Abstract
This paper centres on examining the link between emotional labour and
dinning duration within the restaurant industry. In this study emotional labour
practice was modelled as one of the crucial predictors of dining duration. This
is a multiple case study methodology using a cross sectional approach. The
target population was 480 dyads encounters in 6 of the most popular fast food
restaurant chains in Harare. Some 214 seat-in customers were the unit of
analysis while wait staff were the unit of observation. In terms of responses,
200 responses were attained and were deemed sufficient for meaningful
Structural Equation Modelling. The quantitative approach employed a self-completed structured questionnaire in collecting data. A structural equation
modelling was run to test the direct effects, a multi-group structural equation
modelling was run to test the moderating effects of categorical variables, and
a moderated multiple regression was run to test the moderation effects of the
latent variables. The study revealed various factors that influence the
connection between emotional labour and dinning duration such as the gender
factor of the people involved, the rate and strength of the interaction between
restaurant employees and the clients. The outcome directed that emotional
labour is positively associated with consumer dining duration. The consumer
dining duration is in turn associated with consumer expenditures within the
restaurant. However, all the hypothesised moderators had no statistically
significant effect. The study recommended the use of emotional labour as one
of the predictors for increased revenue in the restaurant industry through
increased consumer spending as mediated by the dining duration under the
scenario of excess capacity and limited demand.