28 Morris, J. A., & Feldman, D. C. (1996). The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor

The Dimensions, Antecedents, and Consequences of Emotional Labor
Author(s): J. Andrew Morris and Daniel C. Feldman

Source: The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Oct., 1996), pp. 986-1010
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?0 Academy of Management Review
1996, Vol. 21, No. 4, 986-1010.
THEDIMENSIONS,ANTECEDENTS,AND
CONSEQUENCESOF EMOTIONALLABOR
J. ANDREW MORRIS
DANIEL C. FELDMAN
University of South Carolina
This article conceptualizes the emotional labor construct in terms

of four dimensions: frequency of appropriate emotional display, at-
tentiveness to required display rules, variety of emotions to be dis-
played, and emotional dissonance generated by having to express
organizationally desired emotions not genuinely felt. Through this
framework, the article then presents a series of propositions about
the organizational-, job-, and individual-level characteristics that are
antecedents of each of these four dimensions. Frequency of emotional
display, attentiveness to display rules, variety of emotions to be dis-
played, and emotional dissonance are hypothesized to lead to greater
emotional exhaustion, but only emotional dissonance is hypothesized
to lead to lower job satisfaction. Implications for future theory develop-
ment and empirical research on emotional labor are discussed as well.
Although emotions have long been a topic of interest to sociologists

and psychologists (Clark, 1992; Hochschild, 1983; Thoits, 1990), the display
of emotions in organizations has become a topic of greater interest to
organizational scholars during the past several years (Ashforth & Hum-
phrey, 1995; Fineman, 1993; Mumby & Putnam, 1992; Rafaeli & Sutton,
1987, 1989). Increasing attention has been given to how workers express
emotions in a variety of work settings, and more theoretical and empirical
research has been conducted on the relationship between this emotional
expression and employee effectiveness (Rafaeli & Sutton, 1987, 1989; Sut-
ton, 1991).
Increased competition among service providers, along with overall
growth in the service economy, has forced organizations to focus greater
attention on the nature and quality of services provided to customers and
clients (Schneider & Bowen, 1995; Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990).
Because the perceived quality of the service often is directly influenced
by the customer's interaction with the service provider (Bowen & Schneider,
1988), how the service provider acts and speaks with the customer has
become a much more salient concern of management. According to Hoch-
schild (1983), organizations are increasingly willing to direct and control
how employees present themselves to others. In other words, the images
employees create for customers and the quality of interactions between
employees and customers have come increasingly under the control of
986

1996 Morris and Feldman 987
management. As a consequence, a key component of the work performed

by many workers has become the presentation of emotions that are speci-
fied and desired by their organizations.
An under-researched, yet critical, aspect of the literature on emotions
in organizational life concerns these organizational attempts to control
and direct how employees display emotions to customers. Emotional labor,
generally defined as the act of expressing organizationally desired emo-
tions during service transactions, is the central focus of this article. This
article seeks to extend previous theoretical work on emotional labor in
three ways.
First, a more complex conceptualization of emotional labor is pre-
sented. Rather than conceptualizing emotional labor as a generalized
phenomenon, which is either present or absent in service jobs, the frame-
work presented here suggests that emotional labor can be best conceptual-
ized in terms of four distinct dimensions: (a) frequency of appropriate
emotional display, (b) attentiveness to required display rules, (c) variety
of emotions required to be displayed, and (d) emotional dissonance gener-
ated as the result of having to express organizationally desired emotions
not genuinely felt.
Second, in this article, we more carefully examine the antecedents of
emotional labor. Building on general emotion research and impression
management studies, we identify organizational characteristics, job char-
acteristics, and individual difference variables that might predict these
different dimensions of emotional labor. Antecedents include such organi-
zational factors as explicitness of display norms and closeness of em-
ployee monitoring, such job characteristics as form of interaction and
task routineness, and such individual difference variables as affectivity
and gender.
Our third goal is to explore the consequences of performing emotional
labor. Previous research has implicitly or explicitly concluded that emo-
tional labor has negative and dysfunctional consequences for workers
(Adelmann, 1989;Erickson, 1991;Hochschild, 1983). We argue that although
some dimensions of emotional labor (e.g., variety of emotions that are
displayed) are likely to be associated with higher emotional exhaustion,
it is mainly emotional dissonance that is likely to lead to lower job satis-
faction.
THECONSTRUCTOF EMOTIONAL
LABOR
We define emotional labor as the effort, planning, and control needed
to express organizationally desired emotion during interpersonal transac-
tions. There are four assumptions underlying this definition that warrant
closer attention.
First, our definition is embedded in an interactionist model of emotion.
Even though the question of exactly what is emotion remains hotly con-
tested (see Goleman, 1995; Kemper, 1990; Lutz & White, 1986; Oatley &

