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Connection Or Competence: Emotional Labor Versus Service Quality As Antecedents To Customer Loyalty, Andrew Moreo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Service delivery has become increasingly important in service heavy industries and particularly within restaurants. Within this segment, the employee’s ability to display the appropriate emotions is of great concern. The axiom “service with a smile”, has been a mainstay for many years. However, a frown has the opposite effect. The question has been raised, how do frontline employees manage their emotions so as to provide the service with the appropriate emotion and the feeling of a genuine connection? This form of labor has been coined, emotional labor, and has a research stream dedicated to its understanding.

This dissertation utilized a …