The Effect of Work Engagement on Emotional Labor: A Study on Teachers

Abstract

Teachers are extremely valuable and sacred employees in terms of cultivating the precious works of all generations. It is considered as a pre-acceptance that teachers, who face many problems such as basic wages, work-family conflict, health problems and being appointed to civil service, are engaged about work throughout their careers. While feeling this engagement, how they come into contact with the concept of emotional labor is the focus of the research. In other words, do teachers reflect their feelings as they are despite problems, or do they behave as they should? In this context, the relevant research was applied to 192 teachers working in Trabzon in the period of June-July 2022 using the snowball sampling method and the data were collected by face-to-face survey technique. The data were interpreted within the framework of correlation and regression analyzes with the SPSS program. According to the obtained correlation analysis results; there is a significant and positive relationship (r=0.441, p<0.01) between work engagement and emotional labor. Natural emotions, one of the sub-dimensions of emotional labor, have a stronger relationship with work engagement (r=0.339, p<0.01) compared to surface acting and deep acting; absorption, one of the sub-dimensions of work engagement, was found to have a stronger relationship (r=0.446, p<0.01) with emotional labor compared to vigor and dedication. On the other hand, it was observed that the strongest relationship between the sub-dimensions of the two variables was between dedication and deep acting (r=0.443, p<0.01). According to the obtained regression analysis findings; it has been concluded that work engagement has a positive and significant effect on emotional labor (β=0.441; p<0.001) and work engagement has the power to explain a 19% change in emotional labor. As a result, it is thought that the research contributes to teachers, school management and organizational behavior literature.

Keywords

• Work Engagement
• Emotional Labor
• Teachers

References

1. Altunel, M. C., Kocak, O. E., and Cankir, B. (2015) “The effect of job resources on work engagement: A study on academicians in Turkey”, Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 15(2), 409-417.
2. Ashforth, B.E., and Humphrey, R.H. (1993) “Emotional labor in service roles: The influence of identity”, Academy of Management Review, 18(1), 88-115.
3. Ashforth, B.E., and Humphrey, R.H. (1995) “Emotion in the workplace: A reappraisal”, Human Relations, 48(2), 97-125.
4. Atilla Gök, G. (2015) “Presentable duygusal emek: İlaç mümessillerinde duygusal emeğin işe bağlılığa etkisi”, Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi, 10(3), 277-300.
5. Aybas, M., and Kosa, G. (2018) “Duygusal emeğin mesleki stres ve işe adanmışlık üzerindeki etkisi: Tur rehberleri üzerinde bir araştırma”, Anemon Muş Alparslan Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, Cilt: 6 Sayı: ICEESS’ 18 , 103-111 .
6. Bakker, A.B. and Demerouti, E. (2007) “The job demands-resources model: State of the art”, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22(3), 309-328.
7. Bakker, A. B., and Demerouti, E. (2008) “Towards a model of work engagement”, The Career Development International, 13(3), 209-223.
8. Bakker, A. B., Hakanen, J. J., Demerouti, E., and Xanthopoulou, D. (2007) “Job resources boost work engagement, particularly when job demands are high”, Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(2), 274-284.

9. Basım, H. N., and Beğenirbaş, M. (2012) “Çalışma yaşamında duygusal emek: Bir ölçek uyarlama çalışması”, Yönetim ve Ekonomi Dergisi, 19(1), 77-90.
10. Bektaş, U., and Çetin, M. (2020) “Pandemi sürecince sağlık çalışanlarında iş tutkusu, duygusal emek ve iş aile zenginleşmesi ilişkisinin incelenmesi”, Turkish Studies, 15(6), 189-204.
11. Biernacki, P., and Waldorf, D. (1981) “Snowball sampling: Problems and techniques of chain referral sampling”, Sociological Methods and Research, 10(2), 141-163.
12. Brotheridge, C. M., and Lee, R. T. (2002) “Testing a conservation of resources model of thedynamics of emotional labor”, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 7(1), 57-67.
13. Cohen, J. (2013) “Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences”. Academic Press.
14. Çarıkcı, E. (2020) “Lise öğretmenlerinin duygusal emek davranışları ile işle bütünleşmeleri arasındaki ilişki”, Al Farabi Uluslararası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 5(2), 37-50.
15. Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., and Gevers, J. M. P. (2015) “Job crafting and extra-role behavior: The role of work engagement and flourishing”, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 91, 87-96.
16. Diefendorff, J. M., Croyle, M. H., and Gosserand, R. H. (2005) “The dimensionality and antecedents of emotional labor strategies”, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66(2), 339-357.
17. Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R.A., Guthrie, I.K. and Reiser, M. (2000) “Dispositional emotionality and regulation: Their role in predicting quality of social functioning”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(1), 136-157. Grandey, A.A. (2000) “Emotion regulation in the workplace: A new conceptualization of emotional labor”, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(1), 95-110. Grandey, A. (2003) “When the show must go on: Surface acting and deep acting as determinants of emotional exhaustion and peer-rated service delivery”, Academy of Management Journal, 46, 86-96. Greenier, V., Derakhshan, A., and Fathi, J. (2021) “Emotion regulation and psychological well-being in teacher work engagement: A case of British and Iranian English language teachers”, System, 97(102446), 1-18.