Gender-Specific Association between Emotional Labor and Health-Promoting Behavior in Call Center Workers

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to examine whether emotional labor was significantly associated with health-promoting behaviors among both women and men at call center workers.Methods: A cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted among 709 workers (470 women and 239 men) at K call center workplace in Seoul, South Korea. Emotional labor and health-promoting behaviors were measured using the Emotional Labor and Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II).Results: Of all the call center workers, the average score of emotional labor was 3.5 out of 5.0. Women had a higher average emotional labor score (3.6 points) than men (3.5 points). The average score of health-promoting behaviors was 2.0 out of 4.0 in the overall workers and each group of women and men workers, respectively. Emotional labor was significantly associated with health-promoting behaviors among each group of women and men. Among women workers, emotional labor was significantly negatively associated with the spiritual growth and stress management subscales of the HPLP-II, while among men workers, it was significantly negatively associated with all HPLP-II subscales.Conclusions: Emotional labor may be associated with health-promoting behaviors and its associations with the subscales of health-promoting behaviors may differ by gender. Therefore, nursing strategies for reducing emotional labor should be concerned in the context of gender-specific associations with emotional labor.