988 Academy of Management Review October
Jenkins, 1992, for reviews of emotion research), the interactionist model of

emotion accords considerable importance to social factors in determining
the experience and expression of emotion. This perspective suggests that
individuals make sense of emotions through their understanding of the
social environment in which the emotions are experienced; this approach,
then, suggests that emotion is at least partly socially constructed. Conse-
quently, emotional experience and expression can be and often are subject
to external direction, enhancement, and suppression (Ashforth & Hum-
phrey, 1995; Hochschild, 1990; Kemper, 1990; Thoits, 1990).
Second, and also consistent with the interactionist model of emotion,
we argue that even in situations in which there is congruence between
the individual's felt emotion and the organizationally desired emotion,
there will still be some degree of effort (or "labor") required in expressing
emotions. Certainly there will be less effort required when the felt emotion
and organizationally desired emotion are congruent, but individuals will
still have to exert some effort to ensure that what is felt will be displayed
in organizationally appropriate ways (i.e., that the feeling of happiness
is displayed in an appropriate smile or greeting). Thus, we argue that
Wal-Mart greeters who experience emotional congruence between their
own felt emotions and the emotions required by the job still have to expend
some effort ensuring that the felt positive emotion is actually displayed
in desirable forms, although they will expend clearly less labor than if
their felt emotions conflicted with the required emotions (Tolich, 1993). In
most work settings, then, we argue that it does indeed take "labor" to
display organizationally desired emotions, because felt emotion must still
be translated into appropriate emotional displays.
Third, consistent with Hochschild's (1983) original notion of emotional
labor, our definition of emotional labor suggests that the expression of
emotion, which was once privately determined, has now become a market-
place commodity. Indeed, the emotional expression of the service worker
has become part of the service itself (Wichroski, 1994). However, rather
than focus on the management of feeling (as suggested by Hochschild,
1983), we focus here on expressive behavior, because it is appropriate
expressive behavior that is organizationally desired.
Fourth, according to this definition of emotional labor, there are stan-
dards or rules that dictate how and when emotion should be expressed.
Within the context of service organizations, Hochschild (1979, 1983) argued
that there are indeed common expectations regarding the appropriate
emotional behaviors of service workers. For example, flight attendants
are supposed to appear friendly and cheerful, whereas funeral directors
are supposed to appear somber and reserved (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993).
Ekman (1973) called such norms about appropriate emotional expression
display rules. According to Ekman (1973), display rules are standards of
behavior that indicate not only which emotions are appropriate in a given
situation, but also how those emotions should be conveyed or pub-
licly expressed. Thus, the ritual look of delight on the face of the first

runner-up as the new Miss America is announced is a product of the

display rule that dictates that losers should mask their sadness with an
expression of joy for the winner (DePaulo, 1992). In the next section, we
draw upon our definition of emotional labor and its underlying assump-
tions to build a four-component conceptualization of emotional labor.
DIMENSIONS OF EMOTIONAL LABOR

Our focus here is on the level of planning, control, and skill that
are required to present appropriate emotional display in organizational
settings. Consequently, in this article we conceptualize the emotional
labor construct along four dimensions: frequency of appropriate emotional
display, attentiveness to required display rules, variety of emotions to be
displayed, and emotional dissonance.
Frequency of Emotional Display
Frequency of emotional display has been the most examined compo-
nent of emotional labor; most previous research, in fact, has focused on
the frequency of interaction between service providers and clients as the
key dimension along which jobs can be arrayed in terms of emotional
labor. The premise has been that stakeholders (customers or clients) are
more likely to do business with an organization when the affective bonds
of liking, trust, and respect have been established through employee be-
havior (Wharton & Erickson, 1993). Consequently, the more often a work
role requires socially appropriate emotional displays, the greater the orga-
nization's demands for regulated displays of emotion will be.
Clearly, frequency of emotional display is an important indicator of
emotional labor. However, conceptualization of emotional labor only in
terms of frequency of appropriate emotional display may miss some com-
plexity in the construct, because frequency alone does not capture the
level of planning, control, or skill needed to regulate and display emotional
expression. Thus, three additional dimensions of emotional labor also
must be considered.
Attentiveness to Required Display Rules
The second dimension of emotional labor is the level of attentiveness
to display rules required by the job. The more attentiveness to display
rules required, the more psychological energy and physical effort the
service job will demand from employees-and hence the more "labor"
emotional displays will entail. Attentiveness to display rules required
consists of both the duration of emotional display and the intensity of
emotional display.
Duration of emotional display. Sutton and Rafaeli's (1988)and Rafaeli's
(1989a) work with convenience store clerks suggests that short interactions
with customers often involve highly scripted interaction formats-a simple
thank you, perhaps a slight smile. This finding implies that the level of

effort required for emotional displays of short duration is quite minimal.

Conversely, emotional displays of longer duration should require more
effort and thus more emotional labor.
Research on job stress and burnout supports this argument. Cordes
and Dougherty (1993) reported that longer interactions with clients are
associated with higher levels of burnout. There are two reasons why dura-
tion may have an impact on the effort required to express organizationally
desired emotion. First, the longer emotional displays go on, the more likely
they will become less scripted; consequently, longer emotional displays
require greater attention and emotional stamina (Hochschild, 1983). Sec-
ond, more information about the customer or client may become available
as the interaction becomes prolonged. This knowledge makes it harder for
employees to avoid showing their own personal feelings, thereby violating
organizational or occupational norms (Smith, 1992).
Intensity of emotional display. Emotional intensity refers to how
strongly or with what magnitude an emotion is experienced or expressed.
Frijda, Ortony, Sonnemans, and Clore (1992) argued that it is the intensity
of the expressed emotion more than any other factor that determines
whether clients and customers change their behavior during service inter-
actions, because people may be convinced or intimidated by the perceived
intensity of service providers' emotions.
Hochschild's (1983) explanation of how emotional labor is performed
provides support for this position. According to Hochschild (1983), employ-
ees perform emotional labor in one of two ways. Surface acting involves
simulating emotions that are not actually felt. In contrast, deep acting
involves attempts to actually experience the emotions one is required to
display. Ashforth and Humphrey (1993) suggested that deep acting requires
greater effort because the role occupant must actively strive to invoke
thoughts, images, and memories to induce the associated emotion. Be-
cause emotional intensity often is difficult to fake, we argue that work
roles requiring display of intense emotions entail more deep acting and
thus greater effort on the part of role occupants.
The importance of intensity becomes even clearer when the differ-
ences in emotional labor across groups of service workers are examined.
For example, consider the difference in emotional labor demands between
debt collectors, who are expected to convincingly display urgency and
anger, and store clerks, who are expected to offer polite thank yous. If
researchers simply count the frequency of expressed organizationally de-
sired emotion, they might conclude these two jobs entail equivalent
amounts of emotional labor. However, if researchers consider the level of
effort required to display appropriate emotions, they will find that these
two jobs are very different indeed.
Previous research suggests that duration of emotional display and
intensity of emotional display are positively related. Short displays of
emotion are more likely to be scripted and require little emotional inten-
sity, whereas long displays are more likely to be unscripted and require

