Abstract
This special issue introduces new perspectives on emotional labor in the service context. That is, while service work has been a focus of much of the emotional labor research world, explication of the context in which that service work occurs (including the customers served, the leadership of those who serve, and the larger organizational context) has not received much attention. In addition, the emotional labor of customers has also not been much explored. The papers included in this special issue explore these issues from the viewpoints of both the fields of organizational behavior and services management; they consider emotional labor from both employees’ and customers’ perspectives; and they explore the outcomes of emotional labor in ways that signal the common human experiences of people when in interaction with each other. Together, these papers offer new insights on emotional labor by translating service characteristics and service leadership into attitudes and experiences of service workers and customers, their behaviors and emotions, and ultimately into their health and wellbeing. This introduction provides a series of lenses useful for interpreting the papers in this special issue. We hope that the depth and diversity of new directions for emotional labor research and practice that are suggested by this special issue will inspire many researchers and practitioners navigating this world to provide both understanding of it and further the health and well-being of those involved in it.
Highlights
This special issue introduces new perspectives on emotional labor in the service context
Our call for papers for the special issue was motivated by four issues of emotional labor research and practice that we believe are key to a better understanding of emotional labor in the service context
We describe each paper in some detail and with a particular focus on how the authors contribute to the four issues presented earlier: (1) the seeming dilemma that what is good for customers is bad for service workers; (2) the integration of emotional labor into service linkage and management research; (3) the understanding of the fact that customers experience emotional labor in service interactions; and (4) the identification and definition of risk and health hazards in the emotional labor work reality
Summary
Our call for papers for the special issue was motivated by four issues of emotional labor research and practice that we believe are key to a better understanding of emotional labor in the service context. We describe each paper in some detail and with a particular focus on how the authors contribute to the four issues presented earlier: (1) the seeming dilemma that what is good for customers is bad for service workers; (2) the integration of emotional labor into service linkage and management research; (3) the understanding of the fact that customers experience emotional labor in service interactions; and (4) the identification and definition of risk and health hazards in the emotional labor work reality We conclude this introduction to the special issue with our own elaboration of emotional labor and its service context. We seek to integrate the viewpoints of the four papers presented here with the central issues we presented earlier requiring attention, along with suggestions for future research and practice
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.