1. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0960-4529.htm
MSQ
18,4 Antecedents and effects
of emotional satisfaction
on employee-perceived
370
service quality
˚
Terje Slatten
Lillehammer University College, Lillehammer, Norway
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this paper has been to study the relationships among: four role stressors (“role
ambiguity”, “role overload”, “role conflict”, and “work-family conflict”); emotional satisfaction among
employees; and employee-perceived service quality.
Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model of the aforementioned relationships has
been presented. Hypotheses regarding these relationships were proposed, and data were then collected
by a cross-sectional field study of employees in six post offices in Norway. These data have been
analysed to test the hypotheses.
Findings – The study has found that “emotional satisfaction” is positively related to
“employee-perceived service quality”. Three role stressors (“role overload”, “role conflict”, and
“work-family conflict”) were negatively related to emotional satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications – The findings indicate that role stressors have a direct effect
on the emotional satisfaction of employees and an indirect effect on employee-perceived service quality.
Practical implications – The study has demonstrated the importance of role stressors in
determining emotional satisfaction among employees, and thus indirectly influencing service quality.
In particular, managers should be aware of the effect of work-family conflict on the emotional
satisfaction of employees (and hence on the service quality they provide to customers).
Originality/value – The paper has developed and tested an original conceptual model of a relatively
unexplored area of services management.
Keywords Employee attitudes, Customer services quality, Employee behaviour, Role ambiguity,
Role conflict, Norway
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
It is generally accepted in many industries that customer satisfaction is dependent on
customers’ perceptions of the performance quality of service employees (Hartline et al.,
2000). In this regard, Heskett has proposed a sequential causal model whereby:
.
internal-service quality drives;
.
employee satisfaction, which enables the delivery of;
.
high-value service, resulting in;
Managing Service Quality
Vol. 18 No. 4, 2008
.
customer satisfaction, leading to;
pp. 370-386
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
.
customer loyalty, which, in turn, produces; and
0960-4529
DOI 10.1108/09604520810885617 .
profit and growth.

2. It is apparent from this sequence that Heskett (1990) has posited customer satisfaction Effects
as being rooted in employee satisfaction. According to the logic of the model, a of emotional
company’s business prospects are ultimately dependent on whether the company
organizes its internal activities in such a way that they enhance employee satisfaction satisfaction
and deliver high-value service.
The literature on service-quality has demonstrated this link between employee
satisfaction and customer satisfaction (Bitner, 1992; Hartline et al., 2000; Loveman, 371
1998; Schneider and Bowen, 1993). In a large study of 1,277 employees and 4,269
customers, Schlesinger and Zornitsky (1991) have found that employee satisfaction
was positively related to customer satisfaction, and Schneider and Bowen (1993) have
concluded that employee satisfaction was a statistically significant predictor of
service quality. These empirical studies have confirmed the pithy aphorism reportedly
made by the founder of the Marriott hotel chain: “You can’t make happy guests with
unhappy employees” (quoted in Hostage, 1975).
These studies, however, are exceptions from the dominant focus of the service
literature that has been on the drivers of customer satisfaction and customer-perceived
quality (Edvardsson and Gustavsson, 2003). Service employees have been
acknowledged as an essential resource in service provision, but there have been few
empirical studies on the role of employee satisfaction in the actual production of service
quality. In particular, no study has explicitly focused on the antecedents of the emotional
dimension of employee satisfaction and its effects on service quality.
There have been calls in the literature for more research in this area. Wong (2004) has,
for example, called for more investigation of the role of emotions in service encounters,
and Bagozzi (1999) has insisted that there was a need for further research on how
emotions influence employee behavior. Cronin (2003) has recommended more empirical
studies on the emotional dimension of service quality, and Singh (2000) has argued that,
there is a need for more systematic studies on the antecedents and consequences of
interactions with customers (Bagozzi, 1999; Yu and Dean, 2001).
The aim of this paper is, therefore, to undertake an empirical examination of some of
the antecedents and effects of emotional satisfaction from an employee perspective.
Specifically, the study investigates the relationships between:
.
role stressors;
.
employee emotional satisfaction; and
.
employees’ perceptions of service quality.
This study took place in a specific context in order to test whether there is a link
between these constructs. Certainly, the use of a specific context has some limitations,
but it is suitable for the contributions this study has to offer: the carrying out of an
initial test and the investigation of a neglected area in service research.
With these goals in mind, this paper first reviews the relevant literature and
develops a conceptual model of the relationships that exist between the construct of
“emotional satisfaction” and its antecedents and effects. Next, there is a discussion and
proposal of relevant hypotheses. The paper then describes the methodology and
follows with the findings of an empirical study used to test the model and its
hypotheses. The paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and practical
implications for both researchers and managers.

3. MSQ 2. Literature review and conceptual framework
18,4 2.1 Emotional satisfaction
For some time, the so-called “expectancy disconfirmation theory” has been the
dominant model for assessing customer satisfaction (Brookes, 1995; Liljander and
Strandvik, 1997). According to this model, satisfaction is determined by the cognitive
confirmation (or disconfirmation) of customer expectations of service as compared
372 with perceptions of the actual service performance received (Danaher and Haddrell,
1996). According to Yu and Dean (2001), however, a focus on the cognitive component
of satisfaction and a relative neglect of the emotional component can lead to an
inadequate understanding of the satisfaction concept. In this regard, Cronin et al. (2000)
have posited emotion as a core attribute in satisfaction and suggested that models of
satisfaction should include a separate emotional component. Wirtz and Bateson (1999)
have similarly contended that a separation of the cognitive and emotional components
is both necessary and valuable for modeling behavior in service settings.
The literature offers various definitions of emotions, and there is neither a generally
accepted definition of the term (Cohen and Areni, 1991; Peterson and Wayne, 1986;
Richins Marsha, 1997; Wong, 2004) nor a consensus of how to measure them
(Edwardson, 1998). Izard (1977, p. 10) has, for example, defined an “emotion” as: “. . . [a]
feeling that motivates, organizes, and guides perception, thought, and action”. In
contrast, Bagozzi et al. (1999, p. 184) have defined emotions as “. . . mental states that
arise from cognitive appraisals of events or one’s thoughts”. The present study adopts
this latter definition. In the context of this study, positive or negative emotions arise
either from the cognitive appraisals of service events (for example, a frontline service
employee’s experience of a computer breakdown) or from thoughts about those events
(for example, the employee’s thoughts that he or she might not have the appropriate
skills for the job).
Some empirical studies have concluded that, the emotional component of
satisfaction is a better predictor than the cognitive component for certain important
constructs of service-quality management. For example, Yu and Dean (2001) have
found that the emotional component of satisfaction had stronger correlations (than
the cognitive component) with loyalty, word-of-mouth, switching behavior, and the
willingness to pay more. The role of emotion has thus been gaining more attention as a
central element in service-quality management (Wong, 2004; Liljander and Strandvik,
1997; Babin and Griffin, 1998).
2.2 Employee emotional satisfaction and employee-perceived service quality
Research has suggested that, the emotional feelings of employees do influence the way
they interact with customers (Bitner, 1992; van Maanen and Kunda, 1989; Rafaeli and
Sutton, 1990). Moreover, according to Schlesinger and Heskett (1991), there is a link
between employee satisfaction and high quality as perceived by the customer. These
˝
findings are in accordance with Gronroos’ (1984) definition of service quality as a
perceived judgment. In this regard, the present study has concentrated on employees’
personal perceptions of the service quality they provide. Accordingly, this study defined
employee-perceived quality as an employee’s personal evaluations of the service quality
that he or she delivers to customers. This study proposed, moreover, that a given
employee’s degree of emotional satisfaction influences this employee-perceived service
quality.

4. For these reasons, the first hypothesis was as follows: Effects
H1. The degree of emotional satisfaction among employees is positively related to of emotional
employee-perceived service quality. satisfaction
2.3 Antecedents of employee-emotional satisfaction
According to Katz and Kahn (1978), roles are sets of behaviours that are expected of a
person in a certain position. Katz and Kahn (1978, p. 188) have observed that: “Key to 373
effective role behavior is the process of learning the expectations of others, accepting them,
and fulfilling them.” If a person in a particular role is not able to fulfil the expectations
associated with the position, the person will experience stress (Weatherly and Tansik,
1992). In the literature on role theory (Kahn et al., 1964), these role demands and
performance expectations are termed “role stressors”.
Four major role stressors were posited for the purposes of this study:
(1) role conflict;
(2) role ambiguity;
(3) role overload; and
(4) work-family conflict.
These four role stressors are discussed in greater detail below.
2.3.1 Role conflict. Kahn et al. (1964, p. 56) has defined “role conflict” as “. . . the
simultaneous occurrence of two or more sets of pressure [such] that compliance with
one would make more difficult compliance with the other”.
There are several potential sources of such role conflict (Kahn et al., 1964), but all
share one characteristic in common. In all cases, role conflict in service delivery is
caused by an organization or a customer exerting pressure to change the behaviour of a
frontline service employee. The stronger the pressures, the greater the conflict created
for the service employee.
2.3.2 Role ambiguity. House and Rizzo (1972) has defined role ambiguity as a
“. . . lack of clarity and predictability of the outcomes of one’s behavior”. In a similar
vein, Sell et al. (1981, p. 53) has defined role ambiguity as:
[. . .] the degree to which information is lacking regarding: (1) the scope and limits of one’s
responsibilities; (2) expectations associated with a role and the methods and behaviours for
fulfilling one’s job responsibilities; (3) which expectations take priority or stated otherwise, which
elements of the role are most important; and (4) the standards by which one’s performance is
appraised.
According to Singh and Rhoads (1991), frontline service employees can experience
ambiguity with respect to:
.
superiors;
.
the company;
.
ethical issues;
.
customers;
.
co-workers;
.
family; and
.
other managers.

5. MSQ According to Singh et al. (1996), there are four dimensions to role ambiguity:
18,4 (1) Process ambiguity. How a person should get things done and how to achieve the
organisation’s objectives.
(2) Priority ambiguity. When things should be done.
(3) Expectation ambiguity. What is expected of an employee or what that employee
374 should be doing, or both.
(4) Behavior ambiguity. How an employee is expected to act in various situations.
The greater the vagueness and unpredictability with regard to these matters, the
greater the ambiguity felt by frontline service employees.
2.3.3 Role overload. According to Jones et al. (1995), role overload occurs if:
.
an employer demands more of an employee than this person can reasonably
accomplish in a given time; and
.
the employee perceives the demands of work as excessive.
There are two dimensions to role overload:
(1) Quantitative overload. Referring to excessive work whereby the employee
is capable of meeting the role demand, but there are too many (perhaps
conflicting) role demands.
(2) Qualitative overload. Referring to an employee’s inadequate skills and abilities,
and even if more time and resources were made available, these would not help
because more training and education would be required before the employee
could meet role demands.
2.3.4 Work-family conflict. Work-family conflict arises when responsibilities in the
work domain and responsibilities in the family domain become, to some degree,
incompatible (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Responsibilities in each of these areas
are important to any given individual; however, taken together, they often place
unreasonable demands on that person.
The changing nature of the workforce and society in general has led to both a
greater number of single-parent households and an increase of households in which
both partners wish to pursue a career. These changes have increased the potential for
conflict to occur between work responsibilities and family responsibilities in all
working environments.
Work experiences and family experiences have reciprocal effects. Barling and
MacEven (1992) have termed this reciprocity a “spillover effect” from one realm to the
other. However, the work-related consequences of family/work conflict have not been
clearly determined (Boles and Babin, 1996). Similarly, no empirical study has assessed
the effects of work-family conflict on the emotional satisfaction of employees.
2.3.5 Summary of role stressors and proposal of hypotheses. Research has indicated
that the first three role stressors discussed above (“role conflict”, “role ambiguity”, and
“role overload”) are negatively related to job satisfaction (Behrman and Perreault, 1984;
Singh et al., 1996). On the basis of a large empirical study, Brown and Peterson (1993)
have reported that “role conflict” and “role ambiguity” are antecedents to job
satisfaction. Other studies have also supported “role conflict” and “role ambiguity” as
antecedents to job satisfaction (Good et al., 1988; Lysonski, 1985; Teas, 1983).

6. The results of these studies on the whole document a negative effect of “role conflict” Effects
and “role ambiguity” on employees’ job satisfaction (Keaveney and Nelson, 1993).
Although no study has explicitly assessed the effect of “role overload” on emotional
of emotional
satisfaction, it seems reasonable to suppose that this role stressor also has an adverse satisfaction
effect on the emotional satisfaction of employees.
This study has thus proposed the following three hypotheses:
H2. Role conflict is negatively related to the degree of emotional satisfaction 375
among employees.
H3. Role ambiguity is negatively related to the degree of emotional satisfaction
among employees.
