Impact of Emotional Labor on Employee Performance: Mediating Effect of Employee Well-Being

Abstract

Although, the prior research extensively examined the antecedents of employee performance, a little is known about the effect of emotional labor on employee performance, particularly in the Sri Lankan context. Hence, bridging the gap in the context, the current study examined the impact of emotional labor on employee performance. Based on extant literature, the researcher developed a conceptual model which explains the effect of emotional labor on employee performance through employee well-being. Data were collected from 117 front line employees from 4 leading commercial banks in Sri Lanka to test the model. Data were analyzed employing correlation, regression and descriptive statistics with the support of the SPSS. The results show a significant impact of emotional labor on employee performance, where employee performance increases by 22.6%. Further, mediating analysis results show that employee well-being partially mediates the effect between emotional labor and employee performance. Overall, this study highlights the importance of emotional labor to improve employee performance, in particular service sector organizations. The study’s data are cross-sectional. Thus, future studies are encouraged to use a longitudinal research design with different samples. It is recommended that banks and other service organizations take necessary action to develop individual employees’ emotional regulation appropriately.