Individual differences and emotional labor: An experiment on positive display rules

We experimentally examined relationships between positive display rules, personality, emotional labor, and subjective performance in a work-sample task. Sixty-five students participated in a call-center simulation where they acted as insurance sales representatives. The work-sample task required interacting with a confederate acting as a customer. Departing from previous emotional labor research, we examined display rule explicitness and subjective performance in a controlled setting. We found that extraversion negatively predicted surface acting, whereas emotional stability and self-monitoring positively predicted surface acting. The positive display rule condition positively predicted deep acting, which further predicted subjective performance in the form of observer-rated positive emotional displays.

► Study experimentally examined personality, the situation, and emotional labor. ► Personality predicted emotional labor, beyond the situational, for surface acting. ► The presence of a positive display rule positively predicted deep acting. ► Deep acting positively predicted other-rated positive emotional displays.