Emotional labour demands and work engagement in Portuguese police officers

ABSTRACT

Grounded in the Emotional Labour Theory, we aim to study the relationship between emotional demands (the expression of positive emotions and suppression of negative emotions) and work engagement in a sample of Portuguese police officers. We intend to explore the possible effects of these emotional demands on work engagement and ways of preventing and/or mitigating its impact. When analysing the studies conducted in the Portuguese police context, we found a gap regarding emotions and/or emotional regulation. Accordingly, a sample of 924 Portuguese police officers from the Public Security Police (PSP) answered the Emotion Work Requirements Scale and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale voluntarily. Through correlation and multiple linear regression, we found a relationship between these emotional demands toward different interpersonal interactions and work engagement. We discuss these results, providing suggestions for field intervention and clues for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Emotional labour
• positive emotion expression
• negative emotion suppression
• work engagement

Acknowledgments

This work has been funded by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., Project UIDB/05037/2020.

Disclosure statement

The authors reported no potential conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

Data that support this study’s findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request

Notes

1. According to Ekman and Friesen (1969), display rules consist of ‘socially learned (…) and prescribe different procedures for the management of affect displays in various social settings, roles, etc.’ (p. 75).

2. According to Maslach and Goldberg (1998), ‘burnout is a type of prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job. It is an individual stress experience embedded in a context of complex social relationships, and it involves the person’s conception of both self and others.’ (p. 63). It encompasses three dimensions, namely, basic stress (i.e., emotional exhaustion), interpersonal (i.e., depersonalization), and, self-assessment dimension (i.e., reduced personal accomplishment).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I.P. [UIDB/05037/2020].

Notes on contributors

Soraia Oliveira

Soraia Oliveira is Master in Psychology, specialized in Work and Organizational Psychology, accomplished at the University of Coimbra, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (2021). Additionally, a Master’s degree in Educational Sciences, with a specialization in Psychopedagogy and teacher training, conducted at the same institution (2014).

Ana Pinto

Ana Pinto has a PhD in Work, Organizational and Human Resources Psychology (2014), from the University of Coimbra. She is a CeBER (Centre for Business and Economics Research) researcher and professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Coimbra. Author of several book-chapters and articles in peer-reviewed and IF Journals. Privileged areas of her research are related to work in/of the future, teams work, emotional regulation and quality of life - psychological/cognitive/behavioral concerns (e.g., trust; user experience - UX) in human-robot interaction (HRI) have been prominent in her work.

Carla Carvalho

Carla Carvalho, Assistant Professor at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, PhD in Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of Coimbra, since 1993 teaches courses such as organizational psychology, intervention in organizations: organizational change and development, intervention in work psychology, quality of life at work and psychosocial risks, ergonomics and human factors. Member of the Research Center in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC) (Science, Research and Technology Financing Agency), dedicates her professional activity to research in the field of entrepreneurship; work-family/life relationship; emotions (emotional labour, emotion regulation); organizational commitment and work engagement; well-being at work; psychosocial risks, trust and burnout; technology, work in/of the future, industry 4.0; Human- Robot Interaction. Chairman of the FPCEUC Research Ethics and Deontology Committee (CEDI), and Coordinator and supervisor of the curricular internships of the two FPCEUC Masters (Masters in Organizational Psychology, and the European Masters - Masters in Work, Organizations and Human Resources Psychology [WOP- P]). Author/Co-author of several books, book chapters and articles in international peer-reviewed journals.

Rui Coelho de Moura

Rui Coelho de Moura: Police Official – Superintendent: PSP’s Coimbra District Commander (AGO2018-Present); PhD in Management, specialization in Human Resources and Organizational Behavior: ‘An emotion-based model of criminal investigators’ competences in Public Security Police’ - ISCTE-IUL (2018). Master in Public Administration and Management: ‘The Emotional intelligence in the Command and Leadership of the PSP’s Police Stations’ - University of Aveiro (2011). Degree in Police Sciences - Higher Institute of Police Sciences and Internal Security, former Superior Police College (1990-1995). Guest Lecturer at the International University of Figueira da Foz - teaching the subject of Military Psychology in the pre-Bologna degree in Psychology (2003-2007). Lecturer at the Higher Institute of Police Sciences and Internal Security - Curriculum Unit ‘Information and Communication Technologies and Systems II’ in the Police Official Training Course, Integrated Master Degree in Police Sciences (2009-2018). Recent activities: Researcher at ICPOL, coordination of 2 projects: LEADPOL - police leadership, and, AVALMIPP - evaluation of the integrated model of proximity policing; Participation in the Erasmus + project ‘Protect’ – UC/FDUC/CDB

Paulo Santos-Costa

Paulo Santos-Costa is a nurse and researcher at the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing, from the Nursing School of Coimbra (Portugal). Mr Santos-Costa holds a Master’s Degree in Nursing with a Specialization in Healthcare Unit Management, a Specialization Degree in Community Health Nursing and a Post-Graduate Degree in Clinical Supervision in Nursing. He is currently enrolled in the Doctoral Program in Nursing Science at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Porto, Portugal). Mr Santos-Costa has authored more than 60 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, 12 book chapters and several communications in international scientific events.

Sonia Gondim

Sonia Gondim is a Psychologist with a Master’s degree in Social Psychology from Gama Filho University and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She did a postdoctoral internship (2006/2007), spending six months at the Complutense University of Madrid and the remaining months in Cambridge, UK, with a CNPq scholarship. She did her second postdoctoral internship in Spain in 2013, having been awarded a CAPES scholarship from the International Cooperation Program Brazil/Spain. She works in the graduation program at the Institute of Psychology (UFBA - Universidade Federal da Bahia). She is a member of the Psychology Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on Psychology and Social Services (CNPq –Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa). She was vice-director of UFBA’s Psychology Institute, associate editor of rPOT (Revista Psicologia, Organizações e Trabalho), vice-president of the Brazilian Association of Organizational and Work Psychology (SBPOT), and General Secretary of the board of the National Association for Research and Post-Graduation in Psychology (ANPEPP). Coordinates the research group Emotions, Feelings and Affects in Work Contexts (emotrab.ufba.br), developing mainly research on emotional work, emotional regulation, intergroup emotions, socio-emotional competencies, emotional regulation, and subjective, psychological, and work well-being. Other research interests are qualitative methods, mainly focus groups.