Emotional Labor Research Articles

The ‘emotional contract’: on obligation and guilt in women influencers’ work with brands

ABSTRACT This article explores the sense of obligation and feelings of guilt experienced by female influencers when collaborating with brands. Sponsored posts are crucial for influencers’ income, and despite their awareness of the uncertain algorithms governing post visibility, influencers feel personally responsible for maximizing exposure and generating sales from their audience. Drawing on 15 interviews with Australian influencers on Instagram and 12 interviews with Chinese influencers from Xiaohongshu (Red), this article reveals the “messiness” during influencers’ negotiations with brands and the emotional obligations that transcend mere commercial contracts. The emotional connections between female influencers and brands give rise to what I term an “emotional contract,” which weakens influencers’ bargaining flexibility. I argue that this contract is rooted in the gendered nature of the influencer ecosystem and the historical devaluation of emotional labour expected of women. This dynamic fosters and normalizes a structure of guilt, thereby imposing additional challenges in receiving fair compensation.

Revisiting the Impact of Illegitimate Tasks on Volunteers: Does Emotional Labor Make a Difference?

Revisiting the Impact of Illegitimate Tasks on Volunteers: Does Emotional Labor Make a Difference?

Moderating effect of family structure on the relationship between early clinical exposure and emotional labor of nursing students: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundEmotional labor is an essential component of nursing practice and is important for Generation Z nursing students born from the mid-1990s to early 2010s. They will become the backbone of the nursing workforce but present more emotional regulation problems. Studies on emotional labor are limited to clinical nurses and influencing factors at the individual level. The impacts of external systems on emotional labor of nursing students have not been explored. This study aimed to quantify the relationship between early clinical exposure and emotional labor and test the moderating effect of family structure on the relationship.MethodsThe cross-sectional study recruited 467 nursing students using convenience sampling from seven colleges and universities in mainland China. An e-survey created on WJX.CN was used to collect data in January 2023. Emotional labor (surface acting and deep acting) was measured with the Emotional Labor scale. Early clinical exposure (exposure or not and times of exposure) and family structure (nuclear family, extended family, and single-parent family) were assessed with self-reported questions. Descriptive statistics and the linear mixed-effects modeling were used to do the analyses.ResultsThe mean scores of surface acting and deep acting were 26.66 ± 5.66 and 13.90 ± 2.40, respectively. A significant difference in scores of surface acting was not observed for exposure or not, whereas such a significant difference was found for times of exposure. Nursing students from extended families demonstrated significantly lower scores on surface acting while exposed to clinical practice compared with those from nuclear families. Family structure moderated the relationship between times of exposure and surface acting of nursing students when exposed to clinical practice for one time, but the significance disappeared when the times of exposure increased. No significant findings of early clinical exposure on deep acting were observed.ConclusionsEarly clinical exposure influenced emotional labor, and students from extended families were more likely to get benefits from early clinical exposure. Studies are needed to help students from nuclear families get comparable benefits on emotional labor as those from extended families, and improve deep acting by early clinical exposure.

Post-#MeToo Reflections on Pre-#MeToo TV Production: Female Actors’ Precarity, Agency, and Emotional Labor

Post-#MeToo Reflections on Pre-#MeToo TV Production: Female Actors’ Precarity, Agency, and Emotional Labor

Can the Alienated Helper Speak?

This autoethnographic study explores the often overlooked and undervalued roles of assistants in the contemporary art world, focusing on their experiences of alienation and burnout. Through a combination of personal narrative and theoretical analysis, it examines how support roles, despite being essential to artistic production, remain invisible within the dominant art discourse that idolizes creative authorship. I begin with a reflection on my experiences as both an assistant and a curator, highlighting instances of emotional labor and burnout among support staff. The narrative is contextualized within broader cultural and social frameworks, drawing on feminist theory and sociological studies that critique the hierarchical nature of artistic labor. Extending to autofictional literature, the analysis showcases how assistants articulate their alienation and critique the art world’s exploitative dynamics. By interweaving personal and literary accounts, the study underscores the paradox of interdependence in art, where the labor of assistants is both indispensable and disregarded. The conclusion advocates for a reexamination of artworld structures, urging greater recognition and support for those in support roles.