H4. Role overload is negatively related to the degree of emotional satisfaction
among employees.
With regard to the fourth role stressor (work-family conflict), Boles and Babin (1996)
have found a significant negative relationship between work-family conflict and
employee satisfaction. On the basis of their study, and on the basis of intuitive
reasoning, this study has also deemed it appropriate to assume that work-family
conflict has a negative effect on the emotional satisfaction of employees. The following
hypothesis was therefore proposed:
H5. Work-family conflict is negatively related to the degree of emotional
satisfaction among employees.
2.4 Research model
Based on the discussion above, Figure 1 shows the research model for this study. As
can be seen in the diagram, the model proposes that emotional satisfaction has four
antecedents (i.e. the role stressors discussed above), and that the construct of emotional
satisfaction has consequently an effect on employee-perceived service quality.
3. Empirical study
3.1 Background to the study
Frontline employees in various branches of the Norwegian post office were the focus
for this empirical study. Frontline employees of Norwegian post offices are expected to
perform a number of tasks – including the provision of accurate information about the
dispatch and arrival of postal items, advice on savings and loans, and information on
currency conversions. In recent years, the Norwegian post office has undertaken
significant programmes in reorganisation and cost-reduction, which have resulted in a
more effective and profitable public-sector company. These changes have, however,
caused difficulties for employees, who have been forced to take on a greater number
and variety of service tasks per worker.
3.2 Methodology
This study employed a cross-sectional survey design. A total of 210 employees from
various branches of the Norwegian post office participated in the study. Two of the six
post offices that participated in the study were located in densely-populated areas,
whereas four were located in rural districts. The job tasks at the different post offices
were standardised.

7. MSQ
18,4
376
Figure 1.
Antecedents and effects of
emotional satisfaction on
employee-perceived
service quality
The survey was self-administered by interested participants in their own time. All
participants were informed that the responses would be anonymous.
In all, 149 completed questionnaires were returned, representing an overall response
rate of 70.9 per cent. Of the 149 participants, 94 (62.7 per cent) were female.
3.3 Measures
3.3.1 Emotional satisfaction. This study used the measure suggested by Reynolds and
Beatty (1999) to assess “emotional satisfaction”. This measure has previously been
used to measure emotional satisfaction among customers (Wong, 2004); however, it is
reasonable to assume that the measure is similarly appropriate for the assessment of
emotional satisfaction among employees.
The questionnaire asked the employees to indicate their feelings with respect to
their job and workplace on seven-point Likert-type scales. Depending on the emotions
being assessed, the scales referred to various ranges of feelings, such as
“enjoyable-frustrating”, “disgusted-contented”, “unhappy-happy”, and
“pleased-displeased”. The composite reliability coefficient for the measure of
“emotional satisfaction” was 0.8.
3.3.2 Employee-perceived service quality. This study utilized a four-item scale to
measure “employee-perceived service quality” (Dabholkar et al., 2000). Employees were
asked to indicate their perception of the service they provide on a seven-point
Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 – strongly disagree to 7 – strongly agree. The items
on which they were asked to respond were:
(1) Generally, my overall service is excellent.
(2) Generally, I give a service of very high quality.
(3) Generally, I have high standards for my customer service.
(4) Generally, I deliver superior service in every way.

8. Cronbach’s a coefficient for the measure of “employee-perceived service quality” Effects
was 0.78. of emotional
3.3.3 Role conflict. The measure suggested by Rizzo et al. (1970) was used to assess
“role conflict”. The questionnaire asked employees to indicate their perceived role satisfaction
conflict at work on a seven-point Likert-type scale. Items assessed in this way included:
.
I receive assignments without adequate resources to complete them.
377
.
I receive incompatible requests from two or more people.
.
I have to disobey a rule or policy to carry out some assignments.
Cronbach’s a coefficient of reliability for this measure was 0.87.
3.3.4 Role ambiguity. This study assessed “role ambiguity” by using a three-item
scale (Rizzo et al., 1970). On a seven-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 – strongly
disagree to 7 – strongly agree, employees were asked to indicate their perceived role
ambiguity with respect to the following items:
(1) I have clear, planned goals and objects for my job.
(2) I know what my responsibilities are.
(3) I know exactly what is expected of me.
Cronbach’s a for this measure was 0.62.
