Emotional labor

About: Emotional labor is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3948 publications have been published within this topic receiving 112110 citations. The topic is also known as: emotional labour.

Psychophysiological effects of emotional display rules and the moderating role of trait anger in a simulated call center.

Abstract: In customer interactions, emotional display rules typically prescribe service providers to suppress negative emotions and display positive ones This study investigated the causal impact of these emotional display rules on physiological indicators of workers' stress and performance Additionally, the moderating influence of personality was examined by analyzing the impact of trait anger In a simulated call center, 82 females were confronted with a complaining customer and instructed to react either authentically and show their true emotions or to "serve with a smile" and hide negative emotions Increases in diastolic blood pressure and heart rates were higher in the smile condition, while verbal fluency was lower Trait anger moderated the effects on diastolic blood pressure and observer ratings' of participants' professional competence, suggesting more negative effects for high trait anger individuals Findings imply that emotional display rules may increase call center employees' strain and that considering employees' personality may be crucial for precluding health and performance impairments among call center workers

The effect of pre-flight attendants’ emotional intelligence, emotional labor, and emotional exhaustion on commitment to customer service

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that the success of airlines depends heavily on the quality of in-flight services provided by flight attendants. The performance of flight attendants is primarily based on their emotional intelligence (EI). Thus, airlines endeavor to recruit flight attendants with high EI and also conduct continuous EI training even after their recruitment. To meet the demand of excellent flight attendants, a number of universities and colleges have established airline service programs. This study examines the relationships among EI, emotional labor (EL), emotional exhaustion (EE), and commitment to customer service (CCS) among pre-flight attendants in the undergraduate airline service programs. The results of the study revealed that the better pre-flight attendants understand their emotions and use them appropriately, the more they display their true emotions and modify their bad feelings to desirable emotions required for effective in-flight customer services. Also, the more pre-flight attendants employ EL, the more exhausted they are emotionally. As the first study on pre-flight attendants’ EI, this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on EI, EL, EE, and CCS. The findings of the study also provide practical implications that effective assessment and education of EI by university-based airline service programs can contribute to service excellence of airlines.

Feeling the Doctorate: Is Doctoral Research that Studies the Emotional Labor of Doctoral Students Possible?

Abstract: Introduction Our interest in the topic of the emotions of researchers conducting qualitative research in general, and the emotions of doctoral students conducting qualitative research in the social sciences in particular, was sparked following an emotional turmoil experienced by the first author while conducting her doctoral research under the supervision of the second author. An analysis of the reasons that led to this emotional turmoil and of her attempt to cope with it, led us to expand the topic of the researcher's emotions while conducting research into a broader discussion. In this paper, we will present this discussion by examining the ways in which doctoral students manage their emotions while conducting their doctoral research, focusing on those conducting qualitative research. In particular, we will discuss two questions in this context: * Why is it important to study the emotional labor of doctoral students? * Can the topic "The emotional labor of doctoral students" constitute in itself a topic for a doctoral dissertation? The discussion of these questions is important in light of a more general question--Can the emotional involvement of researchers have a detrimental effect on research?--and also in light of the two existing approaches that differ in their answer to this question. On the one hand, the traditional viewpoint, based on the standpoint voiced by the 17th century philosopher Rene Descartes, who declared "I think, therefore I am" (Keegan, 2006), lauds the disassociation between cognition and emotion and instructs researchers to maintain objectivity and emotional disconnection from the topic of research so as to reveal the truth. On the other hand, a feminist viewpoint in research holds that the emotional labor that researchers perform should be acknowledged, some even calling for the recognition of researchers' emotions as additional research data (Blee, 1998; Coffey, 1999; Gilbert, 2001; Haynes, 2006). Clearly, other approaches exist as well. In this paper, we will first review the literature on emotional labor in qualitative research, and then we will focus on a doctoral research that investigates the emotional labor of doctoral students. We note that this paper is neither a research paper nor a comprehensive literature review on doctoral studies; other resources which are dedicated to these topics are available (e.g., Atkinson, Delamont, & Parry, 2000). In writing this paper we intend to increase the awareness of the emotional work of doctoral students in the context of qualitative research. Emotional Labor While Conducting Qualitative Research When conducting qualitative research, it is customary to emphasize that researchers must be aware of the emotions of the research participants, and the need to protect the research participants from any emotional harm is highlighted (Lucas & Lidstone, 2000). To that end, various research bodies and government agencies, including universities, have adopted ethical codes. At the same time, researchers report on a variety of emotions that they themselves have experienced at different stages of the research execution, such as empathy, loneliness, curiosity, sadness, frustration, joy, boredom, and apprehension, which were even sometimes accompanied by physiological or behavioral phenomena (Blee, 1988; Chong, 2008; Dickson-Swift, James, Kippen, & Liamputtong, 2009; Haynes, 2006; Rager, 2005). Hence, any discussion of emotions in the context of qualitative research must include not only the research subjects or participants, but also the researchers themselves. This paper's point of departure is, therefore, that part of the labor of qualitative researchers is emotional labor, which refers to the effort a person invests in expressing or coping with his or her emotions so as to achieve objectives pertaining to his or her work: Emotional labor means the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display; emotional labor is sold for wage and therefore has exchange value. …

The antecedents and consequences of humour for service: A review and directions for research

Abstract: Purpose – While researchers in other disciplines seek to determine the impact that humour has in personal interactions, studies of humour in service delivery are lacking. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether it is beneficial to deliberately use humour in service encounters. Design/methodology/approach – This paper provides a comprehensive review of humour research in multiple disciplines to assess the applicability of their key findings to the service domain. By establishing the antecedents, types, and consequences of humour, the authors build a framework and propositions to help service researchers uncover the potential of injecting humour into service interactions. Findings – The authors find that using humour in service encounters is an ingenious affiliative behaviour which strengthens rapport between service employees and their customers. Humour also permits frontline service employees to better cope with the emotional challenges of their work, thus promising to reduce emotional labour and ...