the display of more intense (sincere) emotions (Rafaeli, 1989b). Thus, clients
do not expect emotional intensity in short scripted interactions with tele-
marketers, but they do expect more intense exchanges in longer, non-
scripted interactions with nurses. Moreover, Frijda and colleagues (1992)
also noted that displays of intense emotion are more likely to occur when
participants in the transactions have some history to their exchanges;
interactions of longer duration are more likely to provide that history.
Variety of Emotions Required To Be Expressed
The third major dimension of emotional labor is the variety of emo-
tional displays required by work roles. The greater the variety of emotions
to be displayed, the greater the emotional labor of role occupants will be.
Service providers who must alter the kinds of emotions expressed to fit
specific situational contexts have to engage in more active planning and
conscious monitoring of their behavior. Consequently, the amount of psy-
chological energy they have to expend in emotional labor will be greater
as well.
Emotional displays in organizations have been characterized as posi-
tive, neutral, or negative in nature (Wharton & Erickson, 1993). Positive
emotional displays are aimed at increasing bonds of liking between em-
ployees and customers; display rules emphasizing emotional neutrality
are used to convey dispassionate authority and status; negative display
rules emphasizing anger and hostility often are employed to intimidate
or subdue clients (e.g., bouncers).
Given the dynamic nature of many service encounters, it is not surpris-
ing to find that different sets of occupational and organizational display
rules are sometimes utilized as the demands of a given transaction change
(Sutton, 1991). For example, salespeople may be encouraged to give indi-
vidualized attention to customers when business is slow, and they may
be encouraged to speed up transactions as the number of customers wait-
ing in line increases or as it nears closing time (Leidner, 1989; Rafaeli,
1989a). Similarly, some jobs (such as those of professors) often require
frequent changes of emotions that are displayed: positive emotions to
build enthusiasm, negative emotions to support discipline, and neutrality
of emotions to demonstrate fairness and professionalism. Thus, the
amount of emotional labor involved in regulating emotional expression
may be significantly influenced by variety.
The extent to which the variety of expressed emotions changes over
time also may have an impact on the planning and adjustment needed
to display organizationally desired emotions. For example, a debt collector
who works on bills that are 30 days overdue on Monday, 90 days overdue
on Tuesday, and 6 months overdue on Wednesday exhibits a fairly wide
variety of emotional displays, because interactions with different kinds
of delinquent accounts requires different amounts of cajoling, sympathy,
and anger (Sutton, 1991). Additionally, the same debt collector who works
on all three types of overdue accounts within a single day will need to

engage in even greater emotional adjustment, because potentially every

new call that day may require a different type of expressed emotion. In
summary, then, frequent changes in the variety of emotions displayed
over a limited period of time require more planning and anticipation on
the part of employees, and thus they entail greater emotional labor.
Emotional Dissonance
Middleton (1989) defined the conflict between genuinely felt emotions
and emotions required to be displayed in organizations as emotional
dissonance. Workers may experience emotional dissonance when the emo-
tional expression required by the job's display rules clashes with their
inner or "real" feelings. In previous examinations of emotional dissonance,
researchers typically have considered dissonance a consequence of emo-
tional labor (Adelmann, 1989). However, rather than being a consequence,
emotional dissonance can and should be considered as the fourth dimen-
sion of the emotional labor construct.
What makes regulation of emotional expression more difficult, and
thus more labor intensive, are exactly those situations in which there are
conflicts between genuinely felt emotions and organizationally desired
emotions. It seems unlikely that considerable control or presentational
skill is necessary when the emotion the employee is expected to display
matches the emotion actually felt (Leary & Kowalski, 1990); for example,
it should require little emotional "labor" to sell products one genuinely
believes in. However, the act of expressing desired emotions during inter-
personal transactions becomes much more demanding when it requires
greater skill to control true feelings. Thus, it is much more "labor" for a
nurse to display emotional neutrality when a long-term patient whom
he or she likes is dying. When mismatches between genuinely felt and
organizationally required emotions exist, then, greater control, skill, and
attentive action will be needed.
Relationships Among the Four Dimensions of Emotional Labor
Figure 1 summarizes the relationships among frequency of emotional
display, attentiveness to required display rules, variety of emotions to be
displayed, and emotional dissonance.
Frequency of emotional display and attentiveness to required display
rules should be negatively related, because the longer and more intense
the display of emotion, the fewer opportunities an employee will have for
multiple service interactions within any given time period. For example,
Hochschild (1983) noted that flight attendants were more likely to routinize,
shorten, and limit the magnitude of expressed emotion as the number of
passengers to be served increased. Leidner's (1989) work with counter
workers at fast-food restaurants further supports this relationship. Leidner
found that these workers are strongly encouraged to routinize interactions
and minimize interaction time, because time spent waiting in line violates
customers' expectations of good service.

FIGURE 1
Relationships Among Four Dimensions of Emotional Labor
Frequen (0) riety of

of Emotional Emotions
Display Expressed
Attentiveness
to Required __________ Emotional
Display Rules ?)Dissonance
In contrast, there may be no direct relationship between frequency of

emotional display and variety of expressed emotions; rather, characteris-
tics of the job and situation should have a greater impact on variety. For
example, counter workers at fast-food restaurants and convenience store
workers frequently must express desired positive emotions, but their job
demands and work context are quite stable across interactions (Rafaeli,
1989b). However, secretaries also have to frequently display desired emo-
tions, but they are required to display a much wider variety of emotions;
their jobs require them to engage in interactions with many different
stakeholders in widely divergent contexts. Wichroski's (1994) examination
of the emotional labor requirements of secretaries, for instance, suggests
that secretaries are expected to express irritation when dealing with a
vendor who is late in delivering a package, show emotional neutrality
while interacting with rude or frustrated coworkers, and provide encour-
agement and support to managers and supervisors.
In general, frequency of emotional expression and emotional disso-
nance should be positively associated. This relationship is likely to occur
because the more frequently employees are required to display organiza-
tionally desired emotions, the greater the probability that they will encoun-
ter situations in which their "real" feelings will conflict with expected
emotions. Kuenz (1995), for example, reported that longtime employees of
Disney World, whose jobs required frequent interaction with "guests" at

