Teachers’ emotional labor in response to daily events with individual students: The role of teacher–student relationship quality

Abstract

This diary study examined the role of teachers' relationship perceptions (closeness, conflict, dependency) in shaping emotional labor strategies (genuine expression, surface acting) during daily events with individual students. Thirty-seven primary school teachers reported on their emotional labor in 563 events with 77 students, in which at least one negative emotion was expressed. Relationship perceptions were associated with emotional labor, beyond teachers' appraisals of the event's valence and students' disruptive behaviors. Specifically, teachers reported more genuine expression of emotions in closer relationships, less genuine expression in relatively conflictuous relationships, and more surface acting (faking and hiding emotions) in relatively dependent relationships.