3.3.5 Role overload. Two measures for “role overload” were developed specifically
for the present study:
(1) Quantitative dimension of role overload. “Even if I work hard, I often don’t
manage to do all the work I am expected to do.”
(2) Qualitative dimension of role overload. “I often have to ask one of my colleagues
for help because I don’t know exactly how to perform the work task.”
Cronbach’s a for these two measures was 0.89.
3.3.6 Work-family conflict. For the construct of “work-family conflict”, the
questionnaire asked employees to indicate on a seven-point Likert-type scale, ranging
from 1 – strongly disagree to 7 – strongly agree, to what degree work was in conflict
with family and personal relationships outside work. The wording of the item was as
follows:
.
Generally, I find it easy to combine my private life (time for family, friends, etc.)
with my work.
3.4 Results and analysis
3.4.1 Preliminary statistical analyses. Table I shows the descriptive statistics, means,
standard deviations, and correlations for all constructs. Before performing regression
analyses to test the proposed hypotheses, this study checked all items and scales for
normality. There were tests for convergent and divergent validity by maximum
likelihood extraction and direct oblimin rotation for all measures (except for “role
overload” and “work-family conflict”). There were, furthermore, tests for the convergent
properties of the formative construct of “role overload” by principal component
extraction and varimax rotation. The results showed satisfactory convergent properties

9. MSQ for all constructs used in the study. Tests for discriminant validity showed that all items
18,4 on all constructs had satisfactory validity.
3.4.2 Regression analyses. In the first regression analysis, the dependent variable
“employee-perceived service quality” was regressed against the independent variable
“emotional satisfaction”. In the second regression, “emotional satisfaction” was
the dependent variable and “role conflict”, “role ambiguity”, “role overload”, and
378 “work-family conflict” were the independent variables. The results are shown in Table II.
As can be seen in the table, the construct of “emotional satisfaction” had a positive effect
on “employee-perceived service quality”. The constructs of “role conflict”, “role overload”,
and “work-family conflict” were all negatively related to “emotional satisfaction”. However,
“role ambiguity” had no significant effect on “emotional satisfaction”. This study has,
therefore, found support for all the hypothesised relationships, apart from H3 (which
postulated a relationship between “role ambiguity” and “emotional satisfaction”).
4. Discussion
4.1 Antecedents to emotional satisfaction
Three of the four independent variables (“role conflict”, “role overload”, and
“work-family conflict”) had a direct effect on “emotional satisfaction”, which then
Construct Min Max Mean SD a SQ ES RC RA RO WFC
Perceived service
quality 1 7 5.14 1.5 0.78 1.00
Emotional
satisfaction 1 7 4.78 1.3 0.80 0.318 * 1.00
Role conflict 1 7 3.51 0.5 0.87 20.131 2 0.461 * 1.00
Role Ambiguity 1 7 5.71 0.7 0.62 0.145 2 0.251 * 0.151 1.00
Table I. Role overload 1 7 2.90 1.2 0.89 20.321 * 2 0.638 * 0.488 0.409 * 1.00
Descriptive statistics, Work-family 1 7 3.55 1.5 a
20.117 2 0.417 * 0.076 0.259 * 0.374 * 1.00
means, standard conflict
deviations and
correlations Notes: *Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed); aonly one item for this construct
Standardized b coefficients Sig.
Direct antecedent to service quality
H1. Emotional satisfaction 0.318 0.000
Adjusted R 2 0.101
Indirect antecedent to service quality
H2. Role conflict 2 0.236 0.003
H3. Role ambiguity 2 0.045 0.560
Table II. H4. Role overload 2 0.431 0.000
Results of testing H5. Work-family conflict 2 0.210 0.007
proposed research model Adjusted R 2 0.424

10. affected “employee-perceived service quality”. It would thus seem that, the service Effects
delivered by employees is indirectly related to various aspects of employees’ work of emotional
situation (mediated through “emotional satisfaction”). The fourth independent variable
“role ambiguity” did not have a significant effect on “emotional satisfaction”. satisfaction
The findings with respect to “work-family conflict” have shown that this construct
had a significant negative effect on “emotional satisfaction” (b ¼ 2 0.210, p , 0.01).
These findings support those of Williams and Alliger (1994) found that, a conflict 379
between work responsibilities and family responsibilities can “spill over” into work.
This finding emphasises the importance of managers taking proper account of how
outside influences can affect employee-perceived service quality.
The present study has also shown that “role overload” had a significant indirect
effect on employee-perceived service quality (mediated through “emotional
satisfaction”). Of all the antecedents to emotional satisfaction considered in this
study, “role overload” had the greatest influence (b ¼ 2 0.431, p , 0.001).
As previously noted, “role overload” occurs when either an employer demands more
of an employee than this person can reasonably accomplish in a given time or when an
employee perceives the demands of work as excessive, or both (Jones et al., 1995). This
study tested for both of these forms of “role overload”. The results should serve as a
warning against a company policy of focusing only on cost reduction and efficiency; it
is apparent that these policies can induce “role overload”, thus reducing
employee-perceived service quality.
As hypothesised, “role conflict” had a negative effect on the emotional satisfaction
of employees (b ¼ 2 0.236, p , 0.01). This result is consistent with previous studies in
marketing and management in which role conflict has been shown to have a significant
negative effect on a variety of constructs, including employee satisfaction (Brown and
Petersen, 1993; Goolsby, 1992).
The construct of “role ambiguity” did not have a statistically significant effect on
emotional satisfaction. The direction of the relationship was negative (b ¼ 2 0.045) but
not significant ( p ¼ 0.560). A possible explanation for this result is that nearly 70 per cent
of those who participated in the study had been in their present positions for two years or
more, which implies that they had considerable experience in their roles. Role ambiguity
arises from a lack of clarity and predictability regarding the outcomes of behaviour
(House and Rizzo, 1972). With increasing experience, it is presumably easier to predict
the outcomes of behaviour, thereby reducing employees’ perceptions of role ambiguity.
Another plausible explanation for the non-significant effect might be the nature of the
job content studied here. In the Norwegian post office, most job descriptions are clearly
documented, which is likely to reduce the potential for employees to perceive role
ambiguity.
4.2 Effects of emotional satisfaction
The present study has demonstrated that employees who felt emotionally satisfied
reported higher levels of employee-perceived service quality than those who did not
(b ¼ 0.318, p , 0.001). This result is in accordance with the study of Staw et al. (1994) that
found that positive emotions have positive influences on task activity and persistence.
In many service industries, contact employees are the pre-eminent representatives of the
firm providing the service (Hartline et al., 2000), and it is therefore important that firms
create a positive environment that encourages frontline employees to keep customers

11. MSQ satisfied and loyal. The nurturing of positive emotions among employees plays a critical role
18,4 in ensuring that they provide the best possible service to customers. As Dunning and Story
(1991) have observed, positive people actually do experience more positive outcomes.
5. Research contributions
Previous empirical research on services has neglected the sources of employee-perceived
380 service quality. No study has explicitly focused on the antecedents of the emotional
dimension of employee satisfaction and its effects on service quality. This present study,
in addressing this gap of knowledge, has made the following contributions:
.
the design (and testing) of a model of the relationships that exist between the
construct of “employee emotional satisfaction” and its antecedents and effects;
.
the design (and use) of a measurement instrument for the proposed model;
.
an exploration of various “role stressors” as antecedents to the emotional
satisfaction of employees; and
.
an exploration of the effects of employee emotional satisfaction on service
quality – including the provision of empirical evidence that employee-perceived
service quality is affected by emotional satisfaction among employees.
6. Managerial implications
Customer-contact employees are a critical asset of service organisations due to the
interactive nature of service delivery (Chung and Schneider, 2002; Hartline et al., 2000).
This study has, therefore, important practical implications for managers and their
decisions and practices with regard to employees.
One general, but important, implication from this study is the importance of measuring
employees’ emotional satisfaction. The measurement of these mental states, which arise
from cognitive appraisals of events or one’s thoughts, can be a good predictor for
employee-perceived service quality. Managers should, moreover, emphasise emotions as an
important element in service-quality management (Wong, 2004). Consequently, managers
should insist that employee surveys include questions about emotional satisfaction.
Of all the role stress factors examined in this study, “role overload” had the greatest
adverse effect on emotional satisfaction. This finding should be interpreted as a warning
against an exclusively rational focus on cost reduction and efficiency, for it is apparent
that these measures can induce “role overload”. To be sure, a rational focus is vital for a
firm’s survival, the attainment of shareholders’ goals, the need to be competitive, etc.
