Title: Emotional labour of rural women in difficult geographies of an emerging economy: narratives of community healthcare workers of India

Authors: Jatin Pandey; Manjari Singh; Shrihari Suresh Sohani

Addresses: Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources Area, Indian Institute of Management Khozikode, Faculty Block 1, Room Number 13, IIMK Campus, Kozhikode, Kerala-673570, India ' Human Resources Management Area, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad, Gujarat-380015, India ' Organisational Behaviour and HRM Area, Indian Institute of Management Indore, Rau-Pithampur Road, Rau, Indore, Madhya Pradesh-453556, India

Abstract: This study attempts to find the existence, execution and outcome of emotional labour in the work of community healthcare workers. Through a ten-month field study comprising in-depth interviews with 26 accredited social health workers (ASHAs), we found that their work requires emotional labour. Our study shows that they use 'attached approach', which is similar to deep acting, and 'detached approach', which is similar to surface acting, to perform emotional labour. We also found that surface acting resulted in minimal negative effect in case of negative situation and in well-being due to attenuation of work benefits in case of positive situation at the workplace. Deep acting in a positive situation led to emotional permeability between work and personal life, whereas in the event of a negative situation, it led to stress. Furthermore, deep acting decreases their effectiveness and efficiency due to associated stress that could have detrimental effects on the beneficiaries of healthcare.

Keywords: emotional labour strategies; deep acting; surface acting; lay healthcare workers; affective demands; rural India; difficult geographies; emotions at work.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWOE.2018.093302

International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2018 Vol.9 No.2, pp.159 - 186

Received: 07 Apr 2017
Accepted: 22 Mar 2018
Published online: 24 Jul 2018 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article