Emotional labour and emotional burnout: empirical analysis of service sector employees

Šadl, Zdenka (author), Osolnik, Maja (author)

Emotional labour (hereinafter EL) is a form of work that involves managing emotions and emotional expressions during social interaction to achieve professional goals and to fulfil the emotional requirements of a job. EL can bring negative psychological consequences for employees such as burnout and exhaustion. Such negative outcomes are determined mostly by the EL strategy that employees implement. This article seeks to expand understanding of the dispositional and situational determinants of EL, and the role played by dispositional variables in determining the outcomes of EL. Drawing on survey data from 29 employees working in the service sector, we find that among EL strategies surface acting has been consistently shown to have the most detrimental effects on employee well-being. On the other hand, deep acting can be viewed as a healthier way to perform EL, and the expression of genuine emotions can even reduce the negative outcomes of EL. Understanding the antecedents of EL strategies would therefore enable more effective interventions to be developed aimed at reducing burnout by influencing the way in which employees perform EL.

• Language: English
• Keywords: emotional labour, burnout, antecedents of emotional labour
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 493–513, 572
• Numbering: Letn. 60, št. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-152393
• UDC: [331.1:159.942]:159.944.4
• ISSN on article: 0040-3598
• DOI: 10.51936/tip.60.3.493
• COBISS.SI-ID: 171219203
• Publication date in RUL: 23.11.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Teorija in praksa : revija za družbena vprašanja
• Shortened title: Teor. praksa
• Publisher: Fakulteta za družbene vede
• ISSN: 0040-3598
• COBISS.SI-ID: 763652

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
• Description: A Creative Commons license that bans commercial use and requires the user to release any modified works under this license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Emocionalno delo in emocionalna izgorelost

Abstract

Emocionalno delo je oblika dela, ki vključuje upravljanje emocij in emocionalnih izrazov v družbeni interakciji za doseganje poklicnih ciljev in izpolnjevanje emocionalnih zahtev dela. Izvajanje emocionalnega dela ima lahko negativne psihološke posledice za zaposlene, kot sta izgorelost in izčrpanost. Takšne negativne rezultate večinoma določa strategija emocionalnega dela, ki jo zaposleni uporabljajo. Članek želi poglobiti razumevanje vpliva osebnostnih in situacijskih dejavnikov pri odzivu na zahteve emocionalnega dela ter vlogo osebnostnih dejavnikov pri določanju izidov emocionalnega dela. Na podlagi anketnih podatkov, pridobljenih na vzorcu 29 zaposlenih v storitvenem sektorju, ugotavljamo, da ima med strategijami emocionalnega dela površinsko igranje najbolj škodljiv učinek na dobro počutje zaposlenih. Po drugi strani pa lahko na globinsko igranje gledamo kot na bolj zdrav način izvajanja emocionalnega dela, izražanje pristnih čustev pa lahko celo zmanjša negativne rezultate emocionalnega dela. Razumevanje dejavnikov emocionalnih delovnih strategij bi torej omogočilo razvoj učinkovitejših intervencij, namenjenih zmanjševanju izgorelosti, z vplivanjem na način izvajanja emocionalnega dela.

• Keywords: emocionalno delo, izgorelost, dejavniki emocionalnega dela