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Access Type
WSU Access
Date of Award
January 2022
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Boris B. Baltes
Abstract
Research regarding burnout has been increasingly popular within literature in recent years. Similarly, emotional labor has been a prevalent area of research since the 1980s (Hochschild, 1983). Prior to this study, no known research had considered both gender and race in relation to emotional labor engagement and burnout experienced. Thus, this study did such by surveying 523 restaurant, retail, and hospitality employees who identified their gender as either man or woman, and their race as either Black or White using the Maslach Burnout Inventory: General Survey (Maslach & Jackson, 1981) and the Emotional Labor Scale (Brotheridge & Lee, 1998). In support of prior literature and relevant theories, this study found that emotional labor was correlated with burnout and that women reported higher rates of emotional labor frequency compared to men. In contrast to hypotheses, this study found that race moderates the effect of emotional labor on burnout, such that the impact of emotional labor on burnout tends to be weaker on Black individuals than on White individuals. Likewise, gender was found to moderate the effects of emotional labor on burnout, with both men and women experiencing greater effects of emotional labor in different areas of burnout. Furthermore, in contrast to prior research and relevant theories, Black women did not report the highest rates of burnout or emotional labor, nor did White men report the lowest rates of emotional labor or burnout. In fact, White men were found to have significantly higher rates of burnout when compared to Black women. Despite failing to gather support for all hypotheses in this study, this research has many significant implications in that it highlights a clear relationship between emotional labor and burnout, illustrates the difficulty of conducting research with a focus of members in the service industries, and emphasizes the need to continue looking at both gender and race in relation to burnout and emotional labor to understand possibilities as to why such results were found.
Recommended Citation
Boudjalis, Grace, "Double Jeopardy? Emotional Labor And Burnout In Relation To Gender And Racial Identities" (2022). Wayne State University Theses. 928.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_theses/928