Understanding Emotional Display Rules at Work and Outside of Work: The Effects of Country and Gender

Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

6-2013

Abstract

This study examined the long-held, but empirically untested assumption that emotional display rules at work are different from more general display rules. We examined whether the effect of context (work vs. non-work) on display rules depended on rater gender, rater country (i.e.,Singapore, United States), and discrete emotion (anger, contempt, disgust, fear, sadness, and happiness). Results revealed that display rules at work involved less expressivity of emotion than did display rules outside of work for all six emotions. Further, display rules in Singapore involved less expressivity of anger, sadness, and fear than display rules in the US, with no country differences being observed for the emotions of happiness, contempt, and disgust. These results were qualified by significant country-by-gender interactions for anger, contempt, and disgust, a significant country by- context interaction for fear, and a three-way interaction (i.e., country-by-gender-by-context) for sadness.

Keywords

Emotions, Emotional display rules, Expression management

Discipline

Human Resources Management | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Motivation and Emotion

Volume

37

Issue

2

First Page

323

Last Page

334

ISSN

0146-7239

Identifier

10.1007/s11031-012-9301-x

Publisher

Springer Verlag

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-012-9301-x

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