Organizational injustice and emotional labor in the hospitality industry: A theoretical review

The topic of emotional labor continues to gain more attention in research and workplace. The study summarizes theoretical research with emphasis on evolution of theories on emotional labor and its antecedent organizational injustice. There is an increasing number of research on consequences of emotional labor, but research on its antecedents is strongly lacking. The purpose of this article is as follows: to review all theoretical background of emotional labor, organizational justice and their evolution over time, to review proposed antecedents of emotional labor and to provide connection of all four facets of organizational injustice and its impact on emotional labor, to explain emotional labor using action theory, appraisal theory and cognitive theory and to link all four facets of organizational injustice using affective events theory, social exchange theory, fairness theory and referent cognitive theory. Finally, potential research gaps were identified in the emotional labor research and some ideas for future research were provided.