Emotional Labor Process Research Articles

Interpersonal Process of Emotional Labor: The Role of Negative and Positive Customer Treatment

Emotional labor refers to the process of regulating both feelings and expressions in response to the display rules for promoting organizational goals. Existing literature has provided strong evidence for the impact of emotional labor (i.e., surface acting and deep acting) on service employees’ emotional exhaustion. However, the empirical examination of the mechanisms underlying this association is largely missing from prior research. Drawing on the social interaction model of emotion regulation, this article reported 2 daily diary studies examining the role of customer treatment toward employees in channeling emotional labor's impact on employee emotional well‐being. Specifically, Study 1 measured emotional labor at the between‐person level as habitual emotional regulation strategies used by service employees, and Study 2 measured emotional labor at the within‐person level to capture its fluctuations. Results showed that employees engaging in more surface acting were more likely to receive negative treatment from customers, which in turn increased their negative affect and emotional exhaustion. Further, employees engaging in more deep acting were more likely to receive positive treatment from customers, which in turn increased their positive affect. Implications and limitations of these findings were discussed.

An examination of within-person variance in contextual display rules and deviation from display rules

Contextual display rules refer to perceptions of the particular emotions that should be displayed in a specific set of circumstances. As such, it is important to examine within-person variance in such perceptions within the dynamic context of real-life organizations. To this end, experience sampling methodology was used to highlight within-person variance in display rules and examine event-level predictors of these contextual display rules. Thirty-nine university staff members were surveyed four times per day about their most recent interaction. Employee momentary affect (pleasantness and activation) and relationship with the interaction target (solidarity and relative power) were examined as predictors of both contextual display rule perceptions and deviation from those display rules. Pleasantness of affect related positively to the level of expression allowed by the display rule, whereas activation of affect and target solidarity related positively to deviation from display rules. Complex interactions were also found between the predictors, further highlighting the complexity of the emotional labour process.

Korean Emotional Laborers' Job Stressors and Relievers: Focus on Work Conditions and Emotional Labor Properties.

BackgroundThe present study aims to investigate job stressors and stress relievers for Korean emotional laborers, specifically focusing on the effects of work conditions and emotional labor properties. Emotional laborers are asked to hide or distort their real emotions in their interaction with clients. They are exposed to high levels of stress in the emotional labor process, which leads to serious mental health risks including burnout, depression, and even suicide impulse. Exploring job stressors and relieving factors would be the first step in seeking alternatives to protect emotional laborers from those mental health risks.MethodsUsing the third wave data of Korean Working Conditions Survey, logistic regression analysis was conducted for two purposes: to examine the relations of emotional labor and stress, and to find out job stressors and relievers for emotional laborers.ResultsThe chances of stress arousal are 3.5 times higher for emotional laborers; emotional laborers experience double risk-burden for stress arousal. In addition to general job stressors, emotional laborers need to bear burdens related to emotional labor properties. The effect of social support at the workplace is not significant for stress relief, unlike common assumptions, whereas subjective satisfaction (wage satisfaction and work-life balance) is proven to have relieving effects on emotional laborers' job stress.ConclusionFrom the results, the importance of a balanced understanding of emotional labor for establishing effective policies for emotional laborer protection is stressed.

The missing links between emotional job demand and exhaustion and satisfaction: testing a moderated mediation model

AbstractAlthough emotional labor in the workplace has been of increasing interest to researchers, the complete process of emotional labor has seldom been systematically analyzed. This paper explores the links between emotional job demand and its psychological effects on employees, with a particular focus on the mediation of emotional labor strategies and the moderation of social support. The results of a survey of 679 Chinese employees in the service sector reveal that emotional job demand significantly increases emotional exhaustion and reduces job satisfaction. Two emotional labor strategies, surface acting and deep acting, partially mediate these associations. Social support significantly moderates the relationships between deep acting and emotional job demand and its psychological effects, but does not do so for surface acting. Suggestions are offered accordingly for organizations wishing to reduce the negative influence of emotional labor on employees and improve the efficiency of service enterprises.

Sleep quality and self-control capacity as protective resources in the daily emotional labor process: results from two diary studies.

