Emotional Labor, Rapport, and Word of Mouth in Fitness Organizations

The fitness service industry requires employees to interact with members, placing great importance on their emotional expression to manage service quality and the subsequent organizational outcomes. Emotional labor may be a significant psychologically related factor that plays a critical role in building pleasant interactions between a fitness organization’s employees and its members. Thus, grounded in the emotional contagion theory, this study examines the predictability of perceived emotional labor strategies on the development of a rapport between a fitness organization’s employees and its members, and the subsequent effect of this rapport on word of mouth regarding the fitness organization. A total of 353 fitness members in the United States participated in the modified versions of paper-and-pencil surveys pertaining to the proposed variables. The findings showed that perceived surface acting, or superficial interaction, is negatively related to rapport, whereas perceived deep acting, a more profound form of interaction, is positively related to rapport. Furthermore, rapport was positively associated with word of mouth. This result indicates the significance of emotional labor in the service delivery of fitness employees and developing a positive relationship with fitness members.