Emotional Labour and Psychological Health: A Study of Ghanaian Media Practitioners

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 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh v 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.