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Examining Men’s Status Shield and Status Bonus: How Gender Frames the Emotional Labor and Job Satisfaction of Nurses

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Abstract

(Hochschild 1983) coined the term status shield to theorize men’s status-based protection from the emotional abuses of working in a service job and hence their diminished need to manage emotions as compared to women. Extending this concept, the current study examines how gender operates not merely to shield men from emotional labor on the job but to also shape the relationship between emotional labor and job satisfaction. Using survey data collected from 730 registered nurses (667 women and 63 men) at a large Midwestern hospital system in the U.S., we show that in addition to engaging in less emotional labor than women, men benefit from their emotion management in ways that women do not. Gender moderates the relationship between two dimensions of emotional labor (i.e., