Emotional Labour and Psychological Health: A Study of Ghanaian Media Practitioners
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Date
2017-07
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University of Ghana
Abstract
Studies on emotional labour have been increasingly influential as service employment
continues to replace manufacturing ones in many developed and emerging economies. In a
two component study (quantitative and qualitative) using convergent parallel (complementary
concurrent) mixed method approach, the research aimed at explaining Ghanaian media
practitioners' emotional labouring experiences and likely psychological health implications.
The quantitative data (study one) was cross-sectionally obtained using questionnaires on
emotional labour and psychological health from a purposive sample of 336 (205 males and
131 females). The quantitative data was analyzed using Pearson’s product moment
correlation, Hayes process moderation analysis, and Standard Multiple Regression. Using
purposive and snowball sampling strategy, 13 (9 males and 4 females) media practitioners
were interviewed with a semi-structured interview protocol for the qualitative data (study
two) as well as observation data from 4 media crew. All data set were gathered from media
practitioners in Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Western Regions of Ghana. The first study
revealed that surface acting significantly predicted general wellbeing and emotional
exhaustion but not psychological distress. It was also found that media practitioners who
engage in surface acting experience emotional exhaustion indirectly through psychological
effort. Religiousity significantly moderated the relationship between surface acting and
emotional exhaustion as well as psychological distress. Analysis of the qualitative study
indicate that media practitioners explain emotional labour as ‘faking’- principally explained
as ‘pretense’ or ‘living a lie’- and is manifested through the ‘suppression’ and/or
‘enhancement’ of ones' emotions. The study two further revealed depressive symptoms,
stress, emotional dissonance, suicidal ideations, nightmares and associated insomnia, work-
life balance challenges, turnover intentions, and superior-subordinate bullying, as key
explorations of media practitioners’ psychological health states. Feedback from the public,
fellow employees, friends and family emerged as predisposing factors of emotional labour
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experiences. Even though some media practitioners resort to poor coping strategies such as
abuse of alcohol, smoking, and intemperance in social activities, majority recourse to
personal, religious and social resources as effective coping strategies to deal with emotional
labour demands. These findings underscore the need for media employers and regulatory
bodies to have emotional labour management strategy and psychological support systems to
stabilize and improve employee health.
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Keywords
Emotional Labour, Psychological Health, Ghanaian Media Practitioners