Fake it till you make it: Emotional Labor, Burnout and the mediating role of Perceived Organizational Support among school teachers in coastal Karnataka

Authors

Oishika Sarkar Ms., Manipal Academy of Higher EducationFollow
Reshma N.S., KMC MangaloreFollow
BS MaheshFollow

Designation

MSc Clinical Psychology

Abstract

Burnout, which occurs as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal pressures on the job, is becoming more common in human service professions such as teaching. All of these human service jobs have one thing in common: continuous interpersonal contact. This direct contact with people leads to the performance of emotional labour, which is defined as the regulation of feelings in the workplace in order to conform to organizational regulations, which contributes to employee burnout. Perceived Organizational Support, according to Job Demands and Resources Theory, can be a protective factor for employees by acting as a job resource that buffers the negative effect of numerous job demands, such as emotional labour, and minimises burnout.

Objective: To study emotional labor, burnout and the mediating role of perceived organizational support among teachers.

Study method: The descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional study was conducted on 101 school teachers, from Mangalore, between the age group of 25-45, including both men and women. The study was done using a questionnaire approach and the scales used were Emotional Labor Scale, Oldenburg Burnout Inventory and Survey of Perceived Organizational Support.

Results: The result of the study suggests that there is a significant negative relationship between deep acting and burnout among teachers(r = -.202) and between surface acting and burnout (r = -.211). Perceived Organizational Support partially mediated between surface acting & burnout as well as deep acting and burnout, among teachers. No significant differences in the usage of surface acting/deep acting emerged with respect to work experience and sex.

Conclusion: This study sought to bring awareness to emotional labor as an integral part of teaching and how it can contribute to burnout. It aids in understanding the antecedents of burnout and how school management can mobilize organizational resources to improve employees' perception of organizational support which will help in dampening the negative impact of burnout.

Recommended Citation

Sarkar, Oishika Ms.; N.S., Reshma; and Mahesh, BS (2023) "Fake it till you make it: Emotional Labor, Burnout and the mediating role of Perceived Organizational Support among school teachers in coastal Karnataka," Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences: Vol. 9: Iss. 2, .
DOI:
Available at: https://impressions.manipal.edu/mjnhs/vol9/iss2/3