13 March 2007
One of Monash University's most outstanding PhD candidates for 2006 is a lecturer at the University's Berwick campus.
Pieter A Van Dijk, from the Faculty of Business and Economics, has been declared one of the winners of the prestigious Vice-Chancellor's commendation for doctoral thesis excellence for research into the demands on tourism-based customer service staff that are required to show emotion on demand -- a concept called emotional labour.
Mr Van Dijk examined the effects of emotional labour on customer service staff -- such as those who are required to smile at customers at appropriate times - regardless of how they might feel.
Emotional labour has been suggested to be difficult at times for workers when faking their emotional display, possibly resulting in employee burnout.
The thesis, titled, Emotional Labour in a Tourism-Based Context: An Evaluation of the Emotional Labour, Emotional Dissonance and Burnout Sequence, focused on the performance of emotional labour in the tourism industry.
"On behalf of Monash University I would like to congratulate Pieter on this wonderful achievement," said Pro Vice-Chancellor and Academic Director of the Berwick campus, Professor Phillip Steele.
"Pieter's award will help to highlight the excellence of researchers at the Monash University Berwick campus."
Mr Van Dijk's research findings suggested that faking emotional display could have a negative impact on employees when associated with feelings of discomfort (emotional dissonance).
Staff reported that discomfort was associated with emotional labour when they felt they were being a "fraud" during their interactions with visitors.
When the emotional display was perceived by the worker to be an untrue representation of them, the workers experienced emotional dissonance. Additionally, the results suggested that an employee's emotional intelligence (the ability to perceive and manage emotions) was useful in managing emotions in order to genuinely perform the required display.
This research could prove invaluable to service and tourism industries both within Australia and internationally, by providing an in-depth look at the possible emotional and psychological consequences of working in a customer-service role.
For more information contact Karen Petersen, Marketing Manager -- Berwick and Peninsula on +61 3 9904 7005, or John Watts, Media Communications, on + 61 3 9905 9201 or 0448 574 148.
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