International Journal of Sport Management

Emotional Labor and Team Commitment for Part-time Employees of Public Assembly Facilities

Michael A. Odio, Andrew Goldsmith, Kimberly Mahoney

Abstract: Paid, part-time employees are a large source of labor for public assembly facilities and often the first people patrons interact with. The present study examines the unique intersection of part-time work, service work, and work in sports that these individuals occupy. Questionnaires were collected from 172 part-time workers at two public assembly facilities assessing the levels of emotional labor (i.e., surface acting and deep acting) and fandom (i.e., team commitment) as well as variables to categorize participants into previously established subgroups of part-time workers (i.e., primaries, supplementers, moonlighters, retirees, and students). The results suggest the emotional weight of fandom (i.e., team commitment) influences surface acting, or how often employees fake emotions when dealing with patrons, but does not influence deep acting, or how often employees attempt to change their internal emotions to interact with patrons. Moreover, no major differences were found between the subgroups of part-time employees. This study furthers the research focusing on the role of fandom and emotions in the sports workplace by involving a concept relevant to an important segment of the workforce that is often overlooked by the literature. Further research is needed but this may offer evidence to support the uniqueness of the sports work environment and have implications for managing part-time employees.

Citation: Odio, M. A., Goldsmith, A., & Mahoney, K. (2018). Emotional labor and team commitment for part-time employees of public assembly facilities. International Journal of Sport Management, 19(1), 27-43.

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