Emotional labor and burnout among GPs: the influence of perceived equity

Abstract

Emotional labor, i.e., “‘the effort, planning, and control needed to express organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions’’ (Morris & Feldman, 1996, p. 98), has been shown to impact on burnout. However, to date, we don’t know to what extent this impact depends on perceived equity in the interaction. Methods: 428 GPs completed a questionnaire containing: -The MBI-HSS (Maslach & Jackson, 1986) to assess burnout. -The Emotional Labour Scale (Brotheridge & Lee, 1998) to assess emotional labor (Intensity and variety of emotions, surface acting, and deep acting). - Adams’s formula adopted to GPs (Truchot, 2009) to assess perceived equity in the interaction with patients. Results: Regression analyses revealed that emotional labor (emotion intensity and surface acting) is linked to burnout in situations of perceived inequity in GPs' interaction with patients, but not in situations of perceived equity. Conclusion: Our results point to the necessity of taking into account perceived equity when studying the impact of emotional labour on burnout.