the park, were much more likely to report instances in which they experi-
enced significant conflicts between what was expected of them and what
they actually felt.
Attentiveness to required display rules should be positively associ-
ated with variety of expressed emotions. As the duration and intensity of
interactions increase, employees often are called upon to display a wider
and wider set of emotions. For instance, Sutton (1991) found that debt
collectors who interacted with debtors on an almost continuous basis were
likely to display many different types of emotions because their demeanor
varied dramatically from client to client. When debtors sounded indiffer-
ent, debt collectors were expected to express anger; when debtors sounded
angry or upset, debt collectors were expected to express emotional neu-
trality.
Attentiveness to display rules also should be positively associated
with increased emotional dissonance. The longer and more intense the
emotional display, the greater the probability that an employee's "real"
feelings will conflict with expected emotions. As noted previously, interac-
tions of longer duration are more likely to become unscripted and to reveal
personal information about the customer; this knowledge makes it harder
for employees to control their own personal feelings. It is for this reason,
James (1989) noted, that physicians often keep interactions with patients
short. Shorter, less intense visits make it less likely physicians will become
emotionally involved with patients, thereby violating occupational norms
of emotional neutrality.
Finally, variety of expressed emotions and emotional dissonance
should be negatively related. This should be true because a highly re-
stricted range of emotions at work simply increases the chances that
expected emotion will conflict with genuinely felt emotion. The typical
range of emotions outside the workplace runs the gamut from very positive
to very negative; a restricted range of emotions to be displayed at work
increases the probability employees will have to express emotions that
they do not really feel (Wharton & Erickson, 1993).
ANTECEDENTS OF EMOTIONAL LABOR

The preceding discussion highlights the fact that different organiza-
tional and job characteristics and individual difference variables are asso-
ciated with different dimensions of emotional labor. In this next section,
we present several propositions illustrating the relationships among orga-
nizational characteristics, job characteristics, individual differences, and
the four dimensions of emotional labor that we identified (frequency of
emotional display, attentiveness to required display rules, variety of emo-
tions expressed, and emotional dissonance.) Although there are obviously
a wide variety of variables that potentially could be considered, here we
focus on antecedents that are expected to have the greatest impact on each
dimension and on antecedents that would be most useful for researchers

interested in untangling previous inconclusive research results. A sum-

mary of these hypothesized relationships appears in Figure 2.
Antecedents of Frequency of Emotional Display
Explicitness of display rules. As noted previously, display rules are
learned norms regarding how to express emotions at work. Rafaeli and
Sutton (1987, 1989) indicated that one of the key mechanisms for learning
appropriate emotion display rules is socialization. For instance, both Van
Maanen and Kunda (1989) and Kuenz (1995) reported that Walt Disney
World uses classes, handbooks, and billboards to teach newcomers ex-
actly which positive and esteem-enhancing emotions they must convey
to "guests" at Walt Disney World.
In addition, these authors suggested that the more contact employees
have with customers and the more an organization believes that the control
of employees' emotional behavior will produce organization gains, the
more likely the organization will attempt to control expressive behavior
through explicit display rules.
Proposition 1: Explicitness of organizational emotional
display rules will be positively associated with fre-
quency of desired emotional display.
Closeness of monitoring. The extent to which emotional expression
is monitored by supervisors is the second organizational predictor of fre-
quency of emotional display. Van Maanen and Kunda's (1989) examination
of Walt Disney World's culture showed that supervisors at Disney paid
considerable attention to ensuring that employees displayed desired emo-
tions. Because a rude employee could potentially cost Disney future
"guests," supervisors clearly believed that active monitoring was both
necessary and appropriate. A relationship between direct monitoring of
employee behavior and requirements for performance of emotional labor
was also found in Tolich's (1993) study of supermarket clerks. In fact,
not only was there direct supervision and monitoring of clerk-customer
interactions by management, but also customers were actively encour-
aged to scrutinize and evaluate the clerks' performance. In much the same
way, an organization's use of "secret shoppers," persons who go to stores
and rate the service of employees, can sensitize employees to the need
to consistently display required emotions, because such monitoring can
be both covert and random (Kuenz, 1995). As Proposition 2 suggests, then,
closeness of monitoring should be positively correlated with frequency of
emotional display, because the presence of close monitoring is a strong
signal to employees that an important part of their work roles is the
appropriate display of emotion.
Proposition 2: Closeness of monitoring will be positively
associated with increased frequency of emotional dis-
play.

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Propositions 1 and 2 warrant an important qualification. The extent

to which organizations have explicit display rules and monitor employees'
expressive behavior will depend on the level of skill and training required
to perform the work. In many cases, part of the training process for highly
skilled professionals involves learning the appropriate display of emotion.
Smith and Kleinman (1989), for instance, stated that an important part of
a physician's first-year training involves learning how to interact with
patients. Thus, it is more likely that display rules governing expressive
behavior already have been internalized by highly skilled workers, and,
consequently, there should be less need for organizations to formally
monitor their expressive behavior.
Gender. Previous research suggests that women show greater emo-
tional expressivity than men (e.g., Deaux, 1985; LaFrance & Banaji, 1992).
Women are clearly expected to smile more often than men (Birnbaum,
Nosanchuk, & Croll, 1980) and to do so in a wide variety of situations
(Rafaeli, 1989a). For example, Rafaeli (1989a) found that female store clerks
convey higher levels of positive emotions to their customers than do men.
She proposed that women may show more emotion for three reasons:
(a) women may be socialized to act in a warmer and friendlier manner
(Deutsch, 1990; James, 1989), (b) women may have a greater ability to
encode and present their emotions than men (LaFrance & Banaji, 1992),
and (c) women may show more positive emotions because of a greater
need for social approval (Hoffman, 1972).
Hochschild (1989) also argued that women are expected to do more
emotion management than men both at work and at home. As Hochschild
(1989: 182) noted, "the world turns to women for mothering, and this fact
silently attaches itself to many job requirements." Interestingly, even
within the same occupation, women often are expected to perform more
emotional labor than men (Adelmann, 1989; James, 1992; Wharton & Erick-
son, 1993; Wichroski, 1994).
Proposition 3: Women will have a greater frequency of
emotional display than will men.
Routineness of task. Jobs vary widely in terms of routineness, even
within the service sector. Sales clerks and counter workers at fast food
restaurants are two examples of routine service jobs (Leidner, 1989;Rafaeli,
1989a); emotion work for these workers often follows highly scripted for-
mats (Leidner, 1989; Morgan, 1986). Leidner (1989) noted that organizations
often use scripted interaction formats when the job requires frequent in-
teraction with customers, but little personalization of the interaction is
expected by customers.
Proposition 4: Task routineness will be positively associ-
ated with frequency of emotional display.
Antecedents of Attentiveness to Required Display Rules
Routineness of task. Even though task routineness should be positively
associated with frequency of emotional display, routineness of task is

