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Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion in Vietnam Service Industry: The Moderating Effect of Psychological Contract Breach

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(1)Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion in Vietnam Service Industry: The Moderating Effect of Psychological Contract Breach. by Pham Minh Nhat. A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Major: International Human Resource Development. Advisor: Lu, Cheng-Chieh, Ph. D.. National Taiwan Normal University Taipei, Taiwan June, 2020.

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(3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The two-year period for master study in NTNU is such an adventure to me. I had the chance not only to broaden knowledge about things I like- Human Resources Development, but also to discover the culture of Taiwan. To complete this thesis for graduation, I came through a long way of effort and support from people around me. First of all, I am grateful to get guidance and encouragement from my thesis advisor – Dr. Lu, who was willing to answer all my questions and helped me overcome a lot of difficulties during the preparation time. If not for his support, my thesis would have never been completed and I would never be more confident in learning subjects at school. Second, I would like to say thank to Dr. Lai, Chih-Chien Steven and Dr. Chen, Shu-Yuan, Dr Vera Chang, Dr. Yeh, Chu-Chen Rosa, Dr. Lin, Yi-Chun Jane for having given me a lot of comments and feedback to improve either in studying or writing thesis. Their valuable suggestions and instructions during my time in Taiwan became great motivation for me to develop myself. Furthermore, my sincere appreciation also goes to my classmates in IHRD NTNU and my friends in Vietnam. It was such an honor to know all of you, thank you all for supporting me in collecting my thesis data, for staying besides me through tough time, for helping me to adapt to life in Taiwan. However life may turn out to be, hope all good things come to us. Finally, I would never have this day if my parents and my boyfriend did not stay by my side. It was my luck to receive the care and love from them, to have the chance to come to Taiwan..

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(5) ABSTRACT Emotional Exhaustion as first symptom of Job burnout has become a critical issue for service occupations. In recognition of the job challenges in this industry and the consequences on employees’ health and wellbeing, this study aims to examine the influence of Job Demands on Emotional Exhaustion for Vietnam service workers. Furthermore, Psychological Contract Breach which arose perceived unfairness in employees was also tested for moderating effect on the relationship between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion. This study applied quantitative approach with survey- based methodology for Vietnam service employees. Both online and paperbased questionnaires were distributed to collect data, with the total of 245 respondents. The statistic software SPSS 23.0 was used to test all hypotheses in this study. The resulted presented that Job Demands (including Workload, Cognitive Demand and Emotional Demand) all positively related to Emotional Exhaustion. Meanwhile, Psychological Contract Breach strengthened this relationship, not only for Job Demands in general, but also each dimension in particular. Overall, these findings not only contributed to the literature by broadening knowledge about Job Demands, Psychological Contract Breach and Emotional Exhaustion issue with the theory of Job Demandsresources as the based framework, but also provided meaningful practical implications for service industry practitioners in Vietnam. Keywords: Emotional exhaustion, job demands, workload, emotional demands, cognitive demands, psychological contract breach. I.

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(7) TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ I TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ III LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. VII CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1 Background of the Study ............................................................................................................. 1 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................................... 3 Research Purpose ........................................................................................................................ 4 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................... 4 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................................ 5 Delimitations ............................................................................................................................... 5 Definition of Key Terms ............................................................................................................. 6. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................. 9 Emotional Exhaustion ................................................................................................................. 9 Job Demands ............................................................................................................................. 12 Psychological Contract Breach ................................................................................................. 17 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 21. CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODS ............................................................... 23 Research Framework ................................................................................................................. 23 Research Procedure ................................................................................................................... 25 Research Designs ...................................................................................................................... 28 Research Sample and Data Collection ...................................................................................... 28 Measurement ............................................................................................................................. 29 Pilot Test ................................................................................................................................... 32 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 32. CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................... 35 Descriptive Statistics ................................................................................................................. 35 Results of Pearson Correlation Analysis ................................................................................... 37 Results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis .................................................................................. 38 Result of Hierarchical Regression Analysis .............................................................................. 39 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 49 III.

(8) CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS .......................................... 51 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 51 Implications ............................................................................................................................... 51 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research..................................................................... 53. REFERENCES........................................................................................................ 55 APPENDIX: QUESTIONNAIRE........................................................................... 65. IV.

(9) LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1. Types of Psychological Contracts ............................................................................... 16 Table 3.1. Reliability of Each Scale (N = 85) .............................................................................. 29 Table 4.1. Respondents Profile (N = 245).................................................................................... 33 Table 4.2. Means, Standard Deviations, Reliability Coefficients and Correlations among The Variables........................................................................................................................................ 34 Table 4.3. Results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (N = 245) ................................................... 30 Table 4.4. Result of Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Job Demands to Emotional Exhaustion (N= 245) ........................................................................................................................................ 35 Table 4.5. Result of Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Workload to Emotional Exhaustion (N= 245) ........................................................................................................................................ 36 Table 4.6. Result of Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Cognitive Demand to Emotional exhaustion (N= 245) ...................................................................................................................... 36 Table 4.7. Result of Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Emotional Demand to Emotional Exhaustion (N= 245) ..................................................................................................................... 37 Table 4.8. Result of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for PCB as Moderator and Job Demands as Independent Variable ............................................................................................................... 38 Table 4.9. Result of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for PCB as Moderator and Workload as Independent Variable ................................................................................................................ 39 Table 4.10. Result of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for PCB as Moderator and Cognitive Demand as Independent Variable ................................................................................................. 39 Table 4.11. Result of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for PCB as Moderator and Emotional Demand as Independent Variable ................................................................................................ 40 Table 4.12. Hypothese Testing Results Summary ....................................................................... 45. V.

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(11) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1. Mediation model of job burnout and engagement ..................................................... 10 Figure 2.2. Job demands -resources model .................................................................................. 12 Figure 3.1. Research framework .................................................................................................. 20 Figure 3.2. Research procedure .................................................................................................... 24 Figure 3.3. Effort- reward imbalance model ................................................................................ 20 Figure 4.1. Interaction plot for the moderating effect of PCB on the relationship between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion ..................................................................................... 41 Figure 4.2. Interaction plot for the moderating effect of PCB on the relationship between Workload and Emotional Exhaustion .......................................................................................... 42 Figure 4.3. Interaction plot for the moderating effect of PCB on the relationship between Cognitive Demand and Emotional Exhaustion ............................................................................. 42 Figure 4.4. Interaction plot for the moderating effect of PCB on the relationship between Emotional Demand and Emotional Exhaustion ............................................................................ 44. VII.

