Emotional labor experienced in team-projects: A comparison of engineering and hospitality students

Team projects are an integral part of the student learning experience. However, emotions can significantly affect student performance during team projects. Students use different emotion regulation strategies, such as surface-acting (emotive dissonance) and deep-acting, to regulate their emotions during team projects. These strategies can result in different ‘emotional labor’ levels, leading to emotional exhaustion, dissonance, and burnout. The level of emotional labor may also vary depending on the discipline and the nature of the work. This study thus investigated if engineering and hospitality students have different levels of emotional labor in team projects. Data were collected using a modified Emotional Labor Survey from 90 engineering and 174 hospitality students in team projects at two European universities. The results showed a statistically significant difference in emotive dissonance between engineering and hospitality students. Engineering students experienced more emotive dissonance than hospitality students, suggesting they may need more support in regulating their emotions during team projects. These findings have important implications for educators. By understanding students’ different emotional labor levels, educators can design interventions to help students regulate their emotions and improve their performance in team projects. Further research is needed to investigate emotional labor in engineering education.