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Whereas cognitive and motivational job requirements have been studied for quite some time, the concept of emotion work (emotional labor) has been neglected in work and organizational psychology. This concept puts emotional job requirements into the foreground: It is required by the organization that certain emotions have to be displayed by the employees. An example for emotional job requirements is that flight attendants have to treat (even impolite) guests in a friendly way, that a nurse has to show empathy towards a patient, etc. Emotion work is a key characteristic of jobs in the service sector, that is, all job with contacts to customers, patients, clients, students, children etc. A high variation in emotion work is assumed. The requirements of a bank clerk may differ considerably from the requirements of a flight attendant or a nurse.
We developed an instrument to measure emotion work (Frankfurt Emotion Work Scales FEWS, Zapf et al., 1999; current version FEWS 4.0, Zapf et al., 2000) which can be applied in various branches and occupations. There are translations into English, French, Spanish and Polish.
Research questions are among others:
- relationships between emotion work and psychological strain, especially burnout
- coping with emotion work
- personality factors that affect the experience of emotion work
- customer orientation, service climate and emotion work
Current research project
- Emotion work and age (German page)
Researchers
- Dieter Zapf
- Sabine Machowski (German page)
- Laura Bernhardt (German page)
- Christian Dormann
- Melanie Holz (German page)
- Amela Isic (German page)
- Myriam Bechtoldt (German page)
- Kai Trumpold (German page)
- Barbara Leppkes (German page)
- Andrea Fischbach
References
Zapf, D., & Holz, M. (2009). Emotion in Organisationen [Emotion in organizations]. In V. Brandstätter und J. Otto (Hrsg.), Handbuch der Allgemeinen Psychologie: Motivation und Emotion (S. 755-761). Göttingen: Hogrefe.
Zapf, D., Machowski, S. & Trumpold, K. (2009). Hoher Einsatz mit Nebenwirkungen. Emotionsarbeit in Serviceberufen. Personalführung, 42, 18-29.
Bechtoldt, M. N., Welk, C., Hartig, J., & Zapf, D. (2007). Main and moderating effects of self-control, organizational justice, and emotional labour on counterproductive behaviour at work. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 16, 479-500.
Fischbach, A., Meyer-Gomes, K., Zapf, D., & Rank, J. (2006). Emotion work across cultures: A comparison between the United States and Germany. In W. J. Zerbe, N. Ashkanasy, & C. Härtel (Hrsg.), Research on Emotions in Organizations, Volume 2: Individual and organizational perspectives on emotion management and display (S. 193-217). Elsevier JAI, Oxford, UK.
Zapf, D., & Holz, M. (2006). On the positive and negative effects of emotion work in organizations. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 15, 1-28.
Tschan, F., Rochat, S., & Zapf, D. (2005). It's not only clients: Studying emotion work with clients and co-workers with an event-sampling approach. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 78, 195-220.
Zapf, D., Holz, M., & Fischbach, A. (2005). Emotionsarbeit in Dienstleistungsunternehmen. In L. Packebusch & B. Weber (Hrsg.), Prävention und Nachhaltigkeit. 13. Workshop Psychologie der Arbeitsssicherheit und Gesundheit (S. 67-70). Kröning: Asanger Verlag.
Dormann, C., & Zapf, D. (2004). Customer-related social stressors and burnout. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 9, 61-82.
Holz, M., Zapf, D., & Dormann, C. (2004). Soziale Stressoren in der Arbeitswelt: Kollegen, Vorgesetzte und Kunden [Social stressors at work: Colleagues, supervisors, and customers] (abstract in German). Arbeit, 13, 278-291.
Zapf, D., Isic, A., Bechtoldt, M., & Blau, P. (2003). What is typical for call centre jobs? Job characteristics, and service interactions in different call centres. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 12, 311-340.
Holz, M. & Zapf, D. (2003). Dienstleistungsspezifische Belastungen und Kundenorientierung - Zusammenhänge und Auswirkungen auf Variablen psychischen Wohlbefindens [Service-specific stressors and customer orientation - relationships and effects on variables of psychological well-being]. In H. G. Giesa, K. P. Timpe, & U. Winterfeld (Hrsg.), Psychologie der Arbeitssicherheit und Gesundheit. 12. Workshop 2003 (S. 413-416). Heidelberg: Asanger.
Zapf, D., Isic, A., Fischbach, A., & Dormann, C. (2003). Emotionsarbeit in Dienstleistungsberufen. Das Konzept und seine Implikationen für die Personal- und Organisationsentwicklung [Emotion work in service jobs. The concept and its applications for human resources development and organizational development]. In K.-C. Hamborg & H. Holling (Hrsg.), Innovative Personal- und Organisationsentwicklung (S. 266-288). Göttingen: Hogrefe.
Dormann, C., Zapf, D. & Isic, A. (2002). Emotionale Arbeitsanforderungen und ihre Konsequenzen bei Call Center-Arbeitsplätzen [Emotional requirements at work and their consequences for call-center jobs]. Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie, 46, 201-215.
Zapf, D. (2002). Emotion work and psychological well-being. A review of the literature and some conceptual considerations. Human Resource Management Review, 12, 237-268.
Zapf, D., Seifert, C., Schmutte, B., Mertini, H., & Holz, M. (2001). Emotion work and job stressors and their effects on burnout. Psychology and Health, 16, 527-545.
Zapf, D., Seifert, C., Mertini, H., Voigt, C., Holz, M., Vondran, E., Isic, A. & Schmutte, B. (2000). Emotionsarbeit in Organisationen und psychische Gesundheit [Emotion work in organizations and psychological well-being] (pdf-file of the German article manuscript, 100 kB). In H.-P. Musahl & T. Eisenhauer (Hrsg.), Psychologie der Arbeitssicherheit. Beiträge zur Förderung von Sicherheit und Gesundheit in Arbeitssystemen (S. 99-106). Heidelberg: Asanger.
Zapf, D., Vogt, C., Seifert, C., Mertini, H., & Isic, A. (1999). Emotion work as a source of stress. The concept and development of an instrument. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8, 371-400.