EMOTIONAL LABOUR IN PROFESSIONAL CRICKET: PERCEPTIONS OF PLAYERS AND ORGANISATIONAL PERSONNEL By CHAITANYA SRIDHAR (M.Sc) This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Western Australia, School of Human Movement and Exercise Science, September 2007. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to dedicate this thesis to the sporting fraternity of India (my motherland) and Australia (current homeland). Undoubtedly, first and foremost, my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to my family, especially my mother, Shyla Sridhar and sister, Ananya Gowda for their unswerving love and support at all times. I am indebted to my late father, B.V. Sridhar who was instrumental in triggering my passion in cricket. Sincere appreciation must also be expressed to my grandfather, Chinappa Hegde and to members of my extended family. My deepest gratitude to the former Head of School, Prof. Brian Blanksby for being supportive and encouraging, especially during trying times. I would like to especially thank my three supervisors Prof. Bob Grove, Dr. James Dimmock and Dr. Scott Cresswell for taking me under their wings right in the middle of this research. Your guidance and constructive feedback have enabled me to finish well. Special acknowledgement goes to all the Australian and Indian participants (cricketers and organisational personnel) who participated in my research. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Col. Nair, Darryl Foster, Doug Harris, Dr. M.P.Ganesh, Murali Ramdas, Pavithra Chandra, and Sunil Yash Kalra for their insights and help in establishing contact with Australian and Indian cricketers. iii I owe my deepest appreciation to Dr. Lee Poh Chin for the pep-up and brainstorming sessions, and also for proof reading my thesis. I am also indebted to Dr. Nikola Medic and Dr. Paul Herd for their help and invaluable feedback. Sincere appreciation to the ever helpful and cheerful staff of Human Movement, especially Barbara Smith, Brenda Churchill, Don Gordon and Margaret Durling; and also the encouraging staff at the Graduate Office. I am thankful to Dr. Sandy Gordon and Dr. Sandra Kiffin-Peterson for their initial advice. I would also like to thank my colleagues in the department for their company and motivation. My heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all my friends in India and Perth for keeping me motivated to achieve the ‘Dr.’ title! I owe my sincere appreciation to my close friends Jyothi Hegde and Aditi Mankad for their love and support, especially during my phases of homesickness and difficult moments. I am very grateful to my “foster” family in Perth, Shreya Laveena and Kiran Anthony, who welcomed and treated me like their very own. I am also thankful to all my housemates for their encouragement, support and also for tolerating my Ph.D. mood swings. Although challenging, the Emotional Labour of giving birth to this ‘baby’ has been life transforming and enriching. All the individuals above and many others who walked with and inspired me along this path played a huge part. Through it all, I realise that it is the not the end product of this thesis which matters, but every step of the Ph.D. journey! iv ABSTRACT This research explored the concept of emotional labour (EL) in the context of professional cricket. Hochschild (1983, p. 7) defined EL as “the management of emotions for a wage”. In all, four studies were conducted to investigate various aspects of EL among professional cricketers from Australia and India. Additionally, data were also collected from organisational personnel (such as coaches and selectors) to gain a broader perspective of the organisational setting and the corresponding emotional demands. Study 1 utilised a focus group approach to determine the extent to which EL existed in the cricket setting, and how it was perceived by professional cricketers and organisational personnel. Individual interviews were also conducted with the participants to further clarify the construct of EL and its related issues. Results from Study 1 indicated that professional cricketers and organisational personnel endeavour to meet organisational, individual and team goals by altering their emotions suitably, thereby performing EL to a substantial extent. Findings in Study 1 also showed that professional cricket players and the management staff managed their emotions both privately (within the organisation) and publicly (outside the organisation). Study 2 was conducted to further examine the issues identified in Study 1 on a much larger sample of professional cricketers and organisational personnel from Australia. Similar to the findings in Study 1, results from Study 2 indicated that professional cricket players and organisational personnel perform EL either through Reading Emotions of Others, Managing Emotions of Others, Suppressing Emotions and/or Expressing Unfelt Emotions on a regular basis. Professional cricket players also found some of the International Cricket Council (ICC) codes difficult to adhere to. Additionally, Work-life Balance and Image Management evolved as particularly demanding to professional players. Professional players performed EL mainly due to organisational display rules, individual v goals, team goals, and image management concerns. Notably, organisational personnel engaged in EL for team perspective and organisational rules. Cannonical relationships indicated that older participants who were high in professional efficacy were associated with frequency of emotions and duration of interactions. Also, high levels of emotional exhaustion and cynicism were associated with the use of surface acting. Following these two initial studies, a case study approach was employed in Study 3 and Study 4 to further understand EL during competitive situations. Specifically, an incident-based prompting technique was used to elicit in-depth information from three Australian and four Indian professional cricketers respectively to explore the concept of EL across cross-cultural contexts. Study 3 results indicated that all three professional Australian cricketers managed their emotions to a substantial extent. The antecedents for performing EL were influenced by organisational rules, societal rules, cultural expectations, and audience expectations. In addition, players’ emotional management requires the suppression of genuine emotions and handling of mixed emotions. The data also revealed that emotional management instances quoted were closely related to performance and umpiring decisions. Selection related aspects evolved as a pressing issue to the players. In addition, the media, spectators, and commercialisation of cricket evolved as central issues in the public management of emotions. The consequences of regulating emotions privately and publicly could be positive or negative, depending on the role internalisation, job satisfaction and situational context. Indian professional cricketers’ responses in Study 4 further confirmed the findings found in Study 3 regarding the management of emotions and its consequences. However, there appeared to be more discontent among the participants regarding the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) functioning and handling issues pertaining to professional vi cricketers. Audience expectation and the media emerged as vital factors for performing EL among these Indian cricketers. Career concerns emerged as another important factor for performing EL among the participants in this study. Overall, results from these studies suggest that EL exists and takes a variety of forms in professional cricket. A number of factors (such as display rules, ICC codes, and game commercialisation) were found to influence the performance of EL. Results in these studies also indicated that EL does not necessarily have to be negative as advocated by many researchers. Instead, EL can be either positive or negative, and its impact is largely context-dependent. Finally, this thesis demonstrates that the EL of professional cricketers is varied, and different from that of employees in the service setting. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS......................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................... xviii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. xx CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem.................................................................................. 3 Significance of the Research............................................................................. 5 Aims and Purposes of this Research ................................................................. 6 Structure of the Thesis ...................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE …………………………………. 8 Sport-Business Link and Common Stressors.................................................... 8 Emotion-Performance in Sport …………………………………………….. 12 Difference between Emotional Labour and Emotion Control ……………... 13 Emotional Labour in the Non-sporting Organisations...................................... 13 Perspectives on Emotional