Emotional Labour in Professional and Semi-Professional Team Sports: an Australian Player Perspective
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Emotional labour in professional and semi-professional team sports: An Australian player perspective Steven J. Kiely MAPS, MASH Bachelor of Psychology (Murdoch University, 2002) Master of Psychology (Curtin University, 2005) Diploma of Clinical Hypnosis (Australian Society of Hypnosis, 2007) This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Western Australia. School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health. 2010 © Steven J. Kiely, 2010 Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work and that to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material to a substantial extent that has been accepted or submitted to this or any other institution for an academic award or previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made. Steven J. Kiely Date ______________________ _____________ i Acknowledgements I would like to express thanks to the many people that have assisted me on this long and sometimes arduous academic journey, not just during my PhD candidature, but during both my undergraduate and postgraduate tenure. Firstly, without the love and support of my family over the last 10 years, this achievement would not be possible. I feel very fortunate to have been blessed with a family that supports me in so many different ways. To my Mum, Dad, Justin, and Vanessa thank you for always being there. To Lidia and Monica, thank you for all your love and support and for giving me the space to work when required. I would like to express my gratitude to my chief supervisor Associate Professor Sandy Gordon for giving me the opportunity and autonomy to complete my doctorate in the field of Sport Psychology. I would also like to acknowledge Professor Robert Grove and Dr. James Dimmock for their useful comments during the final stages of my write-up. To my friend and mentor Dr. Peter Sevastos, thank you for all the guidance and support over the last 7 years. Your open-door policy, along with providing a safe space to discuss a wide variety of issues, has been invaluable and has left a lasting impression on me. I would also like to thank all the participants who contributed to this research. To maintain confidentiality I cannot personally identify players and administrators. However, without the assistance of these people, this thesis would not be possible. ii Abstract Emotional labour is a concept first coined by Hochschild (1983), and is most aptly defined as “the process of regulating feelings and expressions to achieve the organizations goals” (Grandey, 2000, p. 97). Emotional labour has been the subject of numerous qualitative and quantitative inquiries in a myriad of scholarly fields including psychology, sociology, and organisational behaviour. Indeed, research spanning 20 years has highlighted the pervasiveness of emotional labour in numerous occupational contexts. The field of sport psychology has traditionally ignored the extant literature from distinct, yet related psychology disciplines, which may explain why emotional labour and other relevant topics have not previously been investigated. In view of this, sport psychology researchers have called for the inclusion of concepts from organisational psychology to extend knowledge in this realm (Fletcher & Wagstaff, 2009; Gardner, 1995). While a number of theories and concepts from the field of organisational psychology have been examined in sport settings, including goal- setting (Locke & Latham, 1985) emotional intelligence (Gordon, 2001; Latimer et al., 2007) and organizational citizenship behaviour (Aoyagi, Cox, & McGuire, 2008), there are still a number of unexplored theories and concepts that could be valuable to the development of knowledge in the sport and exercise psychology domain (Fletcher & Wagstaff, 2009). Accordingly, the purpose of this thesis was to explore the emotional labour of professional and semi-professional athletes in team sports. A multimethod research design was utilised in order to better understand the concept of emotional labour, in addition to facilitating its development in the substantive area under investigation. After a brief overview of the research project, the opening chapters provide the reader with an in-depth understanding of emotional labour. Chapter II examines the development of the emotional labour construct in addition to its potential antecedents and outcomes. A meta-analytic review of emotional labour research is then presented in Chapter III to inform both the wider emotional labour literature and the current research. Chapter IV presents the main findings of an exploratory qualitative study investigating the emotional labour of professional and semi-professional