The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of emotional labor geared toward bolstering the organizational commitment of employees in long-term care facilities, to provide information on efficient human resources management for these institutions and to suggest several policies.
Among employees of long-term care facilities, the state of emotional labor in social workers, care workers and nurses(aides) was analyzed, and the correlation of it to social support and working environments was investigated to determine how much it was affected by all the variables.
The state of emotional labor among the employees of the long-term care facilities was analyzed on a five-point scale. As for surface acting, the social workers got a mean of 3.34, and the care workers got 3.47. The nurses(aides) got 3.56. In terms of deep acting, the social workers got 3.04, and the care workers got 2.86. The nurse aides got 3.07. Thus, surface acting was more common among the employees of the long- term care facilities than deep acting, and the intensity of emotional labor was strongest among the nurse aides.
The findings of the study on the relationships of the variables were as follows:
First, both surface acting and deep acting that were the subvariables of emotional labor were found to have exercised a positive influence on organizational commitment, social support and working environments.
Second, social support and working environments turned out to affect organizational commitment in a positive way.
Third, in terms of mediating effect, social support turned out to have a mediating effect on the relationship between emotional labor and organizational commitment, but working environments were found not to produce any mediating effects.
Given the findings of the study, emotional labor turned out to be a positively influential variable. This finding lends credibility to facial feedback hypothesis, and it runs counter to the findings of studies on emotional labor in the social welfare sector. This fact implies that it''s necessary to make research on the positives of emotional labor in this area.
Based on the findings of the study, there are five suggestions on how to ensure the efficiency of human resources management in long-term care facilities: First, the development of emotional labor manuals is required. Second, the development of on-the-job training programs for emotional labor is necessary as well, and related education should be provided. Third, a law should be enacted to protect emotional laborers including employees of long-term care facilities. Fourth, treatment and working environments for employees of long-term care facilities should be improved. Fifth, a mentoring system should be utilized as a way to offer social support for these employees.