However, on the other hand, mangers should bear in mind that such focus has an effect
on employees’ emotional satisfaction. This study can serve to remind managers that it is
sensible to keep a good balance between these two areas. One solution for keeping the
right balance is to assess the workload of all employees from time to time. Based on such
an assessment, managers may well have to invest more resources or to enhance the
knowledge and skills of employees, or both. A strategy of reducing “role overload” is
likely to be cost-effective in the long-term by keeping both employees and customers
satisfied and loyal to the firm. In short, all managerial activities should be framed with a
view to strengthening emotional satisfaction among employees.
The findings of this study also clearly demonstrate the importance of managers
taking account of “non-job factors” in their assessment of whether employees are
delivering high-quality service to customers. “Work-family conflict” had the second

12. greatest adverse effect on emotional satisfaction. In particular, the findings emphasise Effects
the importance of managers’ recognising the potentially adverse effects of work-family of emotional
conflict. The realistic scheduling of job tasks and increased autonomy for employees in
planning their work are two effective ways of reducing the conflict between work satisfaction
responsibilities and home responsibilities. In addition, managers should consider the
provision of access to childcare (either directly or indirectly).
381
7. Limitations and future research
Of course, when interpreting the results, the reader should take into consideration the
limitations of this study. Yet, these acknowledged limitations also point towards new ideas
for further research. The following limitations and suggestions for future research are noted:
.
First, the use of a specific context is a limitation of the study. Future research
could, therefore, replicate and enlarge upon the present findings by using
samples from various industries, for example, hospitality and retail industries.
.
Secondly, the correlations were relatively low in this study. These figures can be
explained by many reasons. However, there are two points that merit further
attention. Because this study developed some of the constructs for specific
purposes, it is not at all unreasonable to suppose that this study could have
overlooked certain important aspects of the constructs, thereby resulting in low
correlations. Future research could, then, develop other items in order to have a
more sensitive assessment of these constructs. Another reason why there were
relatively low correlations may be that there could be other factors that are either
antecedents or effects of emotional satisfaction. Future research could, thus, make
improvements in these two areas and possibly increase the level of correlation.
.
Thirdly, this study examined the general effect of emotional satisfaction on
employee-perceived service quality. Future research could seek to establish more
precisely those specific facets of emotional satisfaction that are the best
predictors of service quality.
.
Fourthly, this study did not focus on the differences between genders. Empirical
studies have found gender differences in job satisfaction (Lutz, 2007). Future
research could deepen our understanding of gender differences by exploring
whether or to what extent there are such differences in emotional satisfaction.
.
Fifthly, this study has focused on the antecedents and effects of emotional
satisfaction from the employees’ perspective. Future studies could focus on other
perspectives in identifying the sources of emotional satisfaction and service
quality. According to Kennedy-McDoll and Anderson (2002, p. 546), “No study
has attempted to develop a model of leadership style and emotions as mediators
of performance”. An exploration of the effect of leadership style on emotional
satisfaction and employee-perceived service quality would be a valuable and
important area for further research.
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Appendix. Questionnaire used for this study
Service quality
.
Generally, my overall service is excellent.
.
Generally, I give a service of very high quality.
.
Generally, I have a high standard of my customer service.
.
Generally, I deliver superior service in every way.
Emotional satisfaction
.
Displeased/pleased.
.
Unhappy/happy.
.
Disgusted/contented.
.
Frustrating/enjoyable.
Role overload
.
Often it happens that, even if I work hard, I don’t manage to do all the work I am expected
to do.
.
Often I have to ask some of my colleagues for help, because I don’t have the exact
knowledge of how to perform the task.
Role ambiguity
.
I have clear, planned goals and objectives for my job (R) *.
.
I know what my responsibilities are (R) *.
.
I know exactly what is expected of me (R) *.
Role conflict
.
I receive assignments without adequate resources to complete them.
.
I receive incompatible requests from two or more people.
.
I have to buck a rule or policy in order to carry out some assignments.

17. MSQ Work-family conflict
18,4 .
Generally speaking, I often find it difficult to combine my private life (ex time for the
family, friends, etc.) with my work.
*(R) indicates a reverse-coded item.
386
About the author
˚
Terje Slatten is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Lillehammer University College, Norway.
His research interests include service quality, complaint handling and loyalty. He is currently
doing research on the role of emotions in service organizations both from an employee and
˚
customer perspective. Terje Slatten can be contacted at: terje.slatten@hil.no
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