Trends in Emotional Labor Research: Bibliometric and Science Mapping Analysis

Emotional labor is about employees in the service sector involving their emotions while performing the service job as required. Emotions are also used for commercial purposes. The study analyzes data on emotional labor through bibliometric and science mapping methods. For the analyses, data between 1982 and 2024 are scanned in the Web of Science (WoS) database, and data for 2,925 documents are accessed. After loading the data, the VOSviewer program is utilized to analyze it for bibliometric and science mapping purposes. Subsequently, the investigation unveiles the foremost authors, countries, journals, institutions, and keywords in emotional labor research. This is followed by analyzing their co-authorship, co-citation, bibliographic coupling, and keyword co-occurrence models. As a result, in emotional labor research, it is found that Alicia A. Grandey is the most productive and most cited author, the USA is the most productive country, Frontiers in Psychology is the most productive journal, and the most frequently encountered keywords are burnout, surface acting, job satisfaction, deep acting, and emotional exhaustion, respectively. The analysis findings reveal a collaborative nexus among authors, countries, and institutions, offering visual network maps and comprehensive insights into emotional labor's present status and trends within the scientific literature.

A Study on the Effect of Emotional Intelligence of Beauty Industry Professional on Emotional Dissonance and Job Satisfaction

A Study on the Effect of Emotional Intelligence of Beauty Industry Professional on Emotional Dissonance and Job Satisfaction

The Effect of Dental Hygienists Overcoming Ability on Job Satisfaction and Emotional Labor

The Effect of Dental Hygienists Overcoming Ability on Job Satisfaction and Emotional Labor

보건·의료계열 종사자의 정신적 웰빙을 저해하는 산업안전 유해요인 분석 - 의사, 간호사, 의료기사를 중심으로

The industrial safety of health and medical workers who struggling on the front lines of diseases and disasters to protect public health and life, is threatened by working environment hazard factors that damage health. Despite they are exposing to hazard factors and accumulating mental well-being risks frequently, the social discussions and national efforts for their health were insufficient due to complacent perceptions that “They would be safe from occupational diseases and industrial accidents because of the working environment characteristic that set as medical work”. Korean society needs to enhance the importance of industrial safety because if the mental well-being risk of health and medical workers is not healed in proper time, the deterioration of work engagement can harm personal health and patient life and threat public health and cause a national crisis. Therefore, this study analyzed occupational safety hazard factors that hinder health and medical worker's mental well-being focusing on doctor, nurse, medical technician based on Rutter's ‘Cumulated Risk Model’ that explaining the more accumulate of exposure to simultaneous risk factors, the greater ripple effect of human's internalization and externalization problem. The multiple regression analysis were performed with SPSS Statistics 29.0 for 749 health and medical workers who attended the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey published by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Research. As a result, the health and medical worker's mental well-being were hindered whey they exposure to occupational safety hazard factors, emotional labor and quantitative labor intensity were finally verified as occupational safety hazard factors that threatened the mental well-being of them. Based on the results, this study suggested ① services and policies to effectively counter occupational safety hazard factors that hinder the health and medical worker's mental well-being, ② prevention and solution plan about exposure problem to occupational safety hazard factors, ③ customized strategies to promote health and medical workers' mental well-being.

Emotional labour in learning to doctor.

Emotional labour in learning to doctor.

Role of Managerial Hierarchy level in determining the Emotions of Employees at Workplace

This study explores the role of managerial hierarchy in shaping the emotions of employees within the workplace. Managerial hierarchy, defined by the levels of authority and responsibility in an organization, significantly influences various aspects of employee experiences, including emotional responses, job satisfaction, and performance. The research examines how different hierarchical structures impact emotional labor, emotional intelligence in leadership, and perceived organizational justice, thereby affecting employee emotions. It highlights that flatter hierarchies often promote autonomy and open communication, leading to positive emotional outcomes, while taller hierarchies can create environments of controlled interaction and emotional suppression, potentially resulting in negative emotional states. The study also underscores the importance of emotional intelligence in leadership for managing the emotional climate and fostering supportive and inclusive work environments. Understanding the interplay between managerial hierarchy and employee emotions provides valuable insights for organizations aiming to enhance employee well-being and organizational effectiveness through strategic management practices and organizational design.

