Manuscript Title:

EMPLOYEE EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE IN HIGH CONTACT SERVICES: A MODERATED MEDIATION MODEL INCLUDING INTERPERSONAL SELF CONSCIOUSNESS AND RAPPORT

Author:

SHAHID KHOKHAR, SANA HAFEEZ, MAAYDA SHAHID, SHABBIR AHMAD, NADIA NOOR

DOI Number:

DOI:10.17605/OSF.IO/A97QV

Published : 2022-11-10

About the author(s)

1. SHAHID KHOKHAR - UE Business School, Division of Management and Administrative Sciences University of Education, Lahore, Pakistan.
2. SANA HAFEEZ - Department of Business Studies, Kinnaird College for Women University, Jail Raod, Lahore, Pakistan.
3. MAAYDA SHAHID - Department of Management Science, Lahore Garrison University, Lahore, Pakistan.
4. SHABBIR AHMAD - Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, DM&AS, University of Education Lahore, Pakistan.
5. NADIA NOOR - Department of Management Sciences, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan.

Full Text : PDF

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate how interpersonal self-consciousness moderates the relationship between employee emotional competence and the rapport that will lead to personal and organization loyalty in high contact services. Target industry to validate the proposed model is the beauty salon industry. The sample consists of 333 customers. Data was collected through structured questionnaires from the male and female customers of the beauty salons in the Pakistan. The study used SPSS to analyze the data. To explain the basic information, correlation and consistency of the data, correlation matrix, cross tabulations, descriptive and reliability analysis were used. To test and prove the hypotheses, several linear regression models were used. Employee Emotional Competence (EEC) has a direct and positive relation with personal loyalty and company loyalty. Moreover, during service encounter rapport strengthens the relation between emotionally competent employee and the customer. Emotionally competent employees should be able to recognize the level of interpersonal self-consciousness of the customers. The results suggest that in beauty salon industry, loyalty of customer to the service employee contributes to make the customer loyal to the company (salon). The study is novel in the context of a developing market to educate managers on the role of employee emotional competence in presence of interpersonal self-consciousness.


Keywords

Employee emotional competence (EEC), Interpersonal self-consciousness, Rapport, Loyalty, and Affect Infusion model (AIM).