Daily emotional labor can impair psychological well-being, especially when emotions have to be displayed that are not truly felt. To explain these deleterious effects of emotional labor, scholars have theorized that emotional labor can put high demands on self-control and diminishes limited regulatory resources. On the basis of this notion, we examined 2 moderators of the daily emotional labor process, namely day-specific sleep quality and individual self-control capacity. In particular, in 2 diary studies (NTOTAL = 171), we tested whether sleep quality moderates the influence of emotional dissonance (the perceived discrepancy between felt and required emotions) on daily psychological well-being (ego depletion, need for recovery, and work engagement). In addition, we examined 3-way interactions of self-control capacity, sleep quality, and emotional dissonance on indicators of day-specific psychological well-being (Study 2). Our results indicate that the negative relations of day-specific emotional dissonance to all day-specific indicators of well-being are attenuated as a function of increasing day-specific sleep quality and that self-control capacity moderates this interaction. Specifically, compared with low self-control capacity, the day-specific interaction of emotional dissonance and sleep quality was more pronounced when trait self-control was high. For those with low trait self-control, day-specific sleep quality did not attenuate the negative relations of emotional dissonance to day-specific well-being. Implications for research on emotional labor and for intervention programs are discussed.

Gathering emotion: examining newspaper journalists' engagement in emotional labor

This study explores the process of emotional labor in a profession in need of examination – that of journalism. During one-on-one interviews, newspaper/online journalists reflected upon their experiences while gathering the news and agreed they do indeed engage in emotional labor, suppressing impulses of sympathy, pity and guilt to achieve ‘objectivity’ and to avoid being overwhelmed by their feelings. However, our findings show that with little or no training in this practice and with the majority of journalists achieving not suppression but merely a deferment of upsetting emotions, emotional labor can have serious implications for those reporters who engage in it.

Emotion work in the public sector: a focus on the essence of public service

For public sector administrators to facilitate discourse, mediate acrimony, and de–escalate volatile situations, emotional awareness and skilful control of emotions are a necessary yet often neglected part of the job. After more than a decade of research, it is not clear as to whether public sector employees' ability to regulate their emotions leads to producing positive consequences for themselves and the services they provide. This prompts for comparative perspectives and analysis from the public sector. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between individual characteristics of emotion work, emotion work requirements, and false face acting, and their impact on pride in work and burnout. Findings reject the argument that emotional exhaustion, or burnout, is a result of the emotional labour process, and instead suggest that emotional labour is a rewarding process in which individuals can improve their social skills and bring self–awareness about the nature of their work.

The role of punishment and reward sensitivity in the emotional labor process: A within-person perspective.

In this diary study, we tested the possibility that dispositional reward and punishment sensitivity, two central constructs of reinforcement sensitivity theory, would modify the relationship between emotional labor and job-related well-being (i.e., work engagement, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization). Specifically, based on a social functional account of emotion, we hypothesized that surface acting entails the risk of social disapproval and therefore may be more detrimental for high than for low punishment-sensitive individuals. In contrast, deep acting is hypothesized to hold the promise of social approval and therefore may be more beneficial for high than for low reward-sensitive individuals. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 237 service workers (N = 1,584 daily reports) who completed a general survey and daily surveys over the course of 10 working days. Multilevel analyses showed that surface acting was detrimental to well-being, and more strongly so for high than for low punishment-sensitive individuals. The results are consistent with the idea that heightened sensitivity to social disapproval aggravates the negative effects of surface acting.

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Keep Working

Although absenteeism has been identified in theoretical models as a key long-term consequence of emotional labor, few studies have empirically examined this link. In this article, we investigate the relationship between surface acting and absenteeism and the moderating role of surface acting self-efficacy. Drawing on resource perspectives, we argue and show that when valued resources are threatened or lost as a result of surface acting, employees will actively strive to prevent further resource loss by withdrawing from work. We propose, however, that surface acting self-efficacy can help buffer the resource depleting effects of surface acting leading to withdrawal. Using data from two sources, collected at two points in time, we surveyed 121 nurses and linked these data to absenteeism data collected 12 months postsurvey. Results showed direct effects of surface acting on absenteeism; in addition, higher surface acting self-efficacy minimized the detrimental effects of surface acting on absenteeism. We also found support for the mediating role of affective commitment in explaining this interaction effect. These results suggest that the effects of surface acting on absenteeism are less detrimental for employees with high surface acting self-efficacy as these individuals are less negatively affected by the drain on the motivational resources that keep them feeling attached to their workplace and, in turn, keep them at work. This study extends our understanding of emotional labor processes and provides insights into the active process whereby employees are driven by the motivation to conserve resources and prevent further losses.

