Emotional Dissonance in workplaces: differences between jobs and perceived well-being

Abstract

Purpose. According with a recent EU-OSHA research, among the sources of major stress on workplaces there is some connected to emotional regulation, such as "having to deal with difficult customers, patients, pupils, etc. (58%). Hochschild (1983) called emotional labour the process by which employees manage their emotions to meet organizationally mandated emotional display rules or norms concerning. When an employee must express an emotion he or she does not feel, is lead to emotional dissonance, that affect well-being (Sheldon et al., 1997). The aim of this work is to explore how the emotional dissonance affect the personal well-being in a sample of italian workers differentiated by sector, and the mediating role of the perceived organizational resources. Methodology. To assess work demands, resources, and outcomes we used the italian version of Questionnaire on Experience and Assessment of Work (QEEW, van Veldhoven & Broersen, 1999; Pace et. al., 2010); to assess the emotional dissonance we used a scale originally developed by Brotheridge and Lee (2003); to assess psychological strain we used the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12, Goldberg and Williams, 1988). We collected 371 subjects from many different companies (public/state-owned companies and private companies, representing different economic sectors and productive). We conducted multiple regression and mediation analyses. Results and conclusions. We found that scales connected with emotional labour and emotional dissonance were connected with psycological strain measures in different ways, depending on the level of contact with customers, patients, or pupils. The mediation of personal and organizational resources has a different role, depending on how workers have to deal with "difficult" people. Limitations. The cross-sectional nature of this research. Research/Practical Implications. Future research directions are discussed in order to advance our understanding about solutions that minimize the connection between emotional dissonance and strain.