In the eye of the beholder: emotional labor in academia varies with tenure and gender

Abstract

Expanding from the customer-service perspective, the present research investigated emotional labor, defined as “service with authority,” in an academic context. Drawing from previous research on display rules and power, tenure and gender were hypothesized to influence the extent to which college faculty labored to provide “service with authority” when interacting with entitled students. Survey results revealed that faculty low in power (untenured faculty) exhibited higher levels of emotional labor when interacting with students, as compared with colleagues high in power (tenured faculty). Additionally, tenure had a mitigating effect on emotional labor amongst male faculty, but heightened stress amongst female faculty. Together, the data suggest that, compared to customer-service settings, emotional performance requirements in academia are both different and dynamic.