Managing emotions in the workplace

Over the past ten years, increasing attention has been given to how workers express emotions in a variety of work settings (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1995; Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987, 1989; Sutton, 1991; Wharton and Erickson,1993). An underresearched, yet critical, aspect of the literature on emotions in organizational life concerns employers' attempts to control and direct how employees display emotions to customers. Emotional labor, generally defined as the act of expressing organizationally-desired emotions during service transactions (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1993; Hochschild, 1983), is the central focus of this study. This article seeks to extend previous theoretical and empirical research on emotional labor in four ways.

First, a more rigorous conceptualization of emotional labor is presented. By drawing on previous emotional labor studies, psychological and anthropological research on emotions, and impression management studies, a three-component conceptualization of emotional labor will be advanced. The framework presented here suggests that emotional labor can best be described in terms of frequency of emotional labor, duration of emotional labor, and emotional dissonance experienced as a result of having to express emotions one may not actually feel.

The second objective is to identify the organizational and job characteristics which might predict emotional labor. Previous researchers (Adelmann, 1989; Ashforth and Humphrey, 1993; Hochschild, 1983; Wharton, 1993) have suggested, but rarely tested, variables which may help to predict which work roles will require regulation of emotional expression and what conditions might influence employees' willingness and ability to express sanctioned emotions.

The third objective is to explore the consequences of performing emotional labor on employees' wellbeing. Previous research has implicitly or explicitly concluded that emotional labor has negative and dysfunctional consequences for workers (Adelmann, 1989; Erickson, 1991; Hochschild, 1983). This study suggests the possibility that under certain conditions, performing emotional labor actually leads to favorable attitudinal and role behavior outcomes.

Finally, the article examines the implications of this research for more effective management of emotions during service transactions. The rapid and significant increase in the number of jobs which require regulated displays of emotion, as well as the potential impact of emotional displays on service quality and customer satisfaction, certainly makes this issue one worthy of additional attention.

THEORY

Conceptualization of Emotional Labor

According to Hochschild (1983), jobs involving regulated displays of emotion possess three...