Emotional Labour, Burnout, and Turnover Intentions Among Customer-Facing Employees in Nigerian Retail Banks: A Longitudinal Analysis

This study investigates the relationships among emotional labour strategies, burnout, and turnover intentions among customer-facing employees in Nigerian retail banking, using a two-wave longitudinal design to establish temporal precedence in the hypothesised relationships. Nigerian bank branch employees face high-intensity emotional labour demands, including suppressing frustration during difficult customer interactions and maintaining service smiles under high-pressure transaction volumes, with direct consequences for psychological wellbeing and retention. The study draws on a sample of 210 retail bank employees from 15 branch locations in Lagos selected at baseline, with 182 completing the follow-up wave six months later. Instruments include Grandey's Surface and Deep Acting Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and a validated Turnover Intention Scale. Hochschild's Emotional Labour Theory and the Job Demands-Resources Model provide the theoretical framework. Longitudinal hierarchical regression findings confirm that surface acting at baseline predicts burnout at follow-up, which in turn predicts turnover intentions, establishing burnout as a temporal mediator in the emotional labour-turnover chain. Deep acting, by contrast, shows a negative relationship with burnout, suggesting that authentic emotional engagement is psychologically protective. Emotional regulation training is found to moderate the surface acting-burnout relationship. Recommendations include transitioning banks from performance-script models to authenticity-supportive service cultures, providing mandatory emotional regulation training, and monitoring burnout indicators through periodic HR health checks. Keywords: Emotional Labour, Burnout, Turnover Intentions, Retail Banking, Longitudinal.