Starting point of this dissertation was the argument that successful service work implies the effective management of affect. An appropriate affective state of both the service employee and the customer provides the basis for a smooth interaction and subsequent positive evaluations. Research has rarely investigated in detail the competencies and skills that are required to meet these affect-related demands of service jobs. This dissertation was supposed to fill this gap. It deals with the competencies and skills which are necessary to be a successful 'affect manager' and I have subsumed them under the concept of 'affect-related competence'. Affect-related competence concerns the effective processing, utilization and regulation of affect and affective information in the work context (cf. Mayer & Salovey, 1997). The main objective of the three empirical studies in this dissertation was to demonstrated that affect-related competence is a useful concept for the work context, and in particular for service work.
In the first study we tested a two-level model that related affect-related competence to customers' evaluations in specific service encounters via service employees' and customers' affective state. A HLM path analysis with data from 390 service encounters and 55 service employees in the context of financial consulting supported large parts of the model. In particular, the findings highlighted the role of 'affective contagion processes' in service encounters.
In the second study we tested the hypothesis that affect-related competence functions as a psychological resource, that is, it protects the service employee against the detrimental impact of emotion work. In a study with 121 shop assistants and 79 peers we tested and supported two pathways. First, affect-related competence attenuated the emergence of emotional dissonance that resulted from high workplace demands. Second, affect-related competence reduced the negative effect of emotional dissonance on psychological well-being.
In the third study an interview-based measure of affect-related competence was developed and validated. The measure comprised the dimensions empathy, affective self-regulation, and regulation of others' affect. 120 subjects were confronted with five brief stories for each dimension. The subjects' free verbal responses to open questions were rated. The internal consistency of the scales was satisfactory. The construct and criterion validity was evaluated using self-reports and peer-reports. In general, the findings were promising with some room for improvement.
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