The impact of emotional labor in a retail environment

It is essential for organizations to understand and manage salespeople's emotions. By monitoring the effects of emotions on the job, management can promote and enhance its sales force. However, the literature on salespersons' emotions has been largely overlooked. This paper establishes an integrative emotional labor process model to better understand the emotional component of the sales force in a retail context. Specifically, the paper examines the impact of emotional labor and emotional exhaustion in relation to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Findings suggest that emotional labor predicts both job satisfaction and organizational commitment, while emotional exhaustion only predicts job satisfaction.

Emotional labor's impact in a retail environment

It is essential for organizations to understand and manage salespeople's emotions. By monitoring the effects of emotions on the job, management can promote and enhance its sales force. However, the literature on salespersons' emotions has been largely overlooked. This paper establishes an integrative emotional labor process model to better understand the emotional component of the sales force in a retail context. Specifically, the paper examines the impact of emotional labor and emotional exhaustion in relation to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Findings suggest that emotional labor predicts both job satisfaction and organizational commitment, while emotional exhaustion only predicts job satisfaction.

The emotional labour process: An essay on the economy of feelings

This article evaluates conceptual resources for exploring the economy of feelings. It reviews existing contributions, discovering tensions surrounding the material status of emotional displays and normative commitments at work, as well as significant gaps within the conceptual resources used to classify the emotions we experience and evoke while working. In an effort to develop more robust categories for this broad area, labour process theory is combined with other conceptual tools to reframe and refresh debates. Specifically, the concept emotional misbehaviour is posited as a useful addition to the debate concerning the material status of emotion at work and various novel conceptual resources are explored from a labour process perspective. In particular, emotional intelligence, techno-normative control, symbolic violence and cultural capital are introduced to the debate and considered for their potential usefulness in filling the conceptual gaps identified.

The Role of Emotional Intelligence on Emotional Labor Process: The Mediated Moderation of Emotional Intelligence

The Role of Emotional Intelligence on Emotional Labor Process: The Mediated Moderation of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional labor among trainee police officers: The interpersonal role of positive emotions

The aim of this study is to get an insight of the interpersonal process of emotional labor, and the role of positive emotions in the interaction between the sender and receiver, while taking both the perspective of the sender and the receiver into account. We tested the influence of the perceived display of positive emotions of Dutch trainee police officers (N = 80) during an interaction with offenders on perceived authenticity and perceived performance success, incorporating the senders’ emotion regulation technique (i.e., deep acting and surface acting). Consistent with hypotheses, results of structural equation modeling analyses showed that perceived authenticity mediates the relationship between the perceived display of positive emotions and perceived performance success, while the specific senders’ emotion regulation technique was not related to perceived performance success. Furthermore, results showed that perceived performance success mediated the relationship between the perceived display of positive emotions and senders’ felt positive emotions after the interaction, controlling for senders’ positive affect.

Emotional labor in china: do perceived organizational support and gender moderate the process?

AbstractThis survey study of 2201 employees from a large mobile phone company investigated how perceived organizational support (POS) and gender moderate the impact of emotional labor strategies on employee strain. Emotional labor strategies were related to employee strain, including turnover intentions, job satisfaction, burnout, and mental well‐being in the expected directions. POS moderated these relationships such that POS was related to more positive outcomes for employees who engaged in deep acting but exacerbated negative outcomes for employees who engaged in surface acting. Gender moderated these relationships such that women were more likely than men to report positive consequences when engaging in deep acting. POS and gender interacted with deep acting in predicting cynicism such that POS was related to reduced cynicism in response to deep acting for women but not for men. These results indicate that organizational policies and training opportunities aimed at improving POS and use of deep acting over surface acting could be valuable for organizations. Results also illuminate the important and complicated moderating role of POS and gender in the emotional labor process. Future research directions for scholars investigating the emotional labor process, its consequences, moderators and its cross‐cultural relevance are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Older worker, different actor? Linking age and emotional labor strategies

In this study, we examine how the age of service employees influences the emotional labor process. We integrate research on socioemotional selectivity theory and emotional labor to develop hypotheses concerning the relationships between age and specific emotional labor strategies (deep acting, surface acting, and expressing naturally-felt emotions). Consistent with our expectations, we found that age was positively related to the use of deep acting and the expression of naturally-felt emotions, and negatively related to surface acting. Further, we found that trait positive affect partially-mediated some of the age-strategy relationships.

