The double-edged sword effect of service recovery awareness of frontline employees: From a job demands-resources perspective

Mo Zhang, Ruoqi Geng, Zhisheng Hong, Wenhao Song, Wangshuai Wang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Drawing on job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, this study examines the double-edged sword effect of service recovery awareness (SRA) on post-recovery satisfaction via frontline employees’ (FLEs) emotional responses (including emotional exhaustion and work engagement). The moderating effect of perceived psychological empowerment (PPE) was also assessed. Dyadic and matched responses from 267 five-star hotel FLEs and customers indicated that SRA is appraised as a challenging demand that is positively associated with post-recovery satisfaction through work engagement. However, SRA is also considered a hindrance demand that leads to emotional exhaustion, which is negatively related to post-recovery satisfaction. PPE amplified the impact of SRA on work engagement and buffered the impact of SRA on emotional exhaustion. The theoretical contribution, managerial implications, and suggestions for future research of this study are discussed in detail.

Original languageEnglish
Article number102536
JournalInternational Journal of Hospitality Management
Volume88
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Emotional exhaustion
  • Frontline employee
  • Job demand-resource theory
  • Service recovery awareness
  • Work engagement

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