The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Labor and Its Effect on Job Burnout in Korean Organizations A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Hyuneung Lee IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Gary N. McLean, Adviser February, 2010 © 2010 Hyuneung Lee i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe gratitude to all those people who have made this dissertation possible. First, I cannot express sufficient appreciation to my adviser, Dr. Gary N. McLean. I am so fortunate to have such a passionate and exemplary adviser. His patience and support enabled me to overcome the challenges I encountered during my entire journey as a doctoral student. He has read my dissertation literally word by word and provided insightful and invaluable feedback that I would not have been able to receive from anyone else. I have truly learned from him how to live as a scholar, a teacher, and a father. To me, he is the embodiment of the spirit of human resource development. I would also like to thank my committee members: Dr. John Campbell, Dr. Rosemarie Park, and Dr. Kenneth Bartlett. By raising issues from various perspectives, they have led me to see the big picture and take this dissertation to the next level. I will never forget their guidance and encouragement at every step. I also thank Dr. Seong-ik Park, my MA adviser in Seoul National University, for building my foundation as a researcher and teaching me how to write a dissertation. I must also mention Dr. Yong-lin Moon, who guided me to the field of human resource development at a time when it was not familiar to the academic world in my home country. I owe a debt of gratitude to all of the Korean colleagues in the program. Especially, I would like to thank Dr. Jeong-Ho Jeon who offered guidance to me throughout my progress as my senior. I also thank Dr. Tae-jo Lim for providing me with assistance in the process of data collection. In addition, I would not have been able ii to complete this dissertation without help from Dr. Sung Jun Jo, Dr. Yu-jin Lee, Chang- Wook Jeung, Hea Jun Yoon, and Won Seok Choi. I also want to thank members of the Korean United Methodist Church Community for their prayers and support. Especially, Pastor Yong-ok Son, Pastor Seung-kyu Park, Hyun-sook Han, Keun-hong Lee, Hee-ok Kim, Soo-bong Park, Jun- hee Kim, Baek-Kyoo Joo, Ei Kim, and Hyung-jin Kim treated me like their own family. I thank God for leading my life and letting me meet these precious people. My love and appreciation go to my family for their endless support. Special thanks to my parents, Whakuk Lee and Sookjae Choi, who have provided all of the wonderful opportunities in my life. I truly wish I could be a parent like them to my children. Also, my parents-in-law, Jeunkun Kwak and Sunja Mo, have supported me like their own son. I want to express thanks to my lovely twins, Claire and Alisha, for giving me joy and inspiration whenever I needed it. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my wife, Yunjung Kwak, for everything. As a colleague, and as my partner, she was always by my side in times of pain as well as joy. Without her patience and support, I would never have been able to complete this journey. I wish that I can support her forever in my life, just in the way she has supported me. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Whakuk Lee and Sookjae Choi, my wife, Yunjung Kwak, and my children, Claire and Alisha. iv ABSTRACT In this study, it was investigated whether emotional consonance mediates the trait emotional intelligence (EI)-emotional labor relationship and whether emotional consonance moderates the ability EI-emotional labor relationship and the emotional labor-job burnout relationship. A survey questionnaire was administered to 600 employees from 22 subsidiaries of a Korean conglomerate, and 401 surveys were returned, resulting in a 66.8% response rate. In the process of data screening, three outliers were eliminated, leaving 398 cases in the sample. It was found that trait EI was positively related to emotional consonance, and emotional consonance was negatively related to surface acting and positively related to deep acting. Also, emotional consonance mediated the relationship between trait EI and surface/deep acting. Ability EI had a negative relationship with surface acting and a positive relationship with deep acting though the relationships were weak. Emotional consonance did not moderate the ability EI-emotional labor relationship but explained most of the variance of surface/deep acting. Though surface acting was positively and deep acting was negatively related to emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, ability EI had a larger effect on both dimensions of job burnout. While surface acting did not have a significant effect on personal accomplishment, deep acting had a positive effect on personal accomplishment. Finally, though emotional consonance did not moderate the relationships between surface/deep acting and emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, emotional v consonance moderated the relationships between surface/deep acting and personal accomplishment. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. i DEDICATION ................................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem .................................................................................. 3 Purpose of the Study .......................................................................................... 4 Significance of the Study .................................................................................. 5 Limitations of the Study .................................................................................... 6 Definitions of Key Terms .................................................................................. 7 Emotional Intelligence ............................................................................ 7 Emotional Labor ..................................................................................... 7 Emotional Consonance ........................................................................... 8 Job Burnout ............................................................................................ 8 Summary ........................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................................. 10 Main Issues under Debate in Recent EI Research ........................................... 10 Which Model of EI Should Be Used? .................................................. 10 Does EI Have Construct Validity? ....................................................... 13 How Should EI Be Scored? .................................................................. 24 vii Approaches to Emotional Labor ...................................................................... 27 Hochschild‘s Dramaturgical Approach ................................................ 27 Ashforth and Humphrey‘s Behavioral Approach ................................. 28 Morris and Feldman‘s Interactionist Approach .................................... 29 Reconceptualizations of Emotional Labor ........................................... 29 Relationship between EI and Emotional Labor ............................................... 30 Research Model and Hypotheses..................................................................... 33 Summary ......................................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 3: METHODS ............................................................................................. 41 Target Population and Sample ........................................................................ 41 Instrumentation ................................................................................................ 42 Emotional Intelligence .......................................................................... 42 Emotional Labor ................................................................................... 43 Job Burnout .......................................................................................... 44 Reliability and Validity of the Instruments .......................................... 45 Data Collection ................................................................................................ 46 Data Analysis .................................................................................................. 47 Summary ......................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ..............................................................................................