Impact of emotional labour techniques on organizational commitment, mediated by spiritual intelligence : a study of Malaysian teachers

Abstract

This thesis investigates the impact of emotional labour techniques on organizational commitment mediated by spiritual intelligence. Emotional labour techniques are critical for service employees. Previous studies on emotional labour have focused other serviced-based industries but very little has been done regarding studying its impact on teachers in Malaysia. Yet, teachers have a very demanding job. They are constantly in interaction with stakeholders (children or parents) and they must continuously display appropriate emotions. Given the assumptions of affective events theory (AET), maintaining the emotional boundaries required by the teaching profession may possibly make teachers vulnerable to unpleasant psychological and physiological experiences. Thus, the commitment level required from them to drive organizational agenda can likely diminish. Though, emotional labour techniques seem inevitable in the workplace, especially for teachers. However, based on assumptions of multiple intelligence (MI) theory, prior research suggests that developing spiritual intelligence may mitigate exigencies associated with workplace activities. In this regard, the current study attempted to establish a theoretical relationship between emotional labour techniques, organizational commitment, and spiritual intelligence. This relationship has been scantly researched. So, using a list-based simple random sampling technique, this study adapted the Emotional Labour Scale (ELS), the Three-Components model (TCM) scale, and the Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI-24) as survey instruments. By profiling teachers in the Klang Valley areas of Malaysia, the conceptual framework for the proposed theoretical relationship was assessed through standard Goodness-of-Fit (GOF) indices. Both surface acting and deep acting techniques are hypothesized separately in order to investigate existing equivocal outcomes in the emotional labour literature. In all, seven hypotheses were developed, tested, and validated through a-two stage Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) process. Six out of seven hypotheses were accepted as expected. Hence, the conceptual framework statistically and significantly supported the proposed theoretical relationship. The outcomes show that not only does surface acting technique impact teachers’ organizational commitment negatively, but deep acting technique can also cause same problem, albeit non-significant. The study found that teachers with heightened spiritual intelligence are less likely to experience emotional setbacks from the practice of surface acting and deep acting techniques. This shows that spiritual intelligence can mediate the relationship between teachers’ emotional labour techniques and organizational commitment. These results fill some of the theoretical and contextual gaps in the literature. Likewise, it provides new insights to the ongoing debate about surface acting and deep acting techniques of emotional labour. In essence, this study has several implications for the advancement of current theories, relevant policy making, and professional practices. The study is limited in a number of ways. It is cross-sectional, purely quantitative, and has its social-demographic factors not examined. Hence, it highlighted potential areas for future research.