
| Male | 85 | 3,0316 | ,92052 | |||
| H9 (unsupported) | Continuous | 100 | 2,8737 | ,96242 | -1,757 | ,081 |
| Temporary | 41 | 3,1755 | ,83070 |
Table 3: Emotional labor perception according to gender and staff status of employees.
According to the results of t test that done for significance between employees’ genders and emotional labor perceptions, the difference between the emotional labor of employees and their gender (t=-1.207, p>0.05) was not significant.
It is observed that mean for permanent employees (12 months) is (
=2.873) and for temporary employees (seasonal) is ( =3.175). The difference between emotional labor and staff status (t=-1.757, p>0.05) is not significant (Tables 4-6).
| Sum of squares | df | Square average | F | p | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H4 (unsupported) | Between Groups | 3,277 | 4 | .819 | ,895 | ,468 |
| Inside groups | 132,666 | 145 | .915 | |||
| Total | 135,943 | 149 | ||||
| H5 (unsupported) | Between Groups | 7,690 | 8 | .961 | ,980 | ,455 |
| Inside groups | 113,754 | 116 | .981 | |||
| Total | 121,444 | 124 | ||||
| H8 (Unsupported) | Between Groups | 2,837 | 3 | .946 | 1,034 | ,380 |
| Inside groups | 132,630 | 145 | .915 | |||
| Total | 135,466 | 148 |
Table 4: Differences in emotional labor perceptions by participants' educational situations, labor segmentation, weekly working time.
| Sum of squares | df | Square average | F | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Between Groups | 8,360 | 4 | 2,090 | 2,387 | ,054 |
| Inside groups | 127,835 | 146 | ,876 | ||
| Total | 136,195 | 150 |
Table 5: Emotional labor perception differences according to employees' ages.
| N | |
Std. Deviation | Std. Error | Minimum | Maximum | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| under 18 years old | 4 | 2,736 | 1.07284 | .53642 | 1,50 | 4,11 |
| 18-26 | 57 | 3,220 | .94053 | .12458 | 1,11 | 5,56 |
| 27-35 | 46 | 2,829 | .95178 | .14033 | 1,00 | 5,56 |
| 36-44 | 26 | 2,591 | .96237 | .18874 | 1,22 | 5,11 |
| 45 years and over | 18 | 2,916 | .80169 | .18896 | 1,00 | 4,00 |
| Total | 151 | 2,944 | .95287 | .07754 | 1,00 | 5,56 |
Table 6: Distribution of emotional labor score by age.
The mean of emotional labor according to age for under 18 is ( =2.736), for 18-26 is ( =3.220), for 27-35 is ( =2.282), for 36-44 is ( =2.591), for over 45 years of age is ( =2. 916).
According to Figure 1, employees who are under 18 years of age have a low level of substance level (1). (I pretend to feel the emotions that I really do not feel.), In the age group of 18-26 have a high substance level (6). (I make an effort to really feel the feelings that I have to show to others).
Figure 1: Distribution of emotional labor score by age.
According to Tables 7, 8 and Figure 2, according to the marital status, it is seen that mean of emotional labor for married is ( =2.654), for bachelors is ( =3.277), for divorced is ( =2.635). It seems that the emotional labor of the single is relatively higher.
| Sum of squares | df | Square average | F | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Between groups | 14,604 | 2 | 7,302 | 8,828 | ,000 |
| Inside groups | 121,587 | 147 | ,827 | ||
| Total | 136,192 | 149 |
Table 7: Emotional labor perception differences by participants' marital status.
| N | |
Std. Deviation | Std. Error | Minimum | Maximum | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Married | 71 | 2,654 | .93039 | .11042 | 1,00 | 5,56 |
| Single | 70 | 3,277 | .88797 | .10613 | 1,00 | 5,56 |
| Divorced | 9 | 2,635 | .90741 | .30247 | 1,50 | 4,11 |
| Total | 150 | 2,943 | .95605 | .07806 | 1,00 | 5,56 |
Table 8: Distribution of emotional labor scores according to their marital status.
Figure 2: Distribution of emotional labor score by marital status.
According to Figure 2, which shows the distributions of emotional labor scores according to the marital status of tourism workers, it is found that 1st substance level in married employees is low (I pretend to feel the emotions that I really do not feel), it is noteworthy that 9th substance levels are high for bachelors and those who are divorced (I resist to express my real feelings).
As can be seen in Tables 9, 10 and Figure 3,emotional labor according to income level,the mean for 500 and under is ( =2.333), for 500-1000 is ( =3.320), for 1001-1500 is ( =3.064), and for 1501- 2000 is ( =2.659), the emotional labor of those who have 500-1000 TL income is relatively higher.
| Sum of squares | df | Square average | F | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Between Groups | 8,150 | 3 | 2,717 | 3,287 | ,023 |
| Inside groups | 116,519 | 141 | .826 | ||
| Total | 124,669 | 144 |
Table 9: Emotional labor perception differences by participants' income situations.
| N | |
Std.Deviation | Std. Error | Minimum | Maximum | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 and below | 3 | 2,333 | 1.12765 | .65105 | 1,11 | 3,33 |
| 500-1000 | 15 | 3,320 | .77464 | .20001 | 2,11 | 5,00 |
| 1001-1500 | 81 | 3,064 | .91580 | .10176 | 1,00 | 5,56 |
| 1501-2000 | 46 | 2,659 | .92472 | .13634 | 1,00 | 4,33 |
| Total | 145 | 2,947 | .93046 | .07727 | 1,00 | 5,56 |
Table 10: Distribution of emotional labor score according to income status.
