The relationship between emotional labor behavior and intent to quit: A study in virtual organizations

The aim of this study is to reveal the differences and similarities of emotional labor behaviors of employees in virtual organizations in terms of the relationship with their intention to leave the job. Due to the lack of sufficient studies in virtual organizations, especially in terms of the relationship between employees of generations X,Y, Z and emotional labor, this study is thought to contribute to the literature. The study was conducted on virtual network employees in Turkey of an international company that markets healthy life products in different countries. In the study, the relationships between fake, genuine and optimistic emotions, which are considered as emotional labor dimensions, were determined by using structural equation model (SEM) analysis. As a result of our research, it was revealed that the emotional labor behaviors of virtual organization employees do not have any effect on their intention to leave the job. In addition, when the context of generations X, Y and Z were examined, a significant relationship was found between optimistic emotions and intention to leave the job. Both the increase in generation Z in virtual organizations and the spread of virtual organizations with digitalization in the future emphasize the importance of this issue. Considering that the rate of job turnover will harm organizations, it is thought that stress-reducing measures such as organizational climate, motivation, face-to-face communication, participatory management style, leadership, etc., which will increase organizational commitment, can eliminate intention to leave the job in terms of precautions to the issue. From the perspective of organizational behavior, it can be said that emotional labor is extremely important for different generations, especially in virtual organizations