Emotional labour and job satisfaction relationships: Lived experiences of amateur sport coaches in South Africa

Abstract

The study examines the relationship between three emotional labour constructs (surface acting, deep acting, and naturally felt emotions) and job satisfaction among amateur sport coaches in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The motivation for the study on coaches in particular was founded on the critical roles that coaches play in the life of an athlete. Coaches recruit athletes, attempt to develop them into excellent athletes and become mentors to them. Through a quantitative study, two hundred and sixty eight (n=268) amateur coaches participated in the study. Data from the survey are analysed through confirmatory factor analysis (to confirm factor structure), correlations and regression analysis to access the associations and predictive relationships between the constructs. Results show that of three emotional labour constructs (surface acting, deep acting, and naturally felt emotions) only deep acting has a significant and positive influence on coaches’ job satisfaction. The study advocates the inclusion of mediating and moderating variables to test the measurement and structural path model to better comprehend the total effects of emotional labour and job satisfaction.

Keywords: Emotional labour, sport, job satisfaction, surface acting, deep acting, naturally felt emotions.