Figure 3: Distribution of emotional labor score according to income status.
According to Figure 3, 1th substance level in the employees with 500 or lower is low (I pretend to feel the emotions that I do not feel), and 9th substance level those who have 500-1000 TL income is high (I resist to express my real feelings).
According to Tables 11, 12 and Figure 4, according to work experience, emotional labor mean is for less than 1 year is ( =3.174), for 1-5 is ( =3.225), for 6-10 is ( =2.930), and for 11-15 is ( =2.681), respectively. The emotional labor of employees for 1-5 years of work experience is relatively higher, and those working 16 and on it are lower.
| Sum of squares | df | Square average | F | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Between Groups | 13,485 | 4 | 3,371 | 3,959 | ,004 |
| Inside groups | 121,778 | 143 | ,852 | ||
| Total | 135,263 | 147 |
Table 11: Emotional labor perception differences according to participants' work experience.
| N | |
Std. Deviation | Std. Error | Minimum | Maximum | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 1 year | 20 | 3,174 | .80479 | .17996 | 1,11 | 4,25 |
| 1-5 | 47 | 3,225 | .95006 | .13858 | 1,22 | 5,56 |
| 6-10 | 46 | 2,930 | 1.00309 | .14790 | 1,00 | 5,56 |
| 11-15 | 18 | 2,681 | .83508 | .19683 | 1,22 | 3,80 |
| 16 and over | 17 | 2,281 | .82226 | .19943 | 1,00 | 3,56 |
| Total | 148 | 2,952 | .95925 | .07885 | 1,00 | 5,56 |
Table 12: Distribution of emotional labor score by work experience.
Figure 4: Distribution of emotional labor score by work experience.
According to work experience,emotional labor, 6th substance level for workers that have less than 1 year experience (I try to feel the emotions that I have to show to others.) and 9th substance level (I resist to express my real feelings) are high.
Hotel employees, such as other service sector employees, have to be emotionally positive and express their emotions positively to the customer because they are the visible and lucrative aspects of the entreprise in terms of customer relationships.
This increases the importance of the emotional labor that employees show for their work. the positive emotions of emotional labor are reinforcing the success of the organization. However, since hotel operators are labor-intensive businesses with so many employees, the presence of people in different demographic structures and the different behaviors of these people can lead to negative effects on productivity.
For this reason, as a result of our work aiming to determine the different personal characteristics and behaviors of hotel employees in tourism sector, emotional labor in tourism workers is not different according to gender, cadre status, education status, department studied and weekly study period, but according to age of employees, marital status, income situations emotional labor is differ compeared to work experience.Consequences of emotional labor in our work expressions about the representation of false feelings are at a low level. In the study of Keleş and Tuna [11] for five-star hotel management in Antalya, the superficial behavioral dimension was the least participative dimension, while the average behavioral dimension of emotional labor was high.
In the study of Çelik and Topsakal [3], the superficial and deep role, namely emotional labor, was found to have a positive effect on the job satisfaction of the hotel employees, while negative effect on the employee emotional exhaustion.
According to the ages of tourism workers, emotional labor mean is the highest in the 18-26 age range. In the 18-26 age group The high level of 6th substance (I try to really feel the feelings that I have to show to others.) indicates the high level of in-depth emotional labor behavior.
In the research of Keleş and Tuna [11] trying to really live the feelings that should be exhibited to the customers become one of the highest attainable representatives on average.
At the research of Korkmaz, Sünnetçioğlu and Koyuncu [12], from 6 substances in in the dimension of deep behavior “I try to live every time (positive) feelings that I have to show to my customers”, “I really feel the feelings that I have to show in order to do my job well”, “Beginning to work I usually say myself ‘today will be a good day” has been the highest factor loadings.
According to the martial status of participants, the singles have the highest mean of emotional labor. It is noteworthy that single and divorced workers’ 9th substance level for hideden feelings (I resist to express my real feelings) is high and it is remarkable. Why single and divorced employees are trying to show behaviors to hide their feelings should also be examined.
Participants with the highest emotional labor mean according to their income status are those between 500 and 1500 TL. The participants who has 500-100 income level have high level of 9th substance (I resist to express my real feelings) it is an interesting finding and should be investigated.
Emotional labor scores of participants with 1-5 years working experience are higher than others. Workers less than 1 year 6. (I make an effort to really feel the emotions that I have to show to others) and 9. (I resist to express my real feelings) are high in substance levels, indicating the importance of work experience in emotion regulation. It can be said that employees will lead their emotions more clearly with work experience.
Findings obtained from experience, marital status, and income level are influenced by real and deep feelings towards emotional labor, making study different from other studies.
In order to reinforce the in-depth feelings about emotional labor in the light of findings obtained as a result of our work and to keep the productivity of the employees constant, it is suggested that the employees in the same departments should orient themselves to practices such as carrying out business enrichment and business trainings in order to prevent monotony for long time employees in the same departments, to develop performance evaluation system, to provide opportunities such as rewards and social supports and to implement orientation programs for all the staff to overcome the same deep feelings.
Apart from this, hotel managers and department managers can develop behavioral models that reinforce employees’ positive feelings of belonging and business.