Simulating reality: Stage actors’ emotional labour strategies and experienced outcomes

Simulating reality: Stage actors’ emotional labour strategies and experienced outcomes

The Emotional Labour of College Student Activism: An Interview-Based Study

Abstract Activism inherently involves emotional engagement, often stemming from personal experiences, connections to the issue, or fuelled by emotions like anger, frustration, and a drive for positive social change. This article builds upon Hochschild’s concept of emotional labour, expanding its scope to encompass the emotional dimensions of activism among college students. We delve into the lived experiences of 67 college student activists in the mid-Atlantic region of the USA, uncovering the emotional impetuses driving their activism, the challenges of activist burnout resulting from their emotional labour, and the strategies employed to navigate its emotional toll. By analysing the emotional narratives shared by these student activists, this article seeks to contribute to the understanding of academics and practitioners by constructing a comprehensive framework that illuminates how emotions affect their activism toward effecting transformative social change.

Emotional Digital Labor Among Young People Within the Context of Lumpencybertariat

Türkiye ranks among the countries with the highest rates of social media usage. Especially among the young population, the prevalence of social media usage reaches the highest rates. This article focuses on the formation of hate within the cultural production processes on social media among young population. The monopolization of social media platforms fosters an economic logic where hateful interactions gain exchange value within algorithmic distribution systems. The online activities of social media users are at risk of being drawn into a “discursive spiral of hate”. Algorithms direct social media activities towards emotional escalation and transform online interactions into the “emotional digital labor”. Thus, the digital cultural production is tended to be dominated by the “lumpencybertariat”. This lumpenization process poses a direct risk to young social media users. This article aims to outline the conceptual framework of the position of lumpencybertariat as the producer of emotional digital labor in the digital capitalism. The possibility of “emotional sustainability” as a potential tool to counter the risk of lumpenization in digital cultural production is discussed.

Effects of surface acting on exhaustion of Korean school counselors

AbstractThis study investigated the impact of surface acting on exhaustion in Korean school counselors. Using the daily diary method with 223 school counselors, the study examined how maintaining a positive outward image through surface acting is related to job exhaustion. The results indicated that surface acting at both Level 1 and Level 2 positively affects exhaustion. Additionally, a supportive administrative climate negatively predicted exhaustion. Interestingly, the relationship between surface acting and exhaustion was found to be more pronounced when administrators were perceived as highly supportive, whereas this relationship was attenuated in the context of low administrative support. These findings highlight the complexity of emotional labor and the crucial role of administrative support in the well‐being of school counselors. Future research should further explore these dynamics to develop effective strategies for reducing burnout among school counselors.

The Conditional Effects of the Transformational Leadership Behaviors on Leaders’ Emotional Exhaustion: Roles of Deep Acting and Emotional Intelligence

This study used the model of emotional labor as emotion regulation to examine the indirect effect of transformational leadership behaviors on leaders’ emotional exhaustion through leaders’ deep acting. Further, it is hypothesized that this indirect effect varies depending on the level of leaders’ emotional intelligence. The sample included 230 leader-follower dyads working in public sector organizations in Pakistan. The results of the regression analysis showed that deep acting behaviors mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and emotional exhaustion, but only for leaders with low levels of emotional intelligence. These findings highlight the importance and relevance of emotional intelligence in managing emotions and maintaining emotional well-being among transformational leaders in the public sector. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study in the manuscript.

Reflections on Emotional Labor in Online Spectator Tourism and the Development of New Media Cultural Tourism

The emergence of new media technology has given birth to the innovative form of online spectator tourism. The widespread adoption of its marketing models and the transformation of user behavior have made it a key to innovation in the tourism industry. Among these, emotional labor plays a crucial role in the development of new media cultural tourism in China, significantly enhancing communication effects, increasing brand influence, and promoting the improvement of audience participation and experience. Through case studies from places like Zibo, Harbin, and Gansu, this paper elaborates the application patterns, characteristics, and impacts of new media in cultural tourism brand marketing, and proposes strategies for the development of new media cultural tourism based on emotional labor.