expected to be negatively associated with attentiveness to display rules.

There are two reasons for this proposition. First, as previously noted, what
appears to be of utmost importance in many routine service jobs is that
the interaction with the customer be done quickly and uniformly. For
instance, Schneider and Bowen (1995) noted that for most routine service
interactions customer evaluations of service quality appear to be based
more on the speed at which the interaction occurs rather than on the
sincerity of the employee's emotional display. Second, expression of in-
tense emotion tends to impair routine task performance by distorting stan-
dard operating procedures (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1995).
Proposition 5: Task routineness will be negatively associ-
ated with attentiveness to required display rules.
Power of role receiver. A variety of studies indicate that people express
emotion differently when addressing different target persons (e.g., Good-
sell, 1976; Waldron & Krone, 1991). Kuenz's (1995) examination of work
practices at Disney World suggests that Disney World employees are
expected to provide more sincere and personalized service to high-status
"guests" (called PXs). Further, Hochschild (1983) found that many flight
attendants believed that they should engage in longer and more sincere
displays of positive emotion to passengers in first class and business
class, and they actually did so.
Proposition 6: Power of the role receiver will be positively
associated with attentiveness to required display rules.
Antecedents of Variety of Emotional Display
Power of role receiver. Power of the role receiver also is likely to be
associated with the variety of emotions expressed on the job. Descriptions
of the emotional behavior of service professionals (Leary & Kowalski, 1990;
Sutton & Rafaeli, 1988; Wichroski, 1994) suggest that the extent to which
some types of emotions are displayed depends on the power and status
of the target. Here we argue that when dealing with more powerful role
receivers, service providers will restrict the range of emotions expressed
to positive emotions. This proposed relationship is consistent, for in-
stance, with Kipnis, Schmidt, and Wilkinson's (1980) work that suggests
expressing anger at a subordinate is much more common than expressing
anger at a supervisor. Along the same lines, Flett, Blankstein, Piner, and
Bator (1988) found that individuals who engaged in impression manage-
ment reported their negative emotions were less frequent, less intense,
and shorter in duration.
Proposition 7: Power of the role receiver will be nega-
tively associated with the variety of emotional display.
Task variety. As Hackman and Oldham (1975) noted, variety on the
job can derive from numerous sources: the different types of clients served,
the different types of manual duties performed, the different types of work

conditions encountered, and the different types of employee skills utilized

in the performance of the job. The greater the task variety of employees,
the greater the variety of emotions expressed is likely to be. Particularly
in service transactions, the greater the variety of clients served and the
greater the variety of service tasks performed, the greater the array of
emotions that will need to be called upon by employees. For example, med-
ical residents rotating through various services (OB/GYN, Oncology, and
ER) will have to express a broader range of emotions than X-ray technicians.
Proposition 8: Task variety will be positively associated
with variety of emotional display.
Antecedents of Emotional Dissonance
Form of interaction. DePaulo (1992), Ekman (1985), and Saarni and
Von Salisch (1993) indicated that nonverbal behavior is more difficult to
regulate than verbal behavior. This research suggests that work roles that
require face-to-face interaction will require greater control of emotional
expression, because both vocal and facial expressions must be regulated.
When workers are out of sight of their customers, they should experi-
ence less emotional dissonance because they have more ways to express
felt emotion without violating organizational display norms (e.g., doodling,
making faces to coworkers). In contrast, in jobs requiring face-to-face con-
tact, having to express emotions that one does not genuinely experience
is more keenly and immediately felt, and it creates greater emotional dis-
sonance.
Proposition 9: The more the job requires face-to-face in-
teraction, the greater the emotional dissonance will be.
Job autonomy. Autonomy has been defined as the degree to which an
employee has freedom, independence, and discretion in carrying out the
tasks of the job (Hackman & Oldham, 1975). Although somewhat conceptu-
ally related to closeness of monitoring, within the context of service work,
job autonomy specifically refers to the extent to which role occupants have
the ability to adapt display rules to fit their own interpersonal styles. For
example, Tolich (1993) found that even though supermarket clerks often
were subject to formal monitoring of expressive behavior, there was still
some discretion over how they could enact the required emotional dis-
plays.
Research has shown that job autonomy is positively correlated to job
satisfaction and other attitudinal outcome variables (Hackman & Oldham,
1975). Previous studies on emotional labor suggest that emotional labor is
significantly less aversive among workers who have greater job autonomy
(Adelmann, 1989; Erickson, 1991; Wharton, 1993). In keeping with Rafaeli
and Sutton's (1989) work, we suggest that autonomy is an important ante-
cedent of emotional dissonance. Indeed, one of the reasons that emotional
labor is, in fact, "labor" is that the employee's regulation of emotional
expression is organizationally directed. Employees who have more auton-

