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Customer Stressors in Service Organisations: The Impact of Age on Stress Management and Burnout

Johnsen, Sheena SJ; Holdsworth, Lynn; Hoel, Helge; Zapf, Dieter

European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. 2013;22:318-330.

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Abstract

This study examined the impact of age on stress management strategies and burnout as a response to customer stressors. Questionnaire data from 273 retail sector employees revealed that age is negatively related to customer stressors but no direct relationships were found with stress management strategies. Moderation analysis revealed no pattern of interaction between customer stressors and age on burnout, although the older retail employees were less likely to experience cynicism when exposed to disliked customers. A key finding of this study is that older employees’ stress management strategies of emotion control and active coping had a more positive effect on emotional exhaustion and cynicism compared to younger employees. As with previous studies few significant results were found for professional efficacy. The stress management strategies of humour and downplay had limited interaction effects with age. Exploratory analyses of three-way interactions between humour and downplay, customer stressors, and age on burnout revealed systematic findings in the expected direction in high stress situations with younger employees less successfully using these strategies to reduce levels of emotional exhaustion and cynicism. This article shows the competencies of older employees and argues against the deficits of older workers. Practical implications for organizations and supervisors are discussed.

Bibliographic metadata

Type of resource:
Content type:
Publication status:
Published
Publication type:
Publication form:
Published date:
ISSN:
Publisher:
Volume:
22
Start page:
318
End page:
330
Total:
12
Pagination:
318-330
Digital Object Identifier:
10.1080/1359432X.2013.772581
Attached files embargo period:
Immediate release
Attached files release date:
22nd January, 2015
Access state:
Active

Institutional metadata

University researcher(s):

Record metadata

Manchester eScholar ID:
uk-ac-man-scw:249736
Created by:
Hoel, Helge
Created:
22nd January, 2015, 20:15:08
Last modified by:
Hoel, Helge
Last modified:
22nd January, 2015, 20:42:12

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