The Detrimental Effects of Insecure Job: Emotional Exhaustion and Its Impact on Service Quality

This research explores the interconnections among job insecurity, emotional exhaustion, Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), and customer-directed deviance, framed by the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. The study, drawing on data from 312 frontline employees in Korea, utilizes hierarchical regression to analyze these relationships. It was found that job insecurity has a significant and positive correlation with customer-directed deviance. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion plays a pivotal mediating role in this link. The study also discovers that LMX moderates the relationship between job insecurity and emotional exhaustion, as well as the indirect effect of job insecurity on customer-directed deviance, mediated by emotional exhaustion. Specifically, these relationships are less pronounced in instances of high LMX compared to low LMX. The study concludes with a discussion of its theoretical contributions and practical implications.