Theoretical framework
The current study is based on finding the effect of customer empowering behavior on service employee performance. The current study is based on JD-R model that is job demand and resources theory. According to the theory, job demand and job resources are the factors that can lead an employee towards either the burnout or the work engagement. Job demand and job resources, a theory can be applied in many fields and in an organization. According to Bakker & Demerouti (2017), JD-R model, every occupation has its stress level and risk factors, which can be divided or classified into two different categories, the first is job demand and the second is job resources. According to Bakker & Demerouti (2017), the interaction between the job resources and the job demands can be considered important for the development of the stress, strain related to job and motivation level. Job resources help to reduce or buffer the effect of high job demands that lead an individual towards burnout. However, the type of job resource which buffers the effect usually depends on the work environment.
According to the JD-R model, there are two different psychological processes which play a key role in the development of motivation and the strain level related to the job. The first is the health impairment process and the second is the motivation process. Health impairment is related to the chronic job demands that can affect the mental health, increase stress level of employees to reduce physical resources. On the other hand, the motivation process is related to the job resources that influence the motivation level of employees and increase the performance level of employees (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). Detailed regarding each variable that is job demand, job resources work engagement burnout, and interaction between them is discussed below.
Job Demands
According to Bakker & Demerouti (2017), the term job demands can be defined as the psychological, physical, social or organizational characteristics of a job that require mental, cognitive ability, physical ability of employees to complete the overall goal of the organization. The most common examples that are mentioned by most of the researchers include workload, cognitive ability, poor working environment, and emotional demands. If an employee working in an organization is facing high job demands like high workload and high mental and cognitive abilities, then it will lead an employees towards health impairment. Due to health impairment, an employee may experience anxiety and stress on the job that can affect the overall performance of the employees. According to previous studies, it is identified that the high job demands are the significant predictors of the health impairment or health problems (Bakker, Demerouti, & Verbeke, Using the Job Demands-Resources Model To Predict Burnout and Performance, 2004). According to Demerouti, & Verbeke (2004), if a person is working continuously due to high job demands, then it means that person is already experiencing high fatigue. Therefore, there is a need for extra energy to compensate fatigue which can be done by metal efforts so that performance level can be maintained. However, with the use of extra mental ability at high fatigue level may lead a person to have acute fatigue which may result in health problems.
Job Resources
According to Bakker & Demerouti (2017), the term job resources can be explained by the psychological, physical, social or organizational characteristics that are used to achieve the overall goal of the task and the organization. According to research, job resources help to reduce the job demands and let a person have to increase motivation level. The most common examples of the job resources that are mentioned in most of the researchers include job anatomy, a variety of skills, feedback for performance, opportunities for the growth of employees in an organization. Other job resources may include supervisory support, coaching, and role-clarity, etc. If a person working in an organization with high job demands as well as high supervisory support, opportunity level and getting feedback on the performance then there is a possibility of high motivation level. According to previous studies, it is identified that the job resources are the significant predictor of high motivation level and high engagement level of employees towards their task and their organization. High motivation level increases the satisfaction level of employees that ultimately increases or enhances the performance level of an employee. Moreover, job resources are considered as the high predictors of the extra role performance of employees in an organization. According to JD-R model, the job resources work as a buffer to lower or reduce the impact of high job demands. Individual or employees with high job resources usually have less stress level and high motivation level (Hakanen, Demerouti, Bakker, & Xanthopoulou, 2007).
Engagement
Employee engagement is mediating variable in this research, and it is a very important part of a theoretical framework of this research. The concept of engagement was first introduced by Kahn (1990) and this concept aims to harness the members of an organization. In the result, employees express themselves to perform in an organization through their physical, cognitive, and emotional participation (Kahn, 1990). It shows the level of engagement under which an employee is expected to perform at a workplace. An employee has to be engaged physically so that job tasks might be done effectively. The employee has to be engaged to have more skills, increase knowledge and to share new knowledge and skills in the workplace. Moreover, an employee has to be emotionally and mentally active and healthy so that performance, new knowledge, and skills can fulfill the task requirement (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 2006). Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá, & Bakker (2002) have also provided their definition of engagement as it is an independent and distinct concept. It refers to the intentions of the employees regarding liking, trust, and identification. It depends on an employee how much he likes the work and wants to engage accordingly, and ultimately, it has a good impact on the company.
Work engagement is an important part of making an employee satisfied and making her a highly performed student. Customers want employees to work well, and as a result, they expect high performance from them. In the result, employees get exhausted in the activities of customer service (Tuckey & Hayward, 2011). According to the JD-R model, employees with high job resources and fewer job demands usually have high engagement and commit level towards the task and towards the organization. Employees with high motivation and engagement level also have a high-performance level, less anxiety, stress. These employees considered having no health problems.
Burnout
Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter (2006) have defined burnout as a syndrome, which emerges due to stress related to work (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 2006). Moreover, in later studies by researchers like Bakker, Demerouti, and Schaufeli (2002) different core dimensions of burnout have been discussed which include exhaustion, lack of engagement of employees, and cynicism. Moreover, it is also noted that burnout reduces the self-confidence of employees (Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2002). Furthermore, Demerouti, Bakker, Vardakou, and Kantas (2003) have discussed fatigue in their research and defined it as an extreme level of fatigue caused by prolonged work under the specific routine (Demerouti, Bakker, Vardakou, & Kantas, 2003). It is also observed that exhaustion dimension of burnout reduces the level of energy in the employees due to which employees face different kinds of work-related problems. Furthermore, the level of confidence in solving problems also reduces among employees in the result of employee burnout and in this way; burnout affects employees through different factors (Salanova & Schaufeli, 2008).
As this is the theoretical framework, therefore, the concept of burnout needs to be explored. Maslach and Jackson have defined the employee burnout in detail, and they have considered it as the syndrome. According to them, this syndrome has different components like exhaustion at the emotional level, lack of having any accomplishment at the personal level, and depersonalization. Moreover, burnout is found to be a slow process, which grows systematically. The exhaustion of employees is a component of employee burnout as due to overworking of employees; it is seen that employees get exhausted, and they lead to experience different kinds of distress and problems in their lives. Employees are not able to perform better in a workplace and the result, their performance goes down (Kahn, 1990).
The Premises of JD-R Theory
The study is based on the JD-R Theory, which is linked to a successful environment for employees in an organization. They can be more engaged in the workplace, and they are not very exhausted. Thus, premises of the theory include these two variables used in this study. According to Demerouti et al. (2001) job demands are the characteristics and qualities of an employee which make it sure that the employee is working according to job requirement (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). An employee has to exert his efforts at a workplace, and these efforts are psychological and physical at the same time. These efforts need to be sustainable in the long run to fulfil job requirements. However, these physical and psychological efforts have also their costs, which he has to pay in exchange for putting his efforts (Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2009).
Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, and Schaufeli (2009) have noted that high level of work engagement has positive effects on employees and one of the positive effects is regarding the psychological health of an employee (Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2009). Psychosomatic complaints of employees also get fewer, and their organizational commitment increases. Moreover, Salanova and Schaufeli (2008) have included the proactive behavior of employees those are enriched with high work engagement level (Salanova & Schaufeli, 2008). It is a component of JD-R model for a person to show his maximum engagement at work, so that he may come up with the requirements of a job. There is another important aspect of the JD-R model, which relates to a health impairment of an employee. Thus, the premises of the model cover both aspects. Tuckey and Hayward (2011) have given the example of a firefighting job in which an employee has to work as per the requirements of the job, but at the same time, an employee has to experience psychological stress, strain, and burnout (Tuckey & Hayward, 2011). The employee gets exhausted from a job because of a requirement of adjustment in a new working condition to perform the job or given task.
Thus, premises of JD-R theory cover both mediating variables of the study, which are employee exhaustion and employee engagement. An effective relationship between them guarantees high performance of the employee. Otherwise, employee performance is deteriorated. It shows that these variables fall under the premises of JD-R theory and in the following: their interaction is going to provide (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 2006).
Interaction of employee engagement, burnout, and job performance
As it is noted above under each head that employee engagement, burnout, and job performance have their role in an organization, therefore, it is important to analyze their interaction under his head. It is obvious that employees are given a certain job description, and they are expected to work under that job description (Kahn, 1990)
For this reason, an employee has to be engaged physically, psychologically, and cognitively to perform his assigned tasks. Employee engagement has rewards in return if employees work to the expected level. On the other hand, there are also some costs (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). Employee burnout and exhaustion are costs for employees, which emerge when an employee remains under the prolonged state of stress and high expectations. The employee gets affected by some problems with his health, and these effects are detrimental to his health and career (Salanova & Schaufeli, 2008). Job performance is related to both of these variables of employee engagement and employee exhaustion and burnout because both of these variables are negatively related to each other. The JD-R theory is being used in this research, and it considers that after the certain level of work, an employee starts losing his performance (Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2002).
Therefore, job performance increases with an increase in employee engagement and it decreases with increases in employee exhaustion and burnout. Therefore, the topic titled “effects of customer empowering behaviors on employees’ customer service performance through the mediating role of employee exhaustion and employee engagement” can also be well researched by taking JD-R theory into practice (Salanova & Schaufeli, 2008). There is an obvious and inevitable impact of customer empowering behavior on employee-customer service performance, and it is the duty of management to better deal the relationship so that employee exhaustion and employee engagement may be in nice balance (Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2009).
References
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2017). Job Demands–Resources Theory: Taking Stock and Looking Forward. Journal Of Occupational Health Psychology At 20, 2(3), 273–285.
Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2002). Validation of the Maslach burnout inventory-general survey: An internet study. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 15(3), 245-260.
Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., & Verbeke, W. (2004). Using The Job Demands-Resources Model To Predict Burnout And Performance. Human Resource Management, 43(1), 83-104.
Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied psychology, 86(3), 499.
Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Vardakou, I., & Kantas, A. (2003). The convergent validity of two burnout instruments: A multitrait-multimethod analysis. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 19(1), 12.
Hakanen, J. J., Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., & Xanthopoulou, D. (2007). Job Resources Boost Work Engagement, Particularly When Job Demands Are High. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(2), 274–284.
Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of management journal, 33(4), 692-724.
Maslach, C., Jackson, S. E., & Leiter, M. P. (2006). Maslach burnout inventory. CPP.
Salanova, M., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2008). A cross-national study of work engagement as a mediator between job resources and proactive behaviour. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19(1), 116-131.
Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., González-Romá, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness studies, 3(1), 71-92.
Tuckey, M. R., & Hayward, R. (2011). Global and occupation‐specific emotional resources as buffers against the emotional demands of fire‐fighting. Applied Psychology 60, 1, 1-23.
Xanthopoulou, D., Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2009). Reciprocal relationships between job resources, personal resources, and work engagement. Journal of Vocational behavior, 74(3), 235-244.
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