Emotional Labor and Psychological Wellbeing of Employees in Civil Society Organizations in Kampala

Abstract

The study was aimed at explaining the relationship between Emotional Labor and Psychological Wellbeing of Employees in Civil Society Organizations in Kampala Uganda. Employees in CSOs are prone to psychological pressure under intense conditions. The need to display expected job requirements makes them resort to emotional labor (EL); by hiding their true feelings through either surface acting (SA) or deep acting (DA). In this study, a quantitative research approach was used while conducting the study and a cross sectional survey was employed to collect data from employees in CSOs. The data was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. We observe from the study that both surface acting and deep acting have been reported to deliver on organizational goals, however, surface acting when practiced for a prolonged period, has been associated with poor psychological wellbeing in emotional laborers and employees are encouraged to display deep acting because of its lesser consequences. The result conclusively shows that Prolonged engagement in emotional labor may lead to emotional exhaustion in the long run, which may cause poor psychological wellbeing of employees and job satisfaction as well.