omy over their expressive behavior may be more likely to violate organiza-
tional display rules when those rules conflict with their own genuinely
felt emotions. Hence, employees who have more job autonomy should
experience less emotional dissonance.
Proposition 10: Job autonomy will be negatively associ-
ated with emotional dissonance.
Affectivity. Affectivity has been defined as a general tendency to expe-
rience a particular mood (e.g., to be happy or sad) or to react to objects
(e.g., jobs, people) in a particular way or with certain emotions (Lazarus,
1993). Positive affectivity reflects the extent to which a person feels enthusi-
astic, active, and alert. Negative affectivity subsumes a variety of aversive
mood states, including anger, contempt, disgust, and fear (Watson & Tel-
legen, 1985). Although some previous research indicates that positive and
negative affect are two separate constructs (Watson & Clark, 1984), Judge
(1992) suggested that positive and negative affect represent opposite ends
of one construct that concerns the amount of happiness an individual
experiences over time.
A number of researchers have tested the behavioral consequences of
affective states (see Isen & Baron, 1991; Judge, 1992, for reviews). Affect
has been related empirically to helping behavior (George & Brief, 1992),
evaluations of others (Cardy & Dobbins, 1986), biases in information pro-
cessing (Alloy & Abramson, 1988), and performance on decisional and
interpersonal tasks (Staw & Barsade, 1993).
We argue in this article that positive and negative affectivity also
may have significant influences on emotional dissonance. Simply put,
individuals may be better suited for their positions when there is conver-
gence between the expected emotional expression on their jobs and their
own predisposition to experience the same type of emotions. Thus, individ-
uals who experience positive emotions more often than negative (positive
affectivity) should find that emotional labor that requires the display of
positive emotion requires less active monitoring of emotional experience,
because there will be less frequent dissonance between their genuinely
felt emotions and emotions to be displayed.
Proposition 11: Positive affectivity will be positively cor-
related with emotional dissonance when the display
rules require the expression of negative emotion.
Proposition 12: Negative affectivity will be positively cor-
related with emotional dissonance when the display
rules require the expression of positive emotion.
CONSEQUENCES OF EMOTIONAL LABOR

The bulk of the previous research on emotional labor has focused on
the potential negative consequences of emotional labor for the psychologi-
cal well-being of employees. For instance, Hochschild (1983) reported that

emotional labor can be linked to such problems as drug abuse, alcohol

abuse, and absenteeism. In exploratory research on flight attendants,
Hochschild (1983) contended that having to perform emotional labor causes
eventual alienation or estrangement from one's genuine feelings, and it
thereby has detrimental consequences for various aspects of psychologi-
cal well-being.
Adelmann (1989) found mixed support for Hochschild's alienation
hypothesis about the consequences of performing emotional labor. In
the first of her two research studies, she coded jobs as either high or low
in emotional labor (using Hochschild's 1979 classification schema).
Data analysis revealed that workers in jobs requiring high amounts of
emotional labor reported significantly lower job satisfaction, lower self-
esteem, poorer health, and more depressive symptoms. However, in her
second study in which questionnaire responses from table servers were
used to measure emotional labor, emotional labor was not significantly
related to measures of psychological well-being.
Using questionnaire responses from frontline service workers, Erick-
son (1991) also found the relationship between emotional labor and well-
being is not as straightforward as was first proposed by Hochschild. Erick-
son's data showed that the effect of emotional labor on well-being was
dependent upon job autonomy; individuals with high job autonomy suf-
fered fewer negative effects of emotional labor than did those with low
job autonomy.
Wharton's (1993) examination of the emotional labor construct pro-
vides results that often directly contradict earlier studies. Sampling em-
ployees from multiple job categories in a large bank and a teaching hospi-
tal, Wharton could find no evidence that workers who perform emotional
labor are more likely to suffer from emotional exhaustion. In addition,
emotional labor was found to be positively related to job satisfaction, a
finding inconsistent with Hoschshild's (1983) work.
Wharton's findings appear to lend support to Wouters's (1989) assertion
that Hochschild's (1979, 1983) focus on the "costs" of emotional labor per-
haps underestimates the potential benefits of emotional labor. Ashforth
and Humphrey (1993) suggested that emotional labor actually may make
interactions more predictable and help workers to avoid embarrassing
interpersonal problems. This understanding, in turn, should help reduce
stress and increase satisfaction. In addition, Ashforth and Humphrey (1993)
indicated that performing emotional labor may help employees to psycho-
logically distance themselves from unpleasant situations. For example,
emotional labor may help medical students show concern while remaining
sufficiently aloof in order to retain their impartiality (Ashforth & Hum-
phrey, 1993).
One of the reasons why there may be so much confusion surrounding
the possible consequences of performing emotional labor is the incomplete
way in which the construct has been previously operationalized. A catego-
rization of jobs requiring emotional labor provided by Hochschild (1979)

