“But of course i’m going to look happy” or “He needed to know I was angry”? Comparing use of emotional labour in teamwork in engineering and hospitality students

Being able to work effectively in a team is a vital professional skill but how do students in different disciplines, engineering and hospitality, display their emotions when working together? We investigated their self-reported use of emotional labour strategies, exploring the circumstances (when) and reasons (why) for using or not using them. We also examined the limitations and effects of emotional labour on their well-being. A mixed-method approach was adopted using participants from two Swiss higher education institutions. Stage 1, a quantitative survey, determined that hospitality students used emotional dissonance strategies less than engineering students and that there was no statistically significant difference on the use of deep acting strategies between the two groups. Stage 2 involved using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) on interview data from 14 students equally distributed across the institutions showing that both groups readily displayed their felt emotions in educational teamwork but used surface acting when in leadership roles, or “for the good of the team”. Undertaking surface acting was reported as more difficult when emotionally or physically drained and hospitality students were more reflective of their interactions. There is an indication that women dialled down their shown emotions in situations of sexism and not feeling respected. Deep acting strategies were dismissed by engineers but enacted by hospitality students through empathising with clients and anticipating their needs. Recommendations include teaching deep acting strategies and providing meaningful team projects enabling students, especially in engineering institutions, to learn how to interact effectively and healthily with others.