Emotional Labor Profiles Among Teachers: Associations With Positive Affective, Motivational, and Well-Being Factors

Research indicates that teachers perform emotional labor daily. However, previous studies have mostly used a variable-centered approach that examines the associations of emotional labor strategies with particular outcome variables. This approach did not consider the possibility that teachers use different emotional labor strategies simultaneously. Therefore, in this study we took a person-centered approach and explored the emotional labor profiles in a large sample of Croatian teachers (N = 2,002) employed across educational levels (i.e., elementary, middle, and high school levels) by using latent profile analysis. In addition, we examined differences among profiles regarding teachers' positive affect, self-efficacy, work engagement, and job satisfaction. Results indicated the existence of six emotional labor profiles that were characterized by different combinations of deep acting, hiding feelings, and faking emotions. Profiles of teachers who dominantly rely on deep acting had the most adaptive patterns of analyzed outcomes, whereas profiles of teachers who reported higher levels of hiding feelings, regardless the level of deep acting, exhibited less desirable levels of positive affect, self-efficacy, work engagement, and job satisfaction.

Automated summary

Research on emotional labor among teachers found that those who primarily engage in deep acting show more adaptive outcomes, while those who hide their feelings exhibit lower levels of positive affect, self-efficacy, work engagement, and job satisfaction, regardless of their level of deep acting.