Understanding the emotional labor process: a control theory perspective

Abstract

SummaryA dynamic, process-oriented approach to understanding emotional labor is presented, utilizing concepts from control theory models of behavioral self-regulation. Emotional labor is characterized as involving a discrepancy monitoring and reduction process, whereby perceptions of emotional displays and emotional display rules are continuously compared. If a discrepancy between emotional displays and display rules is detected, individuals are proposed to use emotion regulation strategies to reduce the discrepancy. The goal hierarchy aspect of control theory is used to describe emotional labor in the broader context of job performance and explain how positive and negative outcomes can result from the emotional labor process. Propositions are developed throughout the paper.

Les antécédents de l’expression d’émotions dans un centre d’appels

“…Des travaux ont révélé ce phénomène, souvent à travers des études de cas, mais sans lui conférer une place centrale ni tester les relations de causalité (Taylor et Bain, 2003;Korczynski, 2003;D'Cruz et Noronha, 2008). Les recherches qui utilisent les méthodes quantitatives appréhendent généralement l'expression d'émo-tions comme une variable explicative de l'insatisfaction, de l'absentéisme ou de la détérioration de la santé des employés (Holman, 2002;Diefendorff et Gosserand, 2003;Grandey, 2003). Le recueil de données est réalisé par questionnaire, rempli par les salariés a posteriori des situations vécues, ce qui introduit notamment un biais de mémoire (Holman, 2002).…”

“…La formation est aussi considérée comme un facteur favorable à la performance du travail émotionnel (Holman, 2002;Diefendorff et Gosserand, 2003;Dwyer et Fox, 2006). Certains téléconseillers ont bénéficié d'une formation spécifique à leur activité, en amont de leur prise de fonction puis renouvelée régulièrement, afin de respecter les normes de comportement à adopter en toutes circonstances, en prenant de la distance lorsque le client se révèle agressif (Korczynski, 2003) : Les femmes semblent mieux maîtriser leurs émotions que les hommes sur le lieu de travail (Kruml et Geddes, 2000).…”

“…Ces études souffrent donc de biais de mémoire (Holman, 2002;Diefendorff et Gosserand, 2003) ou biais de reconstruction a posteriori (Journé, 2005;. Pour lutter contre cette limite, cette recherche adopte une démarche d'observation directe qui contourne de facto cet inconvénient.…”

Emotional Conflicts and Coping Strategies: The Case of Life Insurance Agents in China

“…This term refers to 'the act of evoking or shaping, as well as suppressing, feeling in oneself' (Hochschild 1979: 561). Following the study done by Hochschild, one notable paradigm regarding emotional analysis in the workplace has been emerging in recent theories (Hochschild 1979(Hochschild , 2003(Hochschild [1983; Wharton 1993; Morris and Feldman 1996;Fineman 2000;Lord et al 2002;Diefendorff and Gosserand 2003) and empirical studies about the emotional labour in professions such as call centre workers (Deery and Kinnie 2002;Callaghan and Thompson 2002;Korczynski 2003), sales agents (Martin et al 1998) and frontline service agents (Ashforth and Tomiuk 2000). The main themes included in this paradigm are emotional labour process, emotional rules and conflict, emotional management/ control, gender difference and inequality, and job burnout (Maslach et al 2001) or other consequences caused by work.…”

Emotional Labor between Supervisors and Subordinates: Literature Review and Future Research

“…Grandey, from the perspective of emotional labor intrinsic psychological processing, proposes that emotional labor is the necessary psychological adjustment process put forward for expressing emotions group expects [3]. Similarly, according to Diefendorff and Gosser, emotional labor is defined as "employees continue to monitor whether there is a difference between their own emotions performance and organization performance rules, and try to adopt a certain emotion regulation strategies to reduce the differences of psychological process" [4].…”