Coping with emotional labor: an intervention study

Purpose - Emotional labor is generally seen as a response to organizational display rules, which seek to guide the employee’s emotional expressions in such a way as to benefit the organization – generally by increasing customer satisfaction and fostering a positive regard for the organization itself. This study aims to investigate the degree to which a workshop intervention providing information about emotional labor and targeting effective coping strategies could have an effect on teachers’ burnout. Design/methodology/approach - Using a sample of educators in primary and secondary schools, participants completed a pre-intervention survey, the training intervention and a post-intervention survey six months after the training. Findings - Findings indicate that helpful coping strategy responses increased from pre-intervention to post-intervention. Regression tests showed the relationships between emotional labor and burnout weakened from time 1 to time 2. Originality/value - These findings suggest that a brief, 60 min, intervention was effective in reducing the strength of the relationship between emotional labor and burnout. Implications for research and practice are discussed.