Emotional labour of policing

Abstract

Managing emotions in the workplace is an indispensable requisite for organizational efficiency. Displaying organizationally desired emotions by controlling one’s private feelings is called emotional labour. This study is a sharp departure from the overemphasis placed on the emotional labour–management of positive emotions relationship. This study focuses predominately on the management of negative emotions. By adopting a concurrent embedded mixed-method design, this article explores the mechanism by which different strategies of emotional labour lead to positive or negative outcomes for individuals within the context of the negative display rule. Using a survey method and interview, we studied 152 police officers in Kolkata, India. We found that the deep acting emotional regulation strategy leads to personal accomplishment, whereas surface acting leads to emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Moreover, we show that the negative outcomes of emotional labour can be minimized by enhancing organizational identification and job control.