How does pesticide reduction affect labour time and profitability? A crop production case study

CONTEXTNational and international agendas are focusing on reducing pesticides due to their detrimental effects on flora, fauna, and human health, which has led to the introduction of agri-environmental programmes aimed at reducing the risk of pesticides. Pesticide reduction in agriculture can have an impact on labour time requirements and profitability. OBJECTIVEWe used winter wheat, sugar beet, and potatoes as examples to analyse the changes in profitability and working time requirements, including management tasks. METHODSFor the calculations, we used five different production schemes for each crop: reference; (A) reduction of herbicides; (B) reduction of growth regulators, fungicides, and insecticides; combination of schemes (A) and (B); and organic production. The working time requirements for fieldwork and farm management work were modelled for each scheme and crop. The respective partial costs and benefits of the schemes were calculated for each crop. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSBased on the model assumptions, scheme (B) appears favourable in terms of working time requirements, and profitability of winter wheat and sugar beet. Scheme (A) offers synergies between the same parameters for potato production. Economic analysis shows that crop production with reduced pesticide use may even experience an increase in financial viability if the yield is not severely jeopardised, and farmers can be compensated through premiums and direct payments. SIGNIFICANCEOur results can support policy-making, since the labour time requirement and profitability of pesticide-reduced crop production can affect the success of voluntary agri-environmental programmes for the reduction of the risks from pesticide use in agriculture.

Hide-and-seek: Detecting Workers' Emotional Workload in Emotional Labor Contexts Using Multimodal Sensing

Emotional labor refers to the process in which workers are required to express emotions regardless of their actual feelings by the organization. In workplaces where such display rules exist, workers experience an emotional workload. Continued exposure to emotional workload can lead to severe mental and psychological issues. Nevertheless, research on assessing emotional workload remains understudied. In this study, we propose a machine learning model to automatically evaluate workers' emotional workload in emotional labor situations through multimodal sensing. The data collection study was designed based on a call center scenario. Within the study, we manipulated customer behaviors as confederates and assessed the worker's emotional workload. As a result, this study provides a benchmark using well-known features and standard machine learning methods. We achieved an accuracy of up to 87% for binary and three-class classification cases. Finally, we discuss the significance of assessing emotional workload and considerations for its practical application in the workplace.

An interpretative phenomenological study on nurses’ perceived affective wellbeing at work

Nurses face increasingly complex and challenging workloads, exacerbated by high rates of absenteeism, mental health issues, and low morale, all of which significantly impact patient care. This study focuses on exploring nurses’ perceived affective wellbeing, perceived workload burden, and the current working conditions they face. The objective was to understand nurses’ perspectives on affective wellbeing, self-care, and work-life balance. We utilized an interpretative phenomenological approach to design the data collection and management for this study. Through open dialogue, we explored the notion of wellbeing at work with nurses of varying levels of work experience, from fairly novice to expert practitioners who have worked for decades in their fields. The broader responsibilities of nurses of nurses within the National Health Service (NHS) were also examined. Two experts in interpretative phenomenological analysis led the discussion in three different groups, which each consisted of nurses with similar years of work experience, averaging 13 years. Thirty-eight registered nurses volunteered to participate in these discussion groups, with participants recruited from postgraduate courses and representing both acute and community care settings in regional hospitals. Nurses shared insights into what makes nursing a rewarding job but also acknowledged the significant challenges they face. Discussions highlight the stressful and traumatic circumstances nurses often encounter, particularly noting a lack of collegiality among nurses at all levels, limited career aspirations, inadequate support with workloads, and the emotional distress experienced in daily work life. Nurses described their jobs as exhausting and draining, leading to physical and emotional fatigue, detachment, and isolation. These findings hold relevance within the current landscape of nurse and resource shortages in the NHS. Of note, this study identified deeper concerns within the nursing workforce, including emotional dissonance, role dissonance, and disengagement.