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(13) CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter provides the general background and circumstances of the workplace characteristics before introducing the issues of Job burnout, especially Emotional Exhaustion, Job Demands and Psychological Contract Breach in service industry. Besides, the purpose and significance of this research would also be given in more details, together with clear definition of all terms related to the topic so that readers have panoramic view about the study.. Background of the Study Working is an essential part of human being, constituting 90,000 hours of an average person’s lifetime (Pryce-Jones, 2011), which is approximately one third of a lifetime. Working is not only a means of living, but also the way to achieve recognition, wealth and social status in this modern world. Meanwhile, workplace can also be considered the second home for a lot of people who sometimes even spend more time with their job than their family. Therefore, in the workplace the relationship between employers and employees also contributes to service quality (Yee, Guo, & Yeung, 2015), job satisfaction (Abun et. al, 2018) and work commitment. However, the pressure and demands of the work are usually not easy to handle, and there is a growing concern for keeping mental health in the workplace. Specifically, burnout has become one of the most controversial occupational health issues for employees. According to Leiter and Maslach (2003), Job burnout consists of three dimensions including the feeling of energy depletion (Emotional Exhaustion), detachment from work (Cynicism) and inconfidence or ineffectiveness at work (Perceived Professional Efficacy). If not preventing or alleviating burnout in advance, employees are easily to have higher job disatisfaction, absenteesim and finally increase in turnover rate (Leiter, 1988; Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998). Thus this study focused on investigating the core dimension of burnout – Emotional Exhaustion, also the first symptom that appears as a way to understand and find out solutions for this issue. The most crucial thing about burnout is that its concept emerged from service industry, or human related work (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). Jobs in this industry normally involve direct contact with customers or suppliers, so the relationship in the workplace not only includes employers, employees but also includes customers, resulting in high demands for quantitative, emotional and psychological aspects. Employees normally act on the behalf of the organization to bring out solutions or help to 1.

(14) clients, therefore they are expected to always serve with a smile, while controlling negative emotions. These emotional labors are expected to regulate emotions to fulfill job requirement (Grandey & Alicia, 2000) by surface and deep acting. Specifically, confronting the high Emotional Demand at work, employees either show the appropriate emotions in serving customers while not changing their real feelings (surface acting), or adjust their feelings to match the job requirements (deep acting). Emotional labor process was proven by past scholars such as Jeung, Kim and Chang (2018) to cause Job burnout, including Emotional Exhaustion, therefore, Job Demands with sub dimensions as Workload, Cognitive and Emotional Demand all became a matter of concern for Vietnam service workers. In Vietnam, service industry now contributes 42.7% of Vietnamese Gross Domestic Product, with 19,4 million workers, constituting 35,8% all employees nation-wide (General Statistics Office, 2019). These figures show the importance of service industry in Vietnam and thus Emotional Exhaustion problem is worth considering in this industry for better improvement in productivity and commitment in the workplace. Therefore, to have a comprehensive overview at the Emotional Exhaustion issue, this study will focus on the service industry and also the aspect of Job Demands that are related to the jobs. Additionally, the relationship between employees and employers also plays a crucial role in affecting the mental health of workers and their commitment. From employers’ perspective, longterm success comes from the management of human resources, therefore understanding the expectations and abilities of workers is very important. On the other hand, employees go to work to contribute, and also receive benefits as a means of living, but not all benefits are stated black and white. Therefore, besides the written labor contract, psychological contract also provides a framework for establishing employment relationship (Robinson & Rosseau, 1994). It refers to the unwritten agreement of both sides (workers and employers) about the mutual expectations and obligations. When this contract is breached, the trust of employees went down significantly (Liu, Huang, Huang, & Chen, 2013; Robinson, 1996), as a result when one of the two parties did not fulfill their promises, even though they had the capacity (Rousseau, 1995). When employees work but do not receive what they expect from the employers, Emotional Exhaustion, counter-productive behavior, lower job satisfaction and higher intention to leave may occur (Buunk & Schaufeli, 1999; Robinson & Rosseau, 1994). 2.

(15) Problem Statement Along with Job burnout, Emotional Exhaustion has been proven in past research to have negative impacts on health and work outcomes. “The experience of exhaustion reduces workers' initiative while progressively limiting their capacity for demanding work” (Leiter & Maslach, 2005, p.50). Emotional Exhaustion also leads to depression, decrease in work performance and higher turnover intention (Baba, Tourigny, Wang, & Liu, 2009; Yavas, Babakus, & Karatepe, 2008). Some scholars also found physiological consequences including headache, mental disorders and insomnia (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001; Kim, Ji, & Kao, 2011). These results showed that the importance of Emotional Exhaustion in the workers’ productivity and long-term success of organizations. According to Lee and Ashforth (1996), Emotional Exhaustion was found to have stronger impact on work-related outcomes than other two dimensions of burnout. Other scholars including Schaufeli, Maslach and Marek (2017) also conceptualized Emotional Exhaustion to be “core meaning” of burnout, leading to more recent scholars such as Halbesleben and Bowler (2007) to value Emotional Exhaustion as separate topic of research.. In recognition of the appropriateness of. Emotional Exhaustion as the single burnout dimension that has significant impact on work outcomes and employees’ wellbeing, this study focused more on Emotional Exhaustion issue. However, there is still very few research about job burnout or Emotional Exhaustion in particular in Vietnam market. Only few occupations have been proven to have high probability of Emotional Exhaustion including technological staffs (Ninh, 2014), nurses (Nguyen, Kitaoka, Sukigara, & Thai, 2018) or employees in banks (Linh, Jin, Kiong, & Fah, 2016) but there is no result proven in service industry in general. Furthermore, among these previous research, no scholars focus on the impact of Job Demands on Emotional Exhaustion. The majority of this relationship was proven in Western context by Maslach, Schaufeli, and Leiter (2001); Schaufeli, Bakker and Van Rhenen (2009). Considering Vietnam as a fast developing country with 35.8% working population coming from service industry (General Statistics Office, 2019) and the threat of mental health in this field, this research filled the gap in literature by examining the impact of Job Demands (quantitative, emotional and cognitive) on Emotional Exhaustion in Vietnam service industry. Past research also investigated moderators that affect the relationship between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion such as team cohesiveness and social support (Westman, Bakker, Roziner, & Sonnentag, 2011) or psychological capitals (Nohlman, 2016). However, there is a lack of 3.

