44. The Management of Emotional Labor in the Work of Australian University Business School Academics and the Implications for Well-Being

Emotions and their expression are controlled and managed in organizations by a wide range of formal and informal means that may have functional or dysfunctional consequences for the well-being.

The aim of this study was to explore, whether, and in what ways, business academics are emotionally labored. The methodology adopted was based upon Charmaz’ constructivist grounded theory (CGT). Thirty-eight business school academics from three Australian universities, with varied experience and employment status, participated in the study. Data were collected and analyzed through interviews and open-ended questionnaires to explore the enactment and management of emotions in their work.

The study revealed that business academics emotionally labor as a way of navigating commercialization, work intensification, massification, managerialism, and an audit culture in their university environments. Strategic behaviors involving emotional labor gave rise to some positive outcomes, but running through the data were themes of negative consequences raising concern about the well-being of academics. To satisfy student (“customer”) satisfaction, and profit margins expected by management, academics reported both the suppression of negative genuine emotions and, in other cases, the expression and accentuation of positive emotions not felt. Emotional labor was associated with stress, frustration, feelings of disempowerment, loss of autonomy, and other behavior damaging to personal well-being. The authors conclude that universities need to do more to address academic emotional labor and consequent well-being issues, not simply by adopting strategies to assist academics to cope but by taking responsibility for the negative outcomes of commercialization, managerialism, intense competition, and work intensification.