特质乐观和状态乐观对一线服务员工服务绩效的影响——基于“角色压力—倦怠—工作结果”框架

An Empirical Research on Impacts of Trait and State Optimism on Service Performance of Frontline Service Employees: Based on the Framework of “Role StressBurnout-Job Outcome”

传统的"角色压力—倦怠—工作结果"框架指出角色压力对工作结果有消极影响,学术界对于如何应对角色压力也进行了较多探讨,然而,以往的研究主要关注外部因素。积极组织行为学指出,乐观是个体的一种重要内在状态,乐观对工作绩效有积极影响,但是较少有文献关注乐观在预测和应对角色压力、进而提高服务绩效中的作用。本研究以银行业、移动通信业和饭店业的一线服务员工为调研对象,在传统的"角色压力—倦怠—工作结果"框架基础上引入乐观变量,并将其区分为特质乐观和状态乐观来研究乐观对员工服务绩效的影响。实证结果发现,特质乐观和状态乐观对角色内服务绩效和角色外服务绩效均有显著的影响,但是状态乐观的影响更大;两种类型的乐观对服务绩效的影响机理不同,角色压力和倦怠中介了特质乐观对服务绩效的影响,但是在状态乐观对服务绩效的影响中不存在中介作用。

Because of their role as boundary spanners, frontline service employees are susceptible to high levels of role stress and burnout. The traditional ＂role stress-burnout-job outcome＂ framework proposes that role stress has dysfunctional impacts on job outcomes （e.g. job satisfac- tion, affective commitment）, previous researchers developed several coping strategies to reduce role stress, including job redesign, organiza- tional communications etc. However, these coping strategies are exter- nal mechanisms; their effectiveness highly depends on service employ- ees＇ internal mechanism. Research in positive organizational behavior suggests that optimism is a kind of important internal mechanism which has positive impacts on a series of job outcomes, but very few studies to date have examined optimism as an important internal mechanism to re- duce role stress of frontline service employees. Former research thought that optimism was an essential personality trait, while the most recent researches have concluded that optimism has both a trait and a state component. Based on the traditional framework of ＂role stress-burnout- job outcome＂, this study introduces optimism and divides it into trait and state optimism, and investigates the anticipatory effect of optimism in reducing frontline service employees＇ role stress and burnout and enhancing their service performance. Based on the data of 317 frontline service employees from bank, telecommunication and hotel industries, this study tests the hypotheses. The results show that service employees who have trait optimism will have lower-level role stress and burnout and higher-level in-role service performance, while the relationships between state optimism and role stress, burnout and extra-role service performance are not significant. Besides, this study divides the total ef- fect of optimism on service performance into direct and indirect effect, and finds that both trait and state optimism have significant effects on in-role and extra-role service performance, and state optimism has far more effect on service performance. Further, two kinds of optimism have different influence mechanism on service performance, specifi- cally, role stress and burnout mediates the influence from trait optimism to service performance, while state optimism have direct influence on service performance. Management implications are provided and direc- tions for future research are discussed.