![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Emotional labor refers to the management and regulation of emotions as part of one’s professional role. This research is one of the first to provide insight into the role of emotional labor during a global pandemic for Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program directors. Our paper both replicates and extends previous work in emotional labor through examining survey data from 92 MPA Directors. Using emotional labor as our descriptive framework, the findings suggest gender and academic rank indicate whose workload has been affected during the coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, the results indicate the likelihood of greater burdens experienced by women, both white women and women of color. Our findings offer additional understanding about how emotional labor continues to impact certain populations within our public administration and policy discipline, sounding the alarm for MPA programs to address the problems at hand.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Sara R. Rinfret
Dr. Sara R. Rinfret is a public administration and policy generalist, teaching courses on regulatory policy, environmental policy, public policy, public opinion & polling (qualitative or quantitative methods), human resource management, organization behavior, and public administration. She is the Acting Dean for Public Administration & Policy within the Alexander Blewett School of Law and Director for the Master of Public Administration Program. Her main area of research is focused on policy creation and implementation (environmental policy, regulations, and compliance) and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Much of her policy research examines the role of interest group participation, women, or public opinion during the stages of administrative rulemaking at the state, federal, or international level.
Sean McCandless
Dr. Sean McCandless works as an assistant professor and doctoral associate director at the Department of Public Administration of the University of Illinois Springfield. His research centers on social equity. With Dr. Mary E. Guy, he is co-editor of the volume, Achieving Social Equity: From Problems to Solutions.
Cara Grewell
Cara Grewell is a recent graduate of the University of Montana’s MPA Program.