Emotional Labor and Professionalism: Finding Balance at the Local Level

Abstract

When examining emotions and professionalism, scholars have questioned how these concepts can coexist. Using ten interviews with local administrators, this exploratory study suggests that emotions and professionalism are interrelated—to be professional, an administrator must be skilled in emotional labor. Specifically, professionalism acts as a display rule regulating the emotional behavior of employees. An employee's ability to meet this display rule impacts their individual social capital, along with experiences of emotional contagion from other organizational members. By connecting emotional labor to professionalism, these findings suggest that the emotional competencies of local administrators should receive greater emphasis in professional training programs.