Gender and Emotion in Tourism: Do Men and Women Tour Leaders Differ in Their Performance of Emotional Labor?

Abstract

ABSTRACTEmotional dimensions of hospitality and tourism service providers constitute an essential research topic, as the provision of high-quality services has clear effects on a destination’s competitive advantage. Past studies on gender and emotions have been limited. Currently, little is known about the extent of gender differences in Chinese tour leaders’ roles and the relationship between such differences and emotional labor. This study aims to investigate whether men and women tour leaders perform emotional labor differently. A survey of 309 Chinese tour leaders revealed that surface acting and deep acting were the two most used emotional labor strategies. Men and women tour leaders neither differed significantly in their emotional labor performance nor in their role performance. Women and men tour leaders displayed similar levels of deep acting. However, men put more effort into surface acting than women. Moreover, men and women were motivated by different types of organizational and supervisor support to perform their roles. These findings provide important implications for travel agency managers regarding employee selection, staff training and organizational support.