established the foundation from which every empirical study of emotional

labor has since proceeded. The primary criterion for inclusion as a job
requiring high emotional labor was frequency of contact with the public.
However, Hochschild (1983) clearly acknowledged that her categorization
of jobs requiring emotional labor was merely suggestive and needed fur-
ther empirical testing.
In this next section, we consider the impact of the four dimensions of
emotional labor (identified previously) on the two dimensions of psycho-
logical well-being most frequently investigated in emotional labor re-
search, namely, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. A brief sum-
mary of these hypothesized relationships also appears in Figure 2.
Dimensions Associated with Emotional Exhaustion
Emotional exhaustion is a specific stress-related reaction, and it is
considered a key component of burnout (Maslach, 1982). Emotional exhaus-
tion refers to a state of depleted energy caused by excessive emotional
demands made on people interacting with customers or clients (Saxton,
Phillips, & Blakeney, 1991), and it has been associated with increases in
withdrawal behavior and decreases in productivity (Cordes & Dougherty,
1993; Jackson, Schwab, & Schuler, 1986).
Jackson, Schwab, and Schuler (1986) suggested that emotional exhaus-
tion is most relevant for work roles that are very involving. Specifically,
Jackson and colleagues (1986) indicated that emotional exhaustion pre-
sumes prior states of high arousal and activation. Thus, the role of Wal-
Mart greeter is unlikely to be emotionally exhausting, because few, if any,
interactions between the greeter and customers are emotionally charged.
For those work roles that are involving, though, Maslach's (1982) work
suggests that frequent face-to-face interactions with clients and interac-
tions that are emotionally intense and of longer duration are associated
with higher levels of emotional exhaustion. Her work also suggests that
greater planning for a wide variety of emotional displays is emotionally
exhausting as well. Along the same lines, Kahn's (1993) work suggests
that caregivers (such as nurses and social workers) are more likely to
suffer from emotional exhaustion, because intense display of emotion is
often required on their jobs.
Proposition 13: Frequency of emotional display will be
positively associated with emotional exhaustion.
Proposition 14: Attentiveness to display rules required
will be positively associated with emotional exhaustion.
Proposition 15: Variety of expressed emotions will be pos-
itively associated with emotional exhaustion.
Emotional dissonance can be considered a form of role conflict
(Rafaeli & Sutton, 1987). According to Kahn (1964), role conflict involves

conflict between the needs and values of a person and the demands of
others in his or her role set. Previous research suggests that a key anteced-
ent of emotional exhaustion is such role conflict (Jackson et al., 1986;
Lee & Ashforth, 1993). In the case of debt collectors, for example, emotional
dissonance can be said to exist when debt collectors feel sympathy and
compassion for distressed debtors, yet they are expected by the debt collec-
tion agency to express negative emotion to these same debtors.
Proposition 16: Emotional dissonance will be positively
associated with emotional exhaustion.
Dimensions Associated with Job Satisfaction
Previous theoretical work on emotional labor suggests a negative
relationship between emotional labor and job satisfaction. However, re-
searchers who conducted two empirical tests of this relationship (Adel-
mann, 1989; Wharton, 1993) did not find a negative relationship. In fact,
Wharton (1993) found that high emotional labor was positively related to
job satisfaction.
Person-environment fit theory (Caplan, 1983) and the dispositional
approach to attitudes (Arvey, Bouchard, Segal, & Abraham, 1989; Staw,
Bell, & Clausen, 1986) both suggest the possibility that some employees
may not find expression of organizationally desired emotion particularly
unpleasant. In some cases, employees can go on "automatic pilot" and
experience only "emotional numbness" during emotional labor (Leidner,
1989). Further, emotional labor that reduces uncertainty or helps to avoid
embarrassing interpersonal situations actually may be associated with
increased job satisfaction (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993; Goffman, 1959).
Thus, it may not be frequency of emotional expression, the attentive-
ness to required display rules, or the variety of required emotional displays
that influences job dissatisfaction. Instead, we contend that the key dimen-
sion of emotional labor that is negatively associated with job satisfaction
is emotional dissonance. Rutter and Fielding (1988), for instance, found
that a perceived need to suppress genuinely felt emotion in the workplace
is negatively associated with job satisfaction. Similarly, Lawler (1973)
suggested that it is the discrepancy between the employee's perceptions
of conditions that should exist and those that actually do exist that deter-
mines job satisfaction.
Proposition 17: Emotional dissonance will be negatively
associated with job satisfaction.
IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

Conceptualizing emotional labor as a multidimensional construct
suggests several directions for future research. First, researchers should
focus on developing and validating measures of the four components of
emotional labor. A number of research methodologies appear useful. For

instance, direct observation of emotional expression would be a useful

way to quantify frequency, duration, and variety of emotional labor. An
excellent example of this type of data collection can be found in Rafaeli's
(1989a) study of the emotional expression of store clerks. Self-report meth-
ods also may be useful. For example, Wallbott and Scherer (1989) indicated
that the use of a questionnaire to collect information about emotional
experience and expression can offer a number of advantages, including
access to more emotional experiences over a longer period of time. In
addition, the questionnaire may be the only way to get subjects to reveal
especially sensitive information such as emotional dissonance (Sudman &
Bradburn, 1974).
Second, the extent to which the concept of emotional labor can be
generalized beyond frontline service roles to other organizational roles
should be addressed in future research. As Ashforth and Humphrey (1993:
190) noted, "given that roles are essentially clusters of social expectations
and that emotions are inevitably experienced in the performance of roles,
it is difficult to imagine an organizational role in which display rules
would not apply at various points." A broader study of variations in the
emotion-management requirements across different types of work roles
should provide additional insights into the antecedents of emotional labor.
Third, further exploration of the possible consequences of emotional
labor in general is needed. Research on other outcomes, such as job-
related self-esteem and anxiety, also may prove useful. Another variable
that should be investigated further is role internalization; in some studies,
this variable was used as a dependent variable (Hochschild, 1983),
whereas in other work, researchers suggested it might mediate the rela-
tionship between emotional labor and psychological well-being (Rafaeli &
Sutton, 1987).
Examination of the impact of emotional labor on organizational out-
comes is especially needed, because one of the primary reasons why
organizations require emotional labor is the expectation that regulated
emotional expression will increase sales. However, in the only quantita-
tive study of the relationship between emotional labor and sales, Sutton
and Rafaeli (1988) found a weak, but significant, negative relationship
between the two variables. The relationship between emotional labor and
sales may be further complicated by the degree to which display rules
differ from region to region. Simply put, emotional labor requirements that
are appropriate in one service environment may be inappropriate and
dysfunctional in another environment. Indeed, one of the reasons fre-
quently cited for the poor performance of Euro Disney is that European
"guests" do not appreciate the buoyant smiles and positive emotions dis-
played by Euro Disney employees (Rudolph, 1993).
A fourth direction for researchers is to examine the potential mod-
erators and/or mediators of the relationships between dimensions of
emotional labor and psychological well-being. Social support and self-
monitoring appear particularly promising to this end.