(16) psychological contract research as potential moderator for this association. The relationship between workers and employers in fact was the foundation for long-term trust and commitment in the workplace. Therefore, when Psychological Contract Breach occurs, loss of trust and higher rate of intention to leave take place (Abela & Debono, 2019). Meanwhile, some past research showed that frequency of Psychological Contract Breach occurred in workplace ranged from 25% (Turnley & Feldman, 1998) to over 90% (Robinson & Morrison, 2000). When Psychological Contract Breach occurs more frequently, trust is negatively affected may lead to the negative feelings in employees. Together with high pressure at work, high demands in terms of Workload, Cognitive and Emotional aspects, the effect of Psychological Contract Breach may cause worse Emotional Exhaustion. This prediction may help the organization understand Emotional Exhaustion in more detail with more caution on the relationship with employees to avoid future serious consequences. Therefore, it is useful to look at Psychological Contract Breach with potential moderating role on the association of Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion.. Research Purpose This study aimed to provide empirical evidence for the relationship among Job Demands, Psychological Contract Breach and Emotional Exhaustion. There were two main objectives in this study. First, to discover the influence of Job Demands on Emotional Exhaustion in Vietnam service industry. It also provided insight on how each dimension of Job Demands in terms of quantitative, emotional and Cognitive Demand affect Emotional Exhaustion. Second, to explore the moderating role of Psychological Contract Breach in the association between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion.. Research Questions This study focused on broadening knowledge about Emotional Exhaustion issue under the relationship with Job Demands and Psychological Contract Breach. There were two questions this study aimed to answer: 1. Are Job Demands related to Emotional Exhaustion? 2. Does Psychological Contract Breach have moderating influence on the relationship between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion? 4.

(17) Significance of the Study This study has both theoretical contribution to the literature review and practical significance for organizations as stated below:. Contribution to The Organizational Management This study could contribute to raising awareness of Emotional Exhaustion and its related correlates in terms of Job Demands in the service industry. As a result, organizational managers would have more comprehensive look into which components of Job Demands have bad effect on Emotional Exhaustion to identify solutions. In the long term, human resources practitioners can design interventions that alleviate Emotional Exhaustion rate and also prevent job burnout from occurring in the early stage, leading to more productivity and commitment in the workplace. Furthermore, the relationship between workers and employers would also be analyzed via Psychological Contract Breach, thus help organizational managers understand the current situations and its effect on Emotional Exhaustion issue.. Contribution to The Literature The result of this study would provide empirical evidence to the association of Job Demands which are related to service jobs including Workload, Emotional and Cognitive Demand with Emotional Exhaustion following the Job demand-resources theory. Furthermore, there is a lack of research about the Psychological Contract Breach as moderator in occupational health issue. Therefore, this study would fill these gaps in the literature review about burnout problem in Vietnam service industry, as well as the moderating effect of Psychological Contract Breach in the relationship of Job Demands with Emotional Exhaustion.. Delimitations -. This study is delimited to focus on employees working in service industry in Vietnam.. -. This study is delimited to using quantitative research method and survey as main instrument to collect data.. -. This study is delimited to investigate only three instruments, including Job Demands, Emotional Exhaustion and Psychological Contract Breach.. 5.

(18) Definition of Key Terms Job Demands Job Demands are characterized as “the degree to which the working environment contains stimuli that peremptorily require attention and response” (Jones & Fletcher, 1996, p.34). More specifically, Job Demands is about quantitative (Workload – the amount of work required or time constraints), cognitive (the level of hardness required mentally or memory), emotional (demands related to level of emotion or feelings in working) and physical requirements of a position (Houtman, 2005). This study used the concept of Jone and Fletcher (1996) for Job Demands with three abovementioned dimensions. In general, Workload refers to the required volume of tasks in a job, which needs to be done in a specific timespan. In this study, Workload is defined according to pace and volume of the tasks (Spector & Jex, 1998). Meanwhile, Cognitive Demands reflects the degree to which the task requires workers to use cognitive resources such as concentration or memory (Pejtersen, Kristensen, Borg, & Bjorner, 2010). These demands are common in work that includes mental analysis of data, making inferences from resources or focusing for long time with logical thinking. Emotional Demands regard the psychological or emotional effort in interactions or other aspects while working (Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2003). Thus, because of some job characteristics, workers have to show appropriate emotions all the time.. Emotional Exhaustion Emotional Exhaustion, together with cynicism and professional efficiency are main dimensions of Job burnout, which refers to a state of physical and mental syndrome (Schaufeli, Leiter, Maslach, & Jackson, 1996). First, Emotional Exhaustion, or emotional depletion results when individuals cannot meet organization’s excessive demands and cope with continuous stress. Then cynicism occurs with emotional distance towards customers. Last but not least, professional efficacy includes both social and non-social facets of accomplishment at work.. 6.

(19) Psychological Contract Breach Psychological contract has been under research since 1960s by Argyris (1960) or Schein (1965) because of its potential effect on employees’ mental health and commitment. In this study, psychological contract refers to the exchange of benefits, beliefs and responsibilities between two parties- workers and employers (Rousseau, 1989). Psychological Contract Breach occurs when employees perceive the unfairness between efforts and rewards or employer did not fulfill their promises even though employees already completed obligations (Robinson & Morrison, 2000).. 7.

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(21) CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW This purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of Emotional Exhaustion, Job Demands and Psychological Contract Breach based on previous research. The first section opens up general view of job burnout with the focus on Emotional Exhaustion. The second section gives definition and literature review of Job Demands, which includes Workload, Emotional Demand and Cognitive Demand. The last section is Psychological Contract Breach review. In each section the relationship among all variables will also be analyzed then stated in the form of hypotheses.. Emotional Exhaustion Emotional Exhaustion is one of the three main dimensions of job burnout, which has become the long-term challenge to employers and worrying concern to employees in this modern world. The early concept of burnout was described in 1970s as reaction to interpersonal stressor in working (Freudenberger, 1974; Maslach, 1976). Maslach and Jackson (1984) defined job burnout as “a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who work with people in some capacity” (p.134). Specifically, first Emotional Exhaustion appears when employees overworked and used up their energy; then a negative distant attitude towards interaction at work, known as depersonalization happens. Last, workers suffer reduced personal accomplishment or the tendency to underevaluate their own achievement and feel insufficient to do their job. Initially, the Maslach -Burnout Inventory (MBI) introduced by Maslach and Jackson (1981) based on this definition. Later, the MBI- General Survey Schaufeli et al. (1996) to cover the broader prospect of job burnout, and the subdimensions changed to Emotional Exhaustion, Cynicism and Professional Efficacy. Burnout is considered the foundation for prolonged job stress in human services industry (Freudenberger, 1974; Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001) and has detrimental impact on work outcomes. For example, past research found burnout and Emotional Exhaustion in various occupations, from social workers (Kim et al. 2011) nurses (Chen & Chen, 2018), teachers (Van Maele & Van Houtte, 2015), human service employees (Thomas, Kohli, & Choi, 2014). The consequences of burnout were found to be decrease in job performance (Demerouti, Bakker, & Leiter, 2014), increase in job absenteeism, job dissatisfaction (Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998) and turnover intention (Gharakhani & Zaferanchi, 2019). Specifically, Peterson et al. (2011) proved that long-term sickness. 9.

(22) (over three months) was resulted from Emotional Exhaustion. This research was conducted with over 6,000 employees in Sweden during nearly four-year period. More concern was also raised for Emotional Exhaustion as the first symptom of burnout, and also as predictor for stress-related health problems (Ager et al., 2012; Bakker et al., 2014). Emotional Exhaustion was proved to predict increase in absenteeism because of sickness (Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998), coronary heart diseases, flu or cold (Honkonen et al., 2006; Kim et al., 2011), leading to decrease in job performance (Taris, 2006). Furthermore, past research also stated that Emotional Exhaustion has connection to depression, even from early 18th century (McKnight & Glass, 1995) to recent study (Aloha & Hakanen, 2007; Madsen, Lange, Borritz, & Rugulies, 2015), anxiety (Besèr et al., 2014). Specifically, the research conducted by Ahola, Hakanen, Perhoniemi and Mutanen (2014) included more than 3000 dentists and observed results in seven years period showed that burnout, including Emotional Exhaustion developed together with depressive symptoms. Another research by Kim et al. (2011) was conducted in three years with social workers as data sample concluded that burnout led to health deterioration in just 12 months. Some consequences stated including headaches, mood imbalance and respiratory problems. There are diverse opinions from past scholars about antecedents of job burnout and Emotional Exhaustion. First, Bakker and Costa (2014) stated two main causes including situational and individual reasons. Situational factors refer to the high in job demands and low in job resources. However, there are various kinds of job demands proven to be related to burnout. Among all, role conflict, work pressure, excessive workload are most common antecedents (Lee & Ashforth, 1996; Zohar, 1994). Moreover, poor communication, dissatifaction with manager, role ambiguity are also associated with burnout (Levinson, 1980; Pizam & Neumann, 1988). Regarding individual characteristics, over-dedicated or over-motivated employees are more susceptible to burnout (Dijkstra, van Dierendonck, Evers, & De Dreu, 2005). Alarcon, Eschleman and Bowling (2009) also concluded that “self-esteem, self-efficacy, locus of control, emotional stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, positive affectivity, negative affectivity, optimism, proactive personality, and hardiness, each yielded significant relationship with burnout” (p.244). Additionally, Ghorpade, Lackritz and Singh (2007) conducted a research about personality in relationship with burnout for 265 instructors in a public university and found out that the more extroverted and emotionally stable workers are, the lower risks of emotional exhaustion may occur. However, openness to experience is positively correlated to Emotional Exhaustion. 10.

(23) Meanwhile, the mediation model of burnout by Leiter and Maslach (2003) in Figure 2.1 also gives a detailed explanation about the potential causes and effects of job burnout in general and Emotional Exhaustion specifically. The main six job characteristics including workload, job control, financial rewards, community, fairness and values gained all have positive association with burnout, including Emotional Exhaustion. Consequently, the more serious burnout that employees suffer from, the more frequency of absent, together with the decrease in health, job outcomes, satisfaction and cost effectiveness in the workplace. This framework is based on vast literature review and also share the common finding with past scholars, the only difference is how they see the antecedents of burnout. Even though each scholar sees burnout from different angles, they all made significant contribution to burnout knowledge, with detailed factors causing burnout and if this issue worsens, what results will occur. Worklife Workload Control Reward Community. Burnout Exhaustion Cynicism Low Efficacy. Fairness. Outcomes Employee Health Absenteeism Quality of Work Patient Satisfaction Cost Effectiveness. Values. Figure 2.1. Mediation model of Job burnout and engagement. Adapted from “Areas of worklife: A structured approach to organizational predictors of Job burnout,” by M.P. Leiter, & C. Maslach, 2003, Research in Occupational Stress and Well Being, 3(1), 91-134. From the literature review, over the past decade, past research showed devastating consequences of job burnout and Emotional Exhaustion, regarding both physical and psychological effect, which in the end can directly threaten the quality of human resources and decide the long-term future of the organization. Additionally, the majority of research focuses on human service jobs, from only one occupations to general service positions, however all are related directly to human. However, there is still lack of reseach about burnout in Vietnam as one of the fast-developing countries in Asia, only one or two study about nurses (Nguyen et al., 2018), even though Vietnam has very large population with over 96.48 millions people (General Statistics Office, 2019) and a lot of problems about human 11.

(24) resources management. Considering the great influentiality of burnout for the organizational development, especially Emotional Exhaustion as the first symptom to appear, this study will investigate Emotional Exhaustion in service industry in Vietnam in the relationship with other variables to figure out this issue in more detail and find out solutions.. Job Demands In line with the fast pace of global development, employees nowadays have to face a lot of challenges in their jobs, especially the increase in Job Demands to adapt to changes. Job Demands is not a new topic of research as it contributes significantly to human resource development for longterm. However, this study will only focus on Job Demands in several aspects which are directly related to service industry jobs. In the literature review of Job Demands, there are several different points of view from past scholars. Karasek (1979) considered Job Demands as part of psychological stressors, which was also agreed by Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling and Boudreau (2000), whose research proved there are mainly two types, namely challenge demand (obstacles that are stressful but can bring potential results for employees, such as the amount of work or task complexity) and hindrance demand (things that can interfere with the employees’ accomplishment, such as job insecurity or organizational constraints). Meanwhile, in the research by Bakker and Demerouti (2014), Job Demands refer to “physical, psychological, social or organizational aspects of the job that require physical and psychological effort at a cost ” (p.38). More specficially, Job Demands is about quantitative (Workload – the amount of work required or time constraints), Cognitive Demand (the level of hardness required mentally), Emotional Demand (demands related to level of emotion or feelings in working) and physical requirements of a position (Houtman, 2005). As Vietnamese working people in service industry is the target of this study, only Workload, Cognitive Demand and Emotional Demand are Job Demands’ chacracteristics that are taken into account. The main reason is that when people do human service, they normally do not suffer from physical requirements as strictly as manufacturing or agricultural industry, instead the major challenge is about psychological effort required. Past research also supported this selection as the crucial aspects of Job Demands (Demerouti et al., 2001; Lee & Ashforth, 1996).. 12.

(25) Relationship between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion Empirical study proved that Job Demands has profound impact on job burnout, especially Emotional Exhaustion. This positive relationship was confirmed and explained clearly via the Job demand – resources model (Bakker, Demerouti, & Sanz Vergel, 2014), which is the extension of the model from Demerouti et al. (2001). This model stated Job Demands and resouces were two main aspects of work that causes Emotional Exhaustion (Figure 2.2.), and the highest chance of depleting engery occured in situations with high demands and low job resources (Demerouti et al., 2001). Job demands – resources model as theoretical underpinning. Specifically, the higher Job Demands become, the more likely employees will be psychologically affected, leading to depression and using up their energy (Xanthopoulou et al., 2007), increasing in absenteeism (Petitta & Vecchione, 2011) and reducing their performance (Bakker, Demerouti, & Verbeke, 2004). More serious consequences involving lower commitment to the organization (Khan et al., 2014), lower well-being quality and eventually more turnover intention (Lu & Gursoy, 2016) has also been confirmed by past research. Therefore, the relationship between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion has provided broader angle for understanding the burnout issues in workplace.. 13.

(26) Job crafting. +. + Job resources Work engagement. +. +. +. + Personal resources. -. Job performance. + -. +. Job Demands. -. Job crafting. Exhaustion. -. Figure 2.2. Job demands - resources model. Adapted from “Burnout and work engagement: The JD-R approach” by A.B. Bakker, E. Demerouti, & A. Sanz Vergel, 2014, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1, 389-411. Relationship between Workload and Emotional Exhaustion. Additionally, there are some research focuses on how Workload results in Emotional Exhaustion. Baeriswryl, Krause, Elfering and Berset (2017) examined 462 workers in academic research firm to find out that Workload has positive impact on emotional depletion, with the mediating effect of sickness presenteeism. In other words, the higher the Workload for employees, the more chances they still have to go to work despite sickness, eventually increases the chances for Emotional Exhaustion. The demand – control theory by Karasek and Theorell (1990) also supported that when employees are overloaded with work or do not have 14.

(27) sufficient time to conduct their work, the mismatch in Workload and job control occurs, which in turns causes stress and Emotional Exhaustion. As one of the main six job characteristics, work overload was proved to be the root cause for Emotional Exhaustion, representing the most influential factors in Job burnout (Leiter & Maslach, 2003; Maslach, 2006). Therefore, based on past literature review, this study will give a detailed view on Emotional Exhaustion in the relationship with Workload as one dimension of Job Demands. Specifically, Workload is predicted to have positive influence on Emotional Exhaustion. Relationship between Emotional Demand and Emotional Exhaustion. Emotional Demand also took a long time to be proved as relevance to Emotional Exhaustion as the majority of empirical study focused on general Job Demands. Some scholars found the impact of Emotional Demand on mental health issues and noted these demands to be of equal importance as quantitative demand (Workload) or sometimes more crucial, especially in human-related jobs (Grynderup et al., 2012 ; Wieclaw, Agerbo, Mortensen, & Bonde, 2006). Together with conflicting roles, emotional requirement in a job has been proven as ‘most import risk factors for psychological distress in workers’ (Johannessen, Tynes, & Sterud, 2013). Moreover, via a closer look at teachers as an example of service industry people, Sutton and Wheatley (2003) also suggested that emotional aspects has profound impact on work motivation and strain (burnout). Both cross-section and longitudinal research have documented the link of Emotional Demand to increased risks of burnout and Emotional Exhaustion. These research also divese in sample target, from nurses (Freimann & Merisalu, 2015), insurance salespersons (Peng et al., 2010), teachers (Tuxford & Bradley, 2015), or human service workers (Borritz et al., 2005). Among all, the longest time research is by Borritz et al. (2005) with 952 partipants in 3 years. Emotional Demand was found to have positive correlation to Emotional Exhaustion after controlled the sociodemographic variables. However, the majority of these studies focus on only one occupation, with the exception of research conducted by Borritz et al. (2005), also there is lack of moderating or mediating effect of other factors to better understand the Emotional Exhaustion issues. Considering the effect of Emotional Demand in the past literature and relevance of Emotional Exhaustion contribution in human-related jobs, it is necessary to look into the relationship of Emotional Demand with Emotional Exhaustion in general population for service industry, as a comprehensive picture of multiple occupations but still suitable as human-related jobs application. 15.

(28) Importance of Cognitive Demands. However, for service industry, only a few past research investigated the effect of comprehensive Job Demands dimensions on Emotional Exhaustion and mostly lack of cognitive requirements. For instance, some few research that divided Job Demands is Tuxford and Bradley (2015) about teachers, the author found that self- efficacy, Job Demands (emotional and non-emtional) and social support all contributed to explaining Emotional Exhaustion with negative influence. Another research by Vegchel, Jonge, Soderferlt, Dormann and Schaufeli (2004) examined Job Demands including quantitative and emotional requirements in relationship with burnout. The result showed that there both types of Job Demands were positively correlated to Emotional Exhaustion, and Emotional Demand had better effect than quantitative demands in this relationship. There is actually one research by Viotti and Converso (2016) conducted among 522 nurses about Cognitive Demand as one type of Job Demands that are positvely correlated with Emotional Exhaustion, leading to intention to leave and decrease in job satisfaction. However, Job Demands in this study did not cover Emotional Demand, instead the author used disproportionate expectations, quantitative demands and Cognitive Demand. Considering that service industry is one of the most cognitively demanding jobs, and the limitation to evaluate this factor from past research, Cognitive Demand will be included as one dimension of Job Demands in this study, along with Workload and Emotional Demand. In summary, based on the discussion in literature review part with Job demand – resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014) as theoretical foundation, it is proposed that all three dimensions of Job Demands (Workload, Emotional and Cognitive Demand) will be able to predict Emotional Exhaustion, thus the following hypotheses can be stated as below. Hypothesis 1: Job Demands are positively related to Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 1a. Workload has a positive association with Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 1b. Cognitive Demand has a positive association with Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 1c. Emotional Demand has a positive association with Emotional Exhaustion.. 16.

(29) Psychological Contract Breach In an organization, a contract is defined as the agreement between two parties which has legal value about mutual benefits and obligations. Psychological contract serves as one type of contract for employment relationship but without legal approval (Herriot, Manning, & Kidd, 1997). According to Rousseau (1989), psychological contract is the unwritten rules and reciprocal responsibilities between employers and employees. Psychological Contract Breach occurs when employees perceive the unfairness between efforts and rewards or employer did not fulfill their promises even though employees already completed obligations (Robinson & Morrison, 2000). Pschological contract thus has for long time become the foundation for understanding the relationship between employers and employees, with lots of past study proving its significant impact on working attitude, performance and work engagement (Rousseau, 1995; Yeh, 2012; Zhang, Ren, & Li, 2019). Even though empirical research mainly focuses on psychological contract from employee’s perspective, it is still in debate whether employer’s viewpoint should also be considered. The emphasis on both parties’ point of views was first suggested by Argyris (1960) as a method to meet each other’s needs. Other scholars including Kotter (1973) and Schein (1965) also supported this bilateral perspective, with focus on the role of employers and how the psychological contract is correlated to organizational culture. Meanwhile, Rosseau (1990), Sparrow and Hiltrop (1997) stated that psychological contract should only be viewed as what employees can achieve in return for their efforts. Recent studies including Guest and Conway (2002), Clinton and Guest (2014) pointed out the limitation of looking into only the employees’ perspective by arguing that mutual obligation should come from both parties, with an analysis review of flexible employment contracts on workers’ attitudes and behavior using psychological contract as a framework. However, as time passes by, more and more scholars followed the framework suggested by Rosseau, and in this study, this psychological contract concept is also applied to understand the characteristics of working environment, regarding the possibility of looking at both employees and employers’ perspective in future research. The nature of psychological contract can be further explained through three main types as discovered by Rousseau (1995) and later supported by Hui, Lee and Rosseau (2004) – table 2.1. First, transactional psychological contract – the most popular type available in companies (Maguire, 2002) refers to the exchange of service from employees for monetary value from employers (Rousseau, 17.

(30) 1995). These contracts are for limited time and clear exchange. By contrast, relational psychological contracts are more open-ended in terms and apply for long-term exchange, normally to build up relationships between the two parties. This type of contract involves both emotional attachment and financial rewards (Rousseau, 1995). Rosseau (1990) also found out that firms in service industry applied relational contracts by offering potentials to develop and promotion for long-term career path. Last but not least, balanced psychological contracts combined the characteristics of the two abovementioned types of contracts, with the advantage of more flexibility, thus help companies gain competitive advantage (Hui et al., 2004). This kind of contract specifically offered for long-term relationship with specified terms and become the objective of long-term human resource management practices in workplace.. Table 2.1. Types of Psychological Contracts Duration. Specificed performance terms. Not Specified performance terms. Short-term. Transactional. Transitional/ No guarantees. Long-term. Balance. Relational. Note. Adapted from “Psychological contract and organizational citizenship behavior in China: Investigating generalizability and instrumentality” by C. Hui, C. Lee, & D. M. Rousseau, 2004, Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(2), 311-321. Psychological Contract Breach (PCB) results when the balance principle for this contract breaks. In particular, employees perceive the unfairness between efforts and rewards or employer did not fulfill their promises even though employees already completed obligations (Morrison & Robinson, 1997). For example, the manager promised to a new employee that he/she would get annual bonuses of at least two- month salary if completed the job successfully or get promoted in the next two years. However, the employee in the end did not get bonus or any promotion even though he/she did the good job, leading to Psychological Contract Breach. Breach in this sense is different from violation. Previously, Psychological Contract Breach and violation are regarded as similar concepts, but from 1997 the distinction was proved in Morrison and Robinson’s study. Specifically, violation refers to. 18.

(31) the depression or negative emotional feeling resulted from breach, which only focuses on employees’ perception. As a result, Psychological Contract Breach occurs more often when the organization suffers difficult time in terms of revenue or operation, or there is lack of interaction and clear instruction prior to onboarding time. Past research also shows that if employees had experienced PCB in previous job or had multiple job choices during the time they came to the current company, they are more likely to perceive PCB again (Robinson & Morrison, 2000). These two scholars also listed reneging and incongruence as two fundamental reasons of perceived PCB. Reneging occurs when the organization knows what their obligations are but consciously does not fulfill that promise. For instance, the recruiter in the interview guaranteed to one candidate that he can work flexible hours if he accepts the offer of the job, but in the end he still had to work normal working hours after he joined the company. Meanwhile, incongruence refers to the misunderstanding between worker and the company about the obligations. In the above example, if the recruiter means only sometimes the employee can work flexible hours but the worker thinks everyday he can choose his preferred time then incongruence happened. Empirical research show that Psychological Contract Breach triggers a lot of serious consequences. According to Robinson and Rosseau (1994), employees who experienced PCB tend to be less satisfied with their jobs, perform more poorly and are more likely to leave the organization than those without PCB. When organizations failed to meet their promises according to the psychological contract, trust level and work engagement decreased substantially (Agarwal & Bhargava, 2013; Walker, 2013). Other study also supports that PCB causes negative working attitudes and counterproductive workplace behaviors (Li & Chen, 2018), or even unethical actions (Hill, Eckerd, Wilson, & Greer, 2009). Additionally, employees may regard PCB as employer’ unfair treament, resulting in negative effect on work outcomes and contribution to the organization.. Psychological Contract Breach as Moderator: Social Exchange Theory as Theoretical Foundation Furthermore, from past literature, Psychological Contract Breach also plays a crucial role in explaining Job burnout, including Emotional Exhaustion. According to Rousseau (1995) and Jamil, Raja and Darr (2013), PCB is associated with negative emotional reactions, resulting in burnout. The negative relationship with Emotional Exhaustion was also proved in the research of Tan, Wu and Cao 19.

(32) (2014) and Piccoli and De Witte (2015), which interviewed more than 300 blue-collar workers. Another research conducted by Cantisano, Domínguez and García (2007) also confirmed the direct impact of PCB on all factors of Job burnout, with social comparison as mediator. This negative relationship can be explained based on Social exchange theory, which originates from Homans (1958) framework about Social behavior as Exchange and later was developed by Blau (1964). Specifically, this theory implies that people’s social interaction or relationship is based on the cost-benefit analysis, people will interact according to the benefits they are expected to get from others. According to Cropanzano and Mitchell (2005), the mutual responsibilities or promises that two parties agree in a relationship is the exchange principle for their actions. Therefore, if employees recognize that their company did not accomplish the promises given, they tend to response with negative emotions, such as depression, anger, leading to lower work motivation and higher Emotional Exhaustion. Even though Psychological Contract Breach has been found to directly connect to job-related outcomes in past research as above-mentioned, there is a lack of empirical study about the moderating effect of PCB on the relationship between job demand and Emotional Exhaustion. This dimension of Job burnout has been researched for many years but there is still no comprehensive finding for understanding this problem, as each country and industry has different scenarios. Therefore, considering that the higher Job Demands are, the more likely employees may suffer from Emotional Exhaustion, leading to many other serious consequences such as lower work performance or higher turnover intention, the investigation Psychological Contract Breach as one of the factors that help bring more details for this relationship is necessary. Specifically, as PCB is linked to negative job outcomes, including Emotional Exhaustion, under this situation, if employees also receive PCB from employers, the influence of Job Demands on Emotional Exhaustion might be even more serious.. 20.

(33) Therefore, based on the above discussions with Social exchange theory as theoretical foundation, the following hypotheses are proposed in this study: Hypothesis 2: Psychological Contract Breach moderates the relationship between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion, such that higher Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 2a. Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Workload and Emotional Exhaustion, such that higher Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Workload and Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 2b. Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Cognitive Demand and Emotional Exhaustion, such that higher Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Cognitive Demand and Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 2c. Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Emotional Demand and Emotional Exhaustion, such that higher Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Emotional Demand and Emotional Exhaustion.. Summary This chapter provided a review of empirical research and theoretical framework relevant to this study. The proposed connection between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion was formulated, together with the moderating effect of Psychological Contract Breach on this relationship. Based on past research and theoretical background of Job Demands, Emotional Exhaustion and Psychological Contract Breach, hypotheses were provided accordingly.. 21.

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(35) CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODS This section outlines the methodology used in the study. Specifically, it covers research framework, procedure of conducting the research, participants or target sample, measurement of scales, data collection and analysis. The study applied the quantitative research method to examine the relationships among Job Demands, Emotional Exhaustion and Psychological Contract Breach.. Research Framework The framework of this study was built based on research objectives and literature review part which is presented in figure 3.1 as below. In this model, Job Demands with three dimensions namely Workload, cognitive and Emotional Demand were regarded as independent variables and Emotional Exhaustion is the dependent variable. Meanwhile, Psychological Contract Breach served as moderator to test its influence on the relationship between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion.. Psychological Contract Breach. H2; H2a -b-c Job Demands (1) Workload (2) Cognitive Demand (3) Emotional Demand. Emotional Exhaustion H1; H1 a-b-c Control Variables (1) Age (2) Gender (3) Job Tenure. Figure 3.1. Research framework. 23.

(36) From the illustration of research framwork, the hypotheses formulated in this study include: Hypothesis 1: Job Demands have a positive relationship with Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 1a. Workload has a positive association with Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 1b. Cognitive Demand has a positive association with Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 1c. Emotional Demand has a positive association with Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 2: Psychological Contract Breach moderates the relationship between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion, such that higher Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 2a. Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Workload and Emotional Exhaustion, such that higher Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Workload and Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 2b. Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Cognitive Demand and Emotional Exhaustion, such that higher Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Cognitive Demand and Emotional Exhaustion. Hypothesis 2c. Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Emotional Demand and Emotional Exhaustion, such that higher Psychological Contract Breach strengthens the relationship between Emotional Demand and Emotional Exhaustion.. 24.

(37) Research Procedure The process of conducting the research was presented in this segment. First detailed explanations for each step was introduced and then Figure 3.2. below would summary the whole procedure.. Research Background and Framework First, the interested topic was chosen after reading various past articles and then discussion with the thesis advisor. Also the background of the study was analyzed through the online information available about service industry in Vietnam. Afterwards, the framework model of the study was formulated with specific sample target and Psychological Contract Breach as moderator in investigating the correlation of Job Demands to Emotional Exhaustion.. Literature Review Researcher focused on empirical study to learn about the connection of all variables proven in the past besides linking the theory to the proposed relationship among all constructs. In this research, literature about Job Demands, Emotional Exhaustion and Psychological Contract Breach is the main interest.. Hypotheses Formation Based on research purpose and literature review part, hypotheses about the relationship of all variables was generated, which also stated specifically the moderating effect of Psychological Contract Breach.. Questionnaire Design Researcher reviewed all measurements related to each variable in the study with the focus on the validity and reliability of each scale, besides the well-known of its application. Subsequently, the scale of Job Demands (three dimensions), Emotional Exhaustion and Psychological Contract Breach would be determined and arranged in a scientific way together with control variables in demographic part.. 25.

(38) Data Collection The survey was then be distributed to service workers in Vietnam via convenience and snowball sampling methods, which took around two months to complete. The majority of the survey was uploaded online via social media for better approach to participants while the rest was printed to give to friends.. Data Analysis The software SPSS version 23 was chosen to conduct analysis for the data with step-by-step analysis including descriptive analysis, reliability and correlation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hierarchical regression analysis.. Research Result and Implication From the analysis, results were interpreted with hypothesis confirmation or rejection. Besides, implications and limitations of the research would also be presented based on the results and the whole research process.. Proofread and References After the main parts of the study are completed, proofread from research and also the comments from thesis advisor was necessary to revise any errors in time. Besides, references would be stated and combined in the last part of the research so that it is easier for readers to refer to the original source.. 26.

(39) Research Background and Framework. Literature Review. Hypotheses Formation. Questionnaire Design. Data Collection. Data Analysis. Research Results and Implications. Proofread and References implication. Figure 3.2. Research procedure. 27.

(40) Research Designs This study applied quantitative research method to find out the relationships between Job Demands and Emotional Exhaustion, with the moderating impact of Psychological Contract Breach. Specifically, self-reported survey was conducted. The questionnaire in this study comprises of four major sections including Job Demands (Workload, Cognitive Demand and Emotional Demand), Emotional Exhaustion, Psychological Contract Breach and demographic details. Before distributing to participants, back translation method was applied for convenience of readers. All the scales were originally in English, while target sample is fulltime workers in Vietnam service industry, therefore first, the survey was translated into Vietnamese by an English teacher in Vietnam. Subsequently, two Vietnamese graduate students with at least 7.0 IELTS level and also live in English-speaking countries were invited to translate back to English so that the questionnaire reaches the consistency in terms of translation. In designing the questionnaire, the researcher also paid attention to common method variance (CMV) bias. For example, some participants may intentionally want to provide all positive and same answers to all questions. Therefore, in the questionnaire there are three items belonging to Psychological Contract Breach were reversed score to avoid random and systematic answers affect the result. Furthermore, the variables were not explained in detail in the questionnaire together with the proposed hypothesis according to the suggestion of Spector and Brannick (2009) is also another solution for this problem.. Research Sample and Data Collection The sample for this study were fulltime workers in Vietnam service industry, and the division of this sector was based on the Services Sectoral Classification developed by World Trade Organization (WTO). Regarding Vietnam already joined WTO for more than a decade, this list is considered suitable for doing research purpose and globally accepted. Specifically, there are twelve main types of business in the service sector including: “Business services, communication services, constructions and related engineering services, distribution services, educational services, environmental services, financial services, health related and social services, tourism and travel related services, recreational, cultural and sporting services, transport services and others” (World Trade Organization, 1991, pp.1-7). In total, there were 245 valid respondents who are fulltime 28.

(41) Vietnamese service workers in this survey after two months of collecting data, from 15th January 2020 to 15th March 2020. Data was collected via convenience and snowball sampling using online social media and also paper to reach more participants. Specifically, convenience sampling, which belongs to nonprobability sampling method, refers to collecting target sample that is accessible and approachable by the researcher. Therefore, this survey was sent to the researcher’s Vietnamese friends and relatives who worked in service industry. Besides, snowball sampling was also applied in this research. Once the survey reached one participant, it would be introduced to their networks including friends, colleagues, or relatives who are also the sample target of the research. In this way the time for collecting data was reduced and the coverage density of the questionnaire increased substantially. The description of target sample with specific criterion was also provided in the research introduction so that only people who worked in Vietnam service industry joined. The main social media platforms used in distributing the questionnaire include Facebook, Gmail, and Zalo.. Measurement The survey for this study comprises of question items for three main variables and demographic information, which is stated in Appendix A. Specifically, there are 15 items for Job Demands, 5 items for Emotional Exhaustion and 5 items for Psychological Contract Breach. The questionnaire is originally in English but was translated into Vietnamese for convenience of the participants, together with back translation method to English for accuracy and validity check, as stated in the research design section.. Job Demands There are three core dimensions in Job Demands variable, namely Workload, Cognitive Demand and Emotional Demand. Workload (Quantitative demand) was measured with the scale developed by Spector and Jex (1998), with 5 questions focusing on the amount and pace of work. Examples of Workload inventory include “My job requires me to work very fast” and “I often have to do more than I can do well”. In the original research, the Cronbach’s Alpha for this scale was 0.82. Answers were stated according to 5-point Likert frequency scale, from 1 (never) to 5 (always), with higher score representing higher Workload experienced. 29.

(42) Cognitive Demand scale was applied from the Copenhaghen Psychological Questionnaire – version two (COPSOQ II) by Pejtersen et al. (2010) as this measurement was designed specifically for jobs that have high psychologically-related factors. It is also a sandardized and validated scale with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.74 conducted among 3517 samples in the original paper. Example items include “Does your work require you to remember a lot of things” and “Does your work require you to make difficult decisions?”. Answers were also stated according to 5-point Likert frequency scale, from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Emotional Demand indicator wias measured with the set of six question items developed by Bakker et al. (2003), reaching 0.74 for reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha value). Some examples can be stated including “Is your work emotionally demanding” or “Do you have to deal with clients who do not treat you with the appropriate respect and politeness? Answers were also stated according to 5point Likert frequency scale, from 1 (never) to 5 (always).. Emotional Exhaustion The measurement of this variable was adopted from Maslach Burnout Inventory- General Survey (MBI-GS). This questionnaire was developed by Schaufeli et al. (1996) with 0.87 internal consistency score. Two other dimensions also stated in this scale are Cynicism and Professional Efficacy. However, this study only focused on Emotional Exhaustion which was measured by five questions. Items for this scale were assessed with a 5-point frequency scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Examples of this construct are “I feel emotionally drained from my work” and “I feel used up at the end of the workday”.. Psychological Contract Breach Psychological Contract Breach was measured by the scale based on Robinson and Morrison (2000) which contained five questions and recorded 0.92 score for its Cronbach’s Alpha. This is also considered global assessment for employee’s perception of the degree to which organizations fulfilled its promises. There are three items were reversed such as “Almost all the promises made by my employer during recruitment have been kept so far” and “So far my employer has done an excellent job of fulfilling its promises to me”. Responses were designed according to 5-point agreement scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), higher score indicates higher Psychological Contract Breach, except for the reversed questions.. 30.

(43) Control Variables Empirical studies showed that some demographic characteristics could have substantial influence on Emotional Exhaustion. Therefore, in this study age, gender and job tenure were selected as control variables so that in testing the hypotheses formulated, the effect of these control variables would not distort the result. Age. Past literature showed that age was inversely correlated to Emotional Exhaustion (Bekker, Croon, & Bressers, 2005). The older people become, the less Emotional Exhaustion they suffer. Another research of Morgan, Van Haveren and Pearson (2002) also agreed with this finding, explaining this relationship by using coping mechanisms as the method of dealing with burnout when people ages. Recent scholars such as Seery and Corrigall (2009) also found the same the connection with Emotional Exhaustion. Gender. Meanwhile, gender differences also were recorded to affect Emotional Exhaustion (Brewer and Shapard, 2004). This gender difference was found to be greatest among young and new employees who just had few years of working experience, women often suffer higher Emotional Exhaustion (Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2002; Markus et al., 2018). Maslach (2001) also found that women tend to suffer more Emotional Exhaustion than men. This relationship could be explained via gender role theory by Eagly and Wood (1982), which stated that women tend to reveal their own emotions so more likely to get emotional depletion after times, while men prefer to suppress emotions. Therefore, gender is considered control variable in this study. Job tenure. Job tenure in the organization is the period of time any employees work in a company. Long time ago, Maslach and Jackson (1981) already found besides age, tenure also has negative impact on Emotional Exhaustion. Even recent study conducted by Topa, Pozo and José (2018) among 364 public employees in service sector also believed that the newer the staff members was, the higher Emotional Exhaustion recorded.. 31.

(44) Pilot Test Before collecting main data for this study, a pilot test was conducted with the aim of testing the reliability and face validity of all scales, and also the appropriateness of the questionnaire after comments from participants. After two weeks of distributing the survey online for pilot test, from December 27th 2019 to January 10th 2020, there were 85 respondents, all were fulltime workers in Vietnam service industry. The result of this pilot test provided general picture for researcher to understand the sample, while showing the reliability of each scale, represented by Cronbach’s Alpha value. According to Wim, Patrick and Patrick (2008), Cronbach’s alpha value in the range of 0.6 and 0.8 is considered as acceptable. From the pilot test, the majority of variables had good reliablity (over 0.7) and Cognitive Demand’s scale also had acceptable reliability. All the translation and contents of questions in the survey got good feedbacks from participants without confusing or misleading terms. Table 3.1. Reliability of Each Scale (N= 85) Variable. Total item number. Cronbach’s Alpha. Workload. 5. .784. Cognitive Demand. 4. .617. Emotional Demand. 6. .855. Job Demands. 15. .826. Emotional Exhaustion. 5. .898. Psychological Contract Breach. 5. .761. Data Analysis After valid responses were collected, data was imported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 23.0 version. The analysis techniques were conducted step-by-step as below:. Reliability Analysis The Cronbach’s Alpha score represents the reliability and internal consistency of each scale. In other words, it shows whether the measurements selected in the questionnaire would return the stable responses or not. This coefficient ranges from 0 to 1 with higher number indicating higher reliability. Specifically, if Cronbach’s alpha score reached 0.7 upwards, the scale would be considered appropriate and acceptable (Nunnally & Berstein, 1994). 32.

(45) Descriptive Analysis General information including means, standard deviation, and frequency distribution of all variables was then analyzed by descriptive analysis. This method also analyzed all demographic characteristics of participants such as age, gender, education, specific sub-industry, marital status, educational level in number and percentages.. Pearson Correlation Analysis Then the degree of correlation among all variables including Job Demands (Workload, Cognitive Demand and Emotional Demand), Emotional Exhaustion and Psychological Contract Breach was tested using Pearson correlation analysis. The result would range from -1 (negative linear correlation – same with other negative value) to 1 (positive linear association – same with other positive value) for the variables included. However, if the value is 0, there would be no relationship among all constructs.. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) This study will apply Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), one of the structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques which are normally used in quantitative research. The purpose of CFA is to evaluate whether the observed data fits well with proposed model, using Mplus software to conduct. In running CFA, attention was focused on Chi-square (c2), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker Lewis Index (TLI), The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and finally The standardized root mean-square residual (SRMR). For Chi-square value, the probability greater than chosen alpha score (0.05) indicates good fit (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). Moreover, CFI and TLI all range from 0 to 1 in value, if the score reach over 0.9 means reasonable fit. Last but not least, RMSEA and SRMR below 0.08 is considered reasonable fit of the whole model (Browne & Cudeck, 1989).. Hierarchical Regression Analysis Finally, all hypotheses were verified using hierarchical regression analysis. In this study this analysis was adopted to test the correlation among Job Demands (include three dimensions), Emotional Exhaustion and Psychological Contract Breach. Control variables was inserted in the first model, then Job Demands (independent variables) and Emotional Exhaustion (dependent variables) were also entered in the second one. The interaction term of psychological contract and Job Demands (each dimension was entered according to each hypothesis) was put in the third model.. 33.

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