Occupational Characteristics, Influencing Factors And Mechanism Of Emotional Labor Of Preschool Teachers

The term "emotional labor" was originally used to describe the work of employees in the service industry.Later,researchers introduced emotional labor into the field of education and defined the teaching work of a teacher as a form of emotional labor.However,the current research on teachers' emotional labor mainly focuses on primary and secondary school teachers,and pays little attention to preschool teachers.Preschool teachers are important others in the process of children's growth.In preschool education,the emotional interaction between preschool teachers and children is the core factor of education work.Emotional labor is an important way for preschool teachers to achieve educational goals,and also an important factor affecting the physical and mental health of teachers and children.By reviewing previous studies on emotional labor,it is found that there are still a number of problems that have not been solved.First,the research on emotional labor pays little attention to preschool teachers,so it is urgent to investigate the occupational characteristics of preschool teachers' emotional labor to understand its generality and particularity.Second,as the product of interpersonal interaction,there are few studies regarding the impact of interpersonal conflict on emotional labor,especially the impact of different types of interpersonal conflict on emotional labor at the micro level.The joint impact of interpersonal conflict and emotional labor on emotional exhaustion is still lacking.Third,although a large number of studies have examined the antecedents and outcome variables of emotional labor,there is little research on the role of emotional labor in the relationship between antecedents and outcomes.Fourth,the mechanism of emotional labor has not been solved.Fifth,although emotions are discrete in nature,there is still a lack of research on discrete emotions emotional labor.Sixth,the impact of emotional labor on the family field has not been fully studied.This paper explored the occupational characteristics,influencing factors and mechanism of preschool teachers' emotional labor through seven studies in three parts.The first part investigated the occupational characteristics of preschool teachers'emotional labor through two studies.The first study investigates the emotional experience and inducement,emotional display rules,and emotional labor strategies of preschool teachers in the workplace through semi-structured interviews with 20 full-time preschool teachers.The following results are drawn:(1)It is found that preschool teachers experience a large number of positive or negative emotions in interpersonal interactions,which are mostly induced by children,parents,colleagues,and leaders;(2)There are three rules that govern the emotional display of preschool teachers:displaying positive emotions,hiding negative emotions,and moderately displaying negative emotions;(3)The emotional labor strategies of preschool teachers include three categories and six subcategories:Surface acting,including faking emotions and suppressing emotions;Deep acting,including attention shifting and cognitive reappraisal;Natural acting,including release and outpouring.The second study among 473 preschool teachers explores the frequency of preschool teachers'genuine expression,faking,and suppression of discrete emotions during their work.It is found that preschool teachers are more likely to genuinely express positive emotions,such as happiness and enthusiasm,and less likely to express negative emotions,such as anger and sadness.It is also found that preschool teachers are more likely to fake positive emotions and suppress negative emotions,and less likely to fake negative emotions and suppress positive emotions.The second part mainly examined the impact of interpersonal conflict and work characteristics on preschool teachers' emotional labor through two studies.The third study among 244 preschool teachers exmined the impact of the diferent types of interpersonal conflict on preschool teachers' emotional labor as well as the role of emotional labor in the relationship between interpersonal conflict and emotional exhaustion.It is found that preschool teachers tend to adopt more surface acting,less deep acting or natural acting when facing various interpersonal conflicts.Surface acting plays a mediating role in the relationship between interpersonal conflict and emotional exhaustion,while deep or natural acting plays a moderating role in the relationship between interpersonal conflict and emotional exhaustion.The fourth study among 369 preschool teachers examines the impact of job demands and resources on the emotional labor of preschool teachers,and the role of emotional labor in the job demand-resource model.It is found that preschool teachers with high job demands tend to use surface acting,and those with high job resources tend to use deep or natural acting.Surface acting plays a mediating role in the relationship between job demands and emotional exhaustion,while natural acting played a mediating role in the relationship between job resources and work engagement.In addition,deep acting moderates the impact of job demands on emotional exhaustion.The third part examined the mechanism of preschool teachers'emotional labor through three studies.The fifth study among 291 preschool teachers examined the direct impact of emotional labor on preschool teachers' occupational well-being and organizational citizenship behavior as well as the indirect effect of emotional labor on these outcomes by need for recovery.It is found that the surface acting plays a positive role in predicting recovery need while the deep or natural acting plays a negative role in predicting recovery need.Recovery need plays a mediating role in the relationship between surface acting and emotional exhaustion and work engagement,and in the relationship between deep or natural acting and emotional exhaustion,work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior.The sixth study among 473 preschool teachers examined the direct impact of faking positive emotions and suppressing negative emotions on preschool teachers' physical and mental health as well as the indirect effect of the two forms of surface acting on preschool teachers'physical and mental health by physical fatigue,mental fatigue and emotional fatigue.The moderating role of recovery experiences in the process was also examined.It is found that faking positive emotionsor suppressing negative emotions have a detrimental impact on the physical and mental health of preschool teachers,and the impact of suppressing negative emotions is more serious.It is also found that the two forms of surface acting have an indirect effect on the physical and mental health of preschool teachers through physical,mental,or emotional fatigue.Recovery experiences play a moderating role between the two forms of surface acting and physical and mental fatigue.Recovery experiences further moderate the indirect effects of the two forms of surface acting on the physical and mental health of preschool teachers by physical and mental fatigue.On the basis of the sixth study,the seventh study among 268 married preschool teachers examined the direct impact of faking positive emotions and suppressing negative emotionson on preschool teachers' family well-being as well as the indirect impact through physical,mental and emotional fatigue.The moderating role of recovery experiences in the process was also examined.It is found that faking positive emotions or suppressing negative emotions have a detrimental impact on preschool teachers'family well-being,and the impact of suppressing negative emotions is more serious.It is also found that the two forms of surface acting have an indirect effect on preschool teachers' family well-being through physical,mental,or emotional fatigue.Recovery experiences play a moderating role between the two forms of surface acting and physical and mental fatigue.Recovery experiences further moderate the indirect effects of the two forms of surface acting on preschool teachers' family well-being by physical and mental fatigue.Based on the analysis of the research results,the following conclusions are drawn:(1)Although preschool teachers at work experience a large number of positive and negative emotions,the real experience has not fully displayed.According to the emotional display rules of displaying positive emotions,hiding negative emotions,and moderately displaying negative emotions,preschool teachers will adopt surface acting,deep acting or natural acting to display suitable emotions.(2)Interpersonal conflict and job demands,two resource consumption factors,are important motivations for preschool teachers to adopt surface acting,and job resources are important motivations for preschool teachers to adopt deep or natural acting.Surface acting mainly plays a mediating role between resource consumption factors and occupational well-being,natural acting mainly plays a mediating role between job resources and occupational well-being,and deep acting mainly plays a moderating role between job resources and occupational well-being.(3)Recovery need and various forms of fatigue(physical fatigue,mental fatigue,and emotional fatigue)plays a mediating role in the process of preschool teachers'emotional labor,which can explain why emotional labor leads to positive or negative results.Recovery experiences play a moderating role during the process of preschool teachers' emotional labor,which can explain when emotional labor leads to positive or negative results.