ABSTRACT
The present chapter discusses the role of emotional labor in the relationship between intensification of stress-inducing customer behaviors, job burnout, and well-being of customer service workers. The dependencies have been analyzed in two occupational groups: social insurance workers and workers of private insurance companies. The applied research methods have evaluated psychosocial working conditions, stress-inducing customer behaviors, job burnout, and emotional labor type.
In the private insurance employee group, the regression analysis showed two interactional effects. A high level of emotional labor was not detrimental to the well-being of workers in conditions of low-intensity hostile customer behaviors. Six significant interactional effects were observed in the group of social insurance workers. In high-intensity hostile customer behavior conditions, a better physical and mental well-being was noted among those workers who performed a high level of deep acting, comparing to workers who rarely used this type of emotional labor coping strategy. Similarly, in conditions of disproportionate customer expectations, the greatest physical and mental well-being, as well as the lowest emotional exhaustion, were also recorded among workers who produced the highest levels of deep acting.
