Expectations of emotional display in the workplace : An American/British comparative study

Purpose – This paper aims to portray that, while particular types of emotional displays are often essential for team and service work, the negative consequences of conforming with display rules need to be weighed against their true necessity. This research seeks to examine their necessity in terms of the expectations that people have of the emotional displays of others, so that potentially stressful emotional work can be targeted appropriately within organizations. Design/methodology/approach – This quantitative study uses a questionnaire approach to assess the expectations that 121 UK and 101 US participants have towards the emotional displays of various service providers and work colleagues. Findings – Expectations of emotional display were shown to differ across cultures, between jobs and roles within an organization, and between males and females. Practical implications – The implications for managers and practitioners centre on the value placed on encouraging warm emotional displays at various levels within the organization. The findings suggest that these should not be limited to frontline communications and this may impact on selection and training procedures. Managers will be better able to target emotion work within those interactions where such performance is most expected and required. Originality/value – Whilst a great deal of research has been conducted into the emotional displays and emotional labour performance of employees, little has examined the expectations that individuals have about these displays. This is an important gap since such information allows practitioners to better target their emotion management strategies in the right areas and limit the potentially harmful consequences to health of chronic emotion work where it is less necessary.