The role of organizational justice and job satisfaction in mitigating turnover intention of emotionally exhausted employees: evidence from Vietnam

Purpose - This study examines employee emotional exhaustion and turnover intention as the consequences of problematic customer behaviors and tests the role of perceived organizational justice and job satisfaction in mitigating these consequences. Design/methodology/approach - A four-hypothesis model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) based on a two-phase survey of 369 frontline services employees in Vietnam with a three-month time lag. Findings - The study shows that abusive and unreasonably demanding customer behaviors have positive effects on emotional exhaustion, which, in turn, reduces job satisfaction and, subsequently, turnover intention. It also reveals that organizational justice mechanisms attenuate the positive association between emotional exhaustion and turnover intention. Job satisfaction indirectly mitigated the turnover intention of emotionally exhausted employees who had to deal with problematic customer behaviors, especially in the service sector in Vietnam, an emerging market. Originality/value - Building upon the social exchange theory (SET) and the conservation of resources theory (COR), this study extended the research on organizational justice with respect to emotional exhaustion in the customer service sector that received less attention previously. Rather than merely focusing on the interpersonal factors (e.g. respect and sensitivity) as organizational support does, organizational justice encompasses employees' perception of fairness of outcome and the whole process in an organization to reach decisions.