An indivisible union? Assessing the marriage of Hochschild's emotional labour concept and labour process theory

Labour process theory (LPT) has progressively but critically adopted Hochschild's emotional labour theory, principally for analysis of service work. However, until recently there has been little detailed assessment from within the LPT tradition of emotional labour's theoretical roots, structure and overall compatibility. This article critically assesses contemporary debates within LPT on the compatibility of Hochschild's theory. It argues that while she makes foundational use of Marx's theory of labour power, she inadequately captures the contradictory nature of employment relations, the social basis of workplace emotions and the incompleteness of management control. This is principally due to her tendency to focus on the harm to individuals of emotional labour via her individualised concepts of 'transmutation of feelings', 'surface acting and deep acting'. For Hochschild's theory to be compatible, it requires a thorough dialectical understanding of workplace emotions and their management as contradictory social phenomena, which workers experience individually and collectively.

Getting to the heart of the emotional labour process: a reply to Brook

In an article published in this volume of WES Paul Brook suggests the need to strongly defend Hochschild’s emotional labour concept, as it is claimed that I threaten it with extinction with the development of a new typology of emotion management in the workplace.This article seeks to reply to Brook’s core concerns and deal with issues of substance about the phenomena Brook and I are both interested in. Mainly this paper considers how we conceptualize emotional labour and work, and how might that fit into labour process analysis? In response to the misgivings of Brook, the discussion will reveal why and how there is a need to develop analytically the idea of emotional labour, that the typology introduced in Emotion Management in the Workplace (Bolton, 2005a) offers a nuanced explanatory framework; and that labour process analysis is its theoretical home.

Emotional Labor and Health Care

AbstractWe examine the literature on emotional labor and health care to demonstrate the potential for emotional labor research to inform how social and medical scientists think about health care and how examining healthcare contexts has contributed to the scientific understanding of emotional labor processes. In doing so, we first review the key terms and definitions that are used within the emotion management perspective and evaluate the ways in which power differences have remained largely implicit features of research on emotional labor in healthcare settings. Finally, we explore how the increasing economic rationalization of health care may be influencing the emotional experiences of today's healthcare professionals and the implications of this trend for future research on emotional labor and the health and well‐being of care providers and their patients.

“Lazy bugs, homosexuals, softies and dumb fools”: Exploring what it means to be a male emotional labourer across community-based AIDS care sites in rural and urban South Africa

Interviews conducted with 25 community-based AIDS caregivers highlight the gender-based stigma directed at black men involved in community-based AIDS care. Male caregivers are labelled as lazy, unintelligent, homosexual or too feminised to be ‘real’ men. As the eight men in this sample indicate, none of them embarked upon AIDS care by choice, since most were forced into it by poverty and poor scholastic performance. Male and female caregivers alike perpetuated societal gender binary views by dubbing care work as feminised. In spite of the fact that all men and women carers reported emotional labour techniques, carried out in the course of their care work. women were defined as naturally emotionally fit to perform care. The continued search for an idealised masculinity coloured most of the coping strategies adopted by the gender-stigmatised men. In most cases, they sought to leave the AIDS care domain and obtain stereotypically masculine jobs in the professional sector. In constantly seeking this idealised masculinity, the much needed presence of these men in community-based AIDS care is prohibited, as it perpetuates the myth that certain types of work are gender specific. The most promising finding was obtained from a male caregiver who defined himself as a ‘worker’, albeit in the informal sector. He also sought to remain in the world of community-based NOS care for the foreseeable future. This man was masculine on his own terms and he defined his emotional labour as ‘work’. Thus, he defined himself as masculine, whilst simultaneously defining himself as a worker. His self valuation was possible as he placed a gender-neutral recognition upon his chosen form of work. Such identification is crucial, as these caregivers work in trying circumstances, and bear emotional, social and financial costs with little or no benefits and legal protection. As the majority of men saw this work as temporary, a worker identity was not claimed. As a result, little could happen by way of collective action to improve and regulate their conditions. By using emotional labour process theory as a lens, the experiences of black male care workers are better understood. More research of this nature needs to be carried out with a larger sample to verify these sorts of conclusions.