Premium
Exploring the Structure of Teachers’ Emotional Labor in the Classroom: A Multitrait–Multimethod Analysis
Author(s) -
Wang Hui,
Hall Nathan C.,
Chiu Ming Ming,
Goetz Thomas,
Gogol Katarzyna
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
educational measurement: issues and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.158
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1745-3992
pISSN - 0731-1745
DOI - 10.1111/emip.12353
Subject(s) - emotional labor , psychology , pride , valence (chemistry) , social psychology , anxiety , negative emotion , emotional expression , developmental psychology , physics , quantum mechanics , psychiatry , political science , law
This study tests whether teachers’ emotional labor in classroom settings is optimally conceptualized according to the type of emotional labor strategy involved (genuinely expressing, hiding, and faking emotions), the specific type of emotion being performed in class (e.g., enjoyment vs. pride vs. anxiety), or both strategy type and emotion type. Multitrait–multimethod analyses of 1,086 Canadian teachers’ survey responses showed teachers’ responses to emotional labor items to be most reliably differentiated according to both specific types of emotional labor strategies as well as the valence of the emotion being performed. Findings were largely consistent with common “display rules” encouraging expression of positive emotions and hiding of negative emotions by teachers in classroom settings. Results further showed teachers’ emotional labor strategies for negative emotions to be particularly contingent on the specific discrete emotion involved, highlighting the complexity of expressing negative emotions as a behavior management strategy.