Emotional labour in professional cricket: perceptions of players and organisational personnel

Chaitanya Sridhar Bangalore

    Research output: ThesisDoctoral Thesis

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    Abstract

    [Truncated abstract] This research explored the concept of emotional labour (EL) in the context of professional cricket. Hochschild (1983, p. 7) defined EL as "the management of emotions for a wage". In all, four studies were conducted to investigate various aspects of EL among professional cricketers from Australia and India. Additionally, data were also collected from organisational personnel (such as coaches and selectors) to gain a broader perspective of the organisational setting and the corresponding emotional demands. Study 1 utilised a focus group approach to determine the extent to which EL existed in the cricket setting, and how it was perceived by professional cricketers and organisational personnel. Individual interviews were also conducted with the participants to further clarify the construct of EL and its related issues. Results from Study 1 indicated that professional cricketers and organisational personnel endeavour to meet organisational, individual and team goals by altering their emotions suitably, thereby performing EL to a substantial extent. Findings in Study 1 also showed that professional cricket players and the management staff managed their emotions both privately (within the organisation) and publicly (outside the organisation). Study 2 was conducted to further examine the issues identified in Study 1 on a much larger sample of professional cricketers and organisational personnel from Australia. Similar to the findings in Study 1, results from Study 2 indicated that professional cricket players and organisational personnel perform EL either through Reading Emotions of Others, Managing Emotions of Others, Suppressing Emotions and/or Expressing Unfelt Emotions on a regular basis. Professional cricket players also found some of the International Cricket Council (ICC) codes difficult to adhere to. ... In addition, the media, spectators, and commercialisation of cricket evolved as central issues in the public management of emotions. The consequences of regulating emotions privately and publicly could be positive or negative, depending on the role internalisation, job satisfaction and situational context. Indian professional cricketers' responses in Study 4 further confirmed the findings found in Study 3 regarding the management of emotions and its consequences. However, there appeared to be more discontent among the participants regarding the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) functioning and handling issues pertaining to professional cricketers. Audience expectation and the media emerged as vital factors for performing EL among these Indian cricketers. Career concerns emerged as another important factor for performing EL among the participants in this study. Overall, results from these studies suggest that EL exists and takes a variety of forms in professional cricket. A number of factors (such as display rules, ICC codes, and game commercialisation) were found to influence the performance of EL. Results in these studies also indicated that EL does not necessarily have to be negative as advocated by many researchers. Instead, EL can be either positive or negative, and its impact is largely context-dependent. Finally, this thesis demonstrates that the EL of professional cricketers is varied, and different from that of employees in the service setting.
    Original languageEnglish
    QualificationDoctor of Philosophy
    Publication statusUnpublished - 2007

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