Buffering the Negative Effects of Surface Acting: The Moderating Role of Supervisor Support in Librarianship

The Emotional Labour of Public Library Work

“…For better or worse, library workers learn these "feeling rules" (Hochschild, 1983, p. 5) through organizational guidelines and expectations from the profession of librarianship (Julien & Genuis, 2009). Recently, researchers have explored various facets of emotional labour in library work; notably, professional guiding principles of service and their effect on emotional labour, the effects on job satisfaction and burnout, and how organizations recognize or ignore emotional labour work (see, for example, Emmelhainz et al, 2017;Matteson & Miller, 2013;Matteson et al, 2015;Peng, 2015;Shuler & Morgan, 2013). The difficulties inherent in public library work, including the factors that contribute to stress, are commonly explored phenomena (Jordan, 2014).…”

“…Shuler and Morgan (2013) pointed out the weaknesses in supervisor and organizational recognition of the emotional labour conducted by library workers. Peng (2015) further considered how supervisor support might be a moderator of emotional labour. Emmelhainz et al (2017) explored existing discourse in professional guidelines and showed the connection between organizational requirements for behaviour and the emotional labour required in order to satisfy these expectations of conduct.…”

“…Studies in other disciplines demonstrate the toll of emotional labour on workers and provide recommendations such as employee assistance programs, administrative and professional association support (Cricco-Lizza, 2014;Funk et al, 2017), and mindfulness training (Hülsheger et al, 2013). In library and information sciences, there is burgeoning research surrounding the role supervisors, management, and administration can play in supporting library workers (see, for example, Julien & Genuis, 2009;Matteson & Miller, 2014;Peng, 2015;Shuler & Morgan, 2013). While strategies can be borrowed from other disciplines further along in their understanding of the effects of emotional labour, there is a benefit to focusing on what is unique to the practice and experiences of the library community (Joe, 2019), particularly in light of the growing social role of the library.…”

“…Most of the research on emotional labour in libraries emphasizes the need for further training and education of library staff. Peng (2015) recommended training workshops as a way for employees to explore emotional management and understand the stressors involved in surface acting. The negative effects of surface acting may not be completely eliminated through training, but they can be mitigated through acknowledgement and support for emotional labour, which may then help to increase job satisfaction and performance (Peng, 2015).…”

Det åpne bibliotek

“…Forskning på personalet i bibliotek har handlet om emosjonelt arbeid knyttet til undervisning og veiledning (Julien & Genuis, 2009), og bibliotekansattes behov for støtte i tilknytning til utøvelse av emosjonelt arbeid (Peng, 2015). Miriam L. Matteson og medforskere har vaert opptatt av emosjonelt arbeid i bibliotek, og emosjonsregulering som tema for videre forskning (Matteson, M.L.…”