athletes in team sports. Given the nature of this study, a grounded theory methodology was iii employed to develop a descriptive and exploratory theory which identifies both the content and context of emotional labour, in addition to potential antecedents, consequences, and moderators. These findings were compared and contrasted with the extant emotional labour literature, which were found to share both similarities and differences. Practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed. Utilising the findings generated from Chapter IV, a theoretical model was proposed and tested in Chapter V. Path analysis was employed to test an exploratory model, which was found to be a suitable fit. The results of this analysis suggest that emotional labour can have a negative impact on psychological well-being, and that individual differences may predict the frequency and type of emotional labour performed. Practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are also discussed. In summary, the four primary chapters of this research contribute valuable knowledge to both the wider emotional labour literature, and the field of sport psychology. Sport psychology practitioners and researchers are encouraged to utilise the practical implications and directions for future research outlined in Chapter VI. iv Table of Contents Contents Page Declaration ……………………………………………………………......... i Acknowledgments …………………………………………………………. ii Abstract …………………………………………………………………….. iii Table of Contents …………………………………………………………... v List of Tables …………………………………………………………......... vii List of Figures ……………………………………………………………… vii CHAPTER I – Thesis Overview …………………………………………... 1 CHAPTER II – The Construct of Emotional Labour and its Development... 5 CHAPTER III – A Meta-Analytic Review of Emotional Labour Research... 17 Method ……………………………………………………………... 22 Results ……………………………………………………………… 24 Discussion ………………………………………………………….. 30 CHAPTER IV – The Emotional Labour of Professional and Semi- Professional Athletes in Australasian Team Sports: A Grounded Theory Approach …………………………………………………………………… 36 Method ……………………………………………………………... 38 Results ……………………………………………………………… 51 Discussion ………………………………………………………….. 100 CHAPTER V – Antecedents and Outcomes of Emotional Labour: A Path Analytic Test of a Model ….……………………………………………….. 108 Method ……………………………………………………………... 115 Results ……………………………………………………………… 124 Discussion ………………………………………………………….. 130 CHAPTER VI – Research Program Summary 134 References ………………………………………………………………….. 140 APPENDICES ……………………………………………………………... 158 Appendix A – Codes of Conduct 159 Appendix B – Psychometric Inventories 204 Appendix C – Exploratory Factor Analysis Output 210 Appendix D – Path Analysis Output 214 v List of Tables Page Chapter III Table 3.1 Definitions for each Variable Meta-Analysed …………... 21-22 Table 3.2 Meta-Correlations Among Situational Cues, Surface Acting (SA) and Deep Acting (DA) ………………………. 25 Table 3.3 Meta-Correlations Among Family-Work Conflict, Surface Acting (SA) and Deep Acting (DA) ……………… 26 Table 3.4 Meta-Correlations Among Traditional Job Characteristics, Surface Acting (SA) and Deep Acting (DA) ………………………………………………………. 26 Table 3.5. Meta-Correlations Among Individual Difference Variables, Surface Acting (SA) and Deep Acting (DA)…... 27 Table 3.6 Meta-Correlations Among Surface Acting (SA), Deep Acting (DA), and Psychological/Physical Well-Being Variables ………………………………………………….. 28 Table 3.7 Meta-Correlations Among Surface Acting (SA), Deep Acting (DA), and Job Attitudes …………………………... 29 Chapter V Table 5.1 Summary Statistics and Pearson Inter-Correlations of Study Variables …………………………………………... 124 Table 5.2. Fit Values for Alternative Models of Structural Relationships ……………………………………………... 125 Table 5.3 Tests of Mediation ............................................................... 129 vi List of Figures Page Chapter II Figure 1.1 Conceptual model of emotional labour .............................. 12 Chapter IV Figure 4.1 A grounded theory model of player emotional labour in professional and semi-professional team sport …………. 52 Chapter V Figure 5.1 Hypothesised model showing path LISREL diagram of emotional labour on wellness outcomes ………………… 114 Figure 5.2 Path LISREL maximum likelihood estimates of hypothesised model ……………………………………... 126 vii CHAPTER I – Thesis Overview 1 Over a decade ago, Gardner (1995) remarked that “for further development of the knowledge base of sport psychology, it is suggested that greater attention be paid to the literature in the field of organizational psychology” (p. 173). While a number of theories from this field have been examined in the sport psychology literature including goal- setting (Locke & Latham, 1985) emotional intelligence (Gordon, 2001; Latimer, Rench, & Brackett 2007) and organizational citizenship