An affective events theory perspective of emotional labor and intention to quit does emotional intelligence count?

The move from a trades-oriented workforce to a service-oriented one is notably on the increase in recent years. An important implication of this change is that we have more jobs that deal with people rather than things. The adage, “customers are always right”, could not ring more true for the service sector. Hence, service organizations are under intense competition to provide the best quality of service. Having to deal with people constantly rather than things, coupled with high customer expectations often results in emotional labor and its detrimental consequences such as emotional exhaustion and intention to quit. From the perspective of affective events theory, a study on service workers in east Malaysia was undertaken to investigate the influence of emotional labor (operationalized as surface acting and deep acting) on intention to quit. Additionally, it examined the moderating role of emotional intelligence in the proposed relationships. The study revealed that emotional labor predicted intention to quit in the expected direction. Additionally, it was found that emotionally intelligent service employees were more adept at managing their work emotions and subsequently experienced lower intention to quit. The study findings have great potential for effective human resources practices in the service industry.