The impact of customer misconduct on emotional exhaustion of fitness trainer: Role stress as mediating variable

The economic advancement in China has significantly boosted the development of the fitness industry, resulting in increased demand for service and quality from fitness training institutions. While expectations for fitness trainers have risen, customer misconduct has become more evident, negatively impacting fitness trainer behaviors. This study aims to explore the factors influencing emotional exhaustion among fitness trainers, including customer misconduct and role stress. Using a quantitative approach, this study selected and surveyed 728 trainers from 364 fitness clubs in China, obtaining 672 valid samples to study the relationships among variables. The findings indicate that customer misconduct has a significant positive impact on both role stress and emotional exhaustion. Additionally, there is a positive correlation between role stress and emotional exhaustion, while role stress mediates the effects of customer misconduct on emotional exhaustion. This study highlights the importance of addressing the emotional health of fitness trainers in fitness clubs. It suggests the need for adequate recruitment and assessment training interventions to empower trainers to manage customer misconduct, release stress, and consequently improve trainers’ psychological state. These measures aim to reduce the occurrence of misconduct and raise the overall service level of the industry. It is important to note that the sample of this study is limited to fitness clubs in major cities in China. Therefore, the conclusions may not be generally applicable to rural fitness club contexts.