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The purpose of the current chapter is to meta-analytically examine the nomological network around emotional labor. The results show that negative display rules, high level of job demand, frequent contacts with customers, and lack of autonomy and social support are significantly related to surface acting, whereas display rules, opportunities to display various emotions, and frequent, intensive, and long time contacts with customers are significantly related to deep acting. Further, people high on negative affectivity and neuroticism are more likely to surface act, whereas people high on positive affectivity and extraversion are more likely to deep act. In addition, surface acting is mainly associated with undesirable work outcomes, whereas deep acting is mainly related to desirable work outcomes.

In this chapter, we develop and present the Multi-Perspective Multilevel Model of emotional labor in organizations. This model is based on three perspectives: (1) a service requirement, (2) an intra-psychic process, and (3) an emotional display, each involving five levels of analysis: within-person, between persons, in interpersonal exchanges, in groups, and across the organization as a whole. Our model is differentiated from earlier characterizations of emotional labor in that we propose that the phenomenon begins with energy generation instead of energy depletion; and is neither a one-way nor a one-by-one service episode. We further proffer that the intra-psychic processes embedded in emotional labor represent a form of social self-regulation that impacts across multiple levels within service organizations. We conclude by discussing the implications and limitations of our model for emotional labor research.

In this chapter, the authors consider the role of time for research in occupational stress and well-being. First, temporal issues in studying occupational health longitudinally, focusing in particular on the role of time lags and their implications for observed results (e.g., effect detectability), analyses (e.g., handling unequal durations between measurement occasions), and interpretation (e.g., result generalizability, theoretical revision) were discussed. Then, time-based assumptions when modeling lagged effects in occupational health research, providing a focused review of how research has handled (or ignored) these assumptions in the past, and the relative benefits and drawbacks of these approaches were discussed. Finally, recommendations for readers, an accessible tutorial (including example data and code), and discussion of a new structural equation modeling technique, continuous time structural equation modeling, that can “handle” time in longitudinal studies of occupational health were provided.

Because our emotions are crucial determinants of how well we function in our personal and professional lives, researchers from different perspectives have sought to understand how emotions can be best managed for optimal functioning. In this chapter, we focus on two research traditions that have examined this issue, the emotion regulation (ER) tradition and the emotional labor (EL) tradition. This effort is predicated on the belief that a more fundamental research tradition such as ER can inform and complement a more applied research tradition such as EL, first by extending our understanding of the various processes by which employees deal with their emotions, and second, by permitting a more accurate prediction of the consequences of these emotions. A case is presented that discriminating more finely between the various emotion management strategies may help to resolve some of the paradoxical findings observed in the EL literature.

This chapter examines employee learning behavior as a function of work characteristics. Karasek’s Demand-Control (DC) model proposes that high job demands and high job control are conducive to employee learning behavior. A review of 18 studies revealed that whereas most of these supported these predictions, methodological and conceptual shortcomings necessitate further study. Perhaps the most important weakness of the DC-based research on learning is that the conceptual foundations of the DC model regarding employee learning behavior are quite rudimentary, while the role of interpersonal differences in the learning process is largely neglected. The second part of this chapter explores the relationship between work characteristics and learning behavior from the perspective of German Action Theory (AT). AT explicitly discusses how work characteristics affect learning behavior and assigns a role to interpersonal differences. We conclude by presenting a model that integrates action-theoretical insights on learning with DC-based empirical results.

Nalini Ambady is a Professor at Tufts University's Psychology Department, and conducts research on interpersonal judgment.

This chapter explores what managers in the library and information science workplace can do to keep stress and burnout levels low. The literature on stress and burnout in human services, or the helping professions, is surveyed and the differences between the two phenomena are explained. Research is clear that keeping stress levels low and burnout at bay in the workplace benefits both employees and the organization. Even so, managers are given little training on how to identify and deal with stress and often fail to notice that their employees are chronically stressed. When managers become aware that they do have employees who are seriously stressed or burned out, they are often unsure whether they should address the problem and how to handle it. The author explains the differences between stress and burnout and clarifies how managers can minimize their negative impact by monitoring six areas in which workers are most likely to experience them: (1) the demands of the job which include the quantity of work and the knowledge required to perform; (2) the amount of control employees are permitted to exercise in the workplace; (3) the amount of the social support employee’s feel they have from managers and colleagues; (4) the quality of workplace relationships; (5) the clarity of one’s role on the job; and (6) support and honest communication during times of change. The practical implication of this information aimed at managers is to help them create a better workplace and mentally and physically healthier staff members.

Burnout has been recognized and measured in the workplace since the 1970s, particularly in service industries. Libraries can be viewed as service providers. Burnout is the result of chronically high work demands combined with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment. Burnout components have been linked to physical, emotional, and behavioral consequences, and to high turnover and loss of engagement. Libraries can evaluate burnout levels among staff and address burnout on an individual, management, and organizational level. The Nurse-Experienced Time Pressure, Burnout, and Patient Interaction Questionnaire is modified to identify and quantify activities individuals might use to reduce burnout. The survey is administered to librarians and staff at an academic library and to self-chosen attendees at a conference session on avoiding burnout. Feedback is also solicited in terms of burnout avoidance strategies and possible library responses. Most respondents feel burned out but also committed to providing excellent service to patrons. Respondents have a genuine interest in making work less prone to burnout. Sample sizes were small but gave consistent responses. Burnout can be addressed on an institutional, management, and personal level, with each entity having equal responsibility. Leadership, management, communication, and support efforts can counteract burnout threats. Burnout causes disengagement at work and in personal lives. In terms of personality, neuroticism is a strong predictor of burnout. Making efforts to counteract burnout will lead to a healthier, balanced life. This book chapter is based on research done for a presentation at ER&L 2016 on Avoiding E-Burnout. Causes and counteractions to burnout have been expanded.

This chapter evaluates a model of the organizational context of burnout with direct reference to a new measure, the Areas of Worklife Scale (AWS). The model proposes a structured framework for considering six areas of worklife – workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values – that have resonated through the literature on burnout over the previous two decades. The chapter presents extensive data on the AWS, testing a model of the six areas’ interrelationships as well as their overall relationship to the three aspects of burnout. The results of these analyses are discussed in reference to the psychometric qualities of the measure and the implications of a structured approach to work environments for future development of research on burnout. Implications for developing workplace interventions are also considered.