Longitudinal effects of emotional labour on emotional exhaustion and dedication of teachers.

Abstract

A great number of teachers find teaching fulfilling and are dedicated to it, but others feel emotionally exhausted, indicating that the interaction with pupils can be emotionally demanding. Emotional labor was shown to play an important role for the health of teachers. In a full two-wave longitudinal study over the period of 1 year, the effect of emotional labor on emotional exhaustion and dedication of 102 teachers was investigated. Teachers who were able to influence their emotions to feel the emotion appropriate in a situation (so called deep acting) felt significantly less emotionally exhausted after 1 year. From this result, deep acting can, thus, be characterized as health-beneficial. Once teachers felt emotionally exhausted, they used more surface acting. More dedicated teachers, on the contrary, did neither engage more in deep acting nor in surface acting at Time 2. This indicates that those teachers who are dedicated to teaching seem less likely to act. To prevent emotional exhaustion of teachers, the development of interventions to promote health-beneficial emotional labor is necessary. This can be achieved by fostering deep acting, which reduces emotional exhaustion over longer periods of time.

Can empathy lead to emotional exhaustion in teachers? The mediating role of emotional labor

“…In practice, it may mean showing enthusiasm while conducting classes, reacting with empathy to pupils' worries and needs, hiding fatigue and annoyance or displaying positive emotions even when pupils are being difficult and rude. Teachers have to educate and, at the same time, manage their own emotions to meet the expectations associated with their profession [1,2]. In other words, they perform emotional labor.…”

“…It has been shown that strained relationships with students and their parents as well as with supervisors and colleagues may be one of performed on a daily basis by nurses, police officers, retail sales, bank and hotel employees [4][5][6][7][8]. Recent research has also focused on teachers as "emotional laborers" [2,[9][10][11]. It has been stressed that emotional involvement is an integral part of the teaching profession [1,[12][13][14][15][16].…”

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

“…Drawing on the COR model, positive results can follow when employees are able to meet demands (Philipp & Schüpbach, 2010). Employees' emotional labor strategies are selected with a view toward minimizing resource use and maximizing their personal gains (Mahoney et al, 2011).…”

Sociological Research on Teachers’ Emotions: Four Approaches and the Shared Themes

“…The suppression of negative emotions may create further negative emotions for teachers, such as guilt, regret, and shame, because they may think that it is inappropriate or even immoral for them as teachers to dislike or hate students (Hebson, Earnshaw, & Marchington, 2007;O'Connor, 2008). In addition, teachers may also feel emotionally uncomfortable or self-estranged, because their displayed emotions do not correspond to their true feelings (Hu¨lsheger et al, 2010;Philipp & Schu¨pbach, 2010). Both conditions may affect their professional identity and self-esteem, which in turn creates other intense negative emotions like frustration and depression (Hargreaves, 1998a;O'Connor, 2008).…”