Social support is thought to enable individuals to cope better with

job stressors and to increase their sense of personal control (Cohen &
Wills, 1985; House, 1981). In the context of research on emotional labor,
workers who have supportive social relationships may be able to rely on
others to aid them when they experience conflicts between organization-
ally desired emotion and felt emotion, and hence they experience less
psychological distress (Wharton & Erickson, 1993). For instance, Hoch-
schild (1983) found that flight attendants often used their time together
before a flight to boost the morale of depressed coworkers and that strong
social support among these workers provided opportunities for frustrated
flight attendants to "blow off steam" and express their real feelings without
violating role requirements.
Self-monitoring refers to the extent to which people observe and con-
trol the image of themselves they present in social interactions (Synder,
1987). Synder (1974) found that high self-monitors attended more closely
to situational cues about which emotions should and should not be dis-
played; high self-monitors also were more skilled at presenting emotions,
both with their faces and with their voices (Riggio & Friedman, 1982).
Synder (1974, 1987) also suggested that people who hold jobs that require
control of expressive behavior are more likely to learn or be predisposed
to monitor their expressive behavior carefully.
Thus, previous research indicates that high self-monitors may be bet-
ter at controlling their emotional displays. Moreover, role occupants who
engage in greater amounts of self-monitoring should be more inclined to
comply with organizational display norms, because high self-monitors
exhibit a greater willingness to monitor expressive behavior. In addition,
because high self-monitors may be more readily inclined to comply with
organizational display norms, they should be less likely to find the emo-
tional labor part of their jobs dissatisfying.
The practical implications of emotional labor research for managing
service workers also warrants further attention. In discussing how emotion
work can be managed, Rafaeli and Sutton (1987) noted that few, if any,
selection tools currently exist that help predict expressive behavior or
ability to display emotions. However, using more realistic recruiting tech-
niques may prove useful. Wanous (1992) reported that one of the reasons
realistic job previews help to reduce involuntary turnover is that they
explicitly encourage self-selection. Organizations that make explicit their
emotional labor requirements during the selection process can help indi-
viduals decide beforehand whether their expressive behavior matches
the organization's display norms.
To the extent that emotional expression is dependent upon enduring
dispositional factors, characteristics of the individual also may help man-
agers to make better personnel decisions (Kendrick & Funder, 1988).Rafaeli
and Sutton (1987) suggested that selecting employees on the basis of extra-
version may be helpful, because extraverted employees are more likely
to act in a friendly and social manner. Both Friedman, Prince, Riggio, and

DiMatteo's (1980) measure of nonverbal emotional expressiveness and

Kring, Smith, and Neale's (1994) emotional expressivity scale may prove
useful in helping organizations select employees for work roles requiring
extensive emotional labor. In the long run, working on emotional labor
from a selection perspective may be as valuable as the current focus on
socialization because, as noted previously, selecting employees on the
basis of their general tendency to experience certain emotions may lead
to a better fit between an employee's expressive behaviors and work role
requirements.
Finally, the bulk of previous research on emotional labor has been
focused on its negative consequences for employee well-being. In this
article, with its multidimensional conceptualization of emotional labor,
we argue that emotional labor need not be uniformly damaging or equally
damaging to all employees. Given the increasing demand for regulated
emotional expression and the potentially important consequences of emo-
tional labor, it is crucial that researchers continue to develop theories and
measures that capture the complexities of emotion management as part
of the work role. This article provides some theoretical ideas and sugges-
tions for future research to that end.
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J. Andrew Morris is an assistant professor of management at the University of St.

Thomas (Houston, Texas). He received his Ph.D. in management from the University
of South Carolina. His research interests include emotional labor, gender and race
issues, and cross-cultural management.
Daniel C. Feldman is Distinguished Business Partnership Foundation Fellow and a
professor of management at the University of South Carolina. He received his Ph.D.
in organizational behavior from Yale University. His research interests include man-
aging careers in organizations, organizational socialization, layoffs and downsizing,
and underemployment.


28 Morris, J. A., &amp; Feldman, D. C. (1996). The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor

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28 Morris, J. A., &amp; Feldman, D. C. (1996). The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor

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The Dimensions, Antecedents, and Consequences of Emotional Labor

Author(s): J. Andrew Morris and Daniel C. Feldman

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This article conceptualizes the emotional labor construct in terms

Although emotions have long been a topic of interest to sociologists

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management. As a consequence, a key component of the work performed

This content downloaded from 111.93.6.230 on Mon, 20 May 2013 07:33:26 AM

Jenkins, 1992, for reviews of emotion research), the interactionist model of

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runner-up as the new Miss America is announced is a product of the

DIMENSIONS OF EMOTIONAL LABOR

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effort required for emotional displays of short duration is quite minimal.

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engage in even greater emotional adjustment, because potentially every

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Frequen (0) riety of

In contrast, there may be no direct relationship between frequency of

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ANTECEDENTS OF EMOTIONAL LABOR

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interested in untangling previous inconclusive research results. A sum-

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Propositions 1 and 2 warrant an important qualification. The extent

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expected to be negatively associated with attentiveness to display rules.

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conditions encountered, and the different types of employee skills utilized

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CONSEQUENCES OF EMOTIONAL LABOR

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emotional labor can be linked to such problems as drug abuse, alcohol

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established the foundation from which every empirical study of emotional

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IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

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instance, direct observation of emotional expression would be a useful

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Social support is thought to enable individuals to cope better with

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DiMatteo's (1980) measure of nonverbal emotional expressiveness and

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James, N. 1992. Care = organisation + physical labor + emotional labour. Sociology of

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Wanous, J. P. 1992. Organizational entry: Recruitment, selection, orientation, and socialization

J. Andrew Morris is an assistant professor of management at the University of St.

This content downloaded from 111.93.6.230 on Mon, 20 May 2013 07:33:26 AM

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28 Morris, J. A., & Feldman, D. C. (1996). The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor

28 Morris, J. A., & Feldman, D. C. (1996). The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor