Are All Service Interactions Created Equal? Employees' Perceptions of Attribution and Justice of Clients' Emotional Demands and Employee Well-Being

Abstract

Emotional labor, particularly in frontline service roles, has traditionally been examined through the lens of performance strategies, such as surface or deep acting. However, emerging research suggests that employees' subjective interpretations of emotionally demanding situations-especially attributions of responsibility and perceived fairness-play a critical role in shaping their well-being. This study adopts a qualitative phenomenological approach to explore how frontline employees engage in meaning-making regarding the emotional labor demands during customer interaction. Drawing on six group semi-structured interviews, we conducted a thematic analysis to investigate ho