Title: Running hot and cold: how acceptable is emotional expression at work?

Authors: Roy K. Smollan

Addresses: Management and Employment Relations, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1020, New Zealand

Abstract: While the expression of emotions at work is generally frowned on, the literature on emotional labour reveals widespread expectations of the display of |appropriate| emotions and the suppression of |inappropriate| emotional displays. This article identifies the wide-ranging factors that determine how acceptable emotional expression is at work at multiple levels – societal, industry, professional, organisational, group, gender and individual – and presents a set of propositions that can be empirically tested.

Keywords: emotional labour; emotional expression; emotional suppression; work; organisational behaviour.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWOE.2006.010789

International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2006 Vol.1 No.3, pp.215 - 231

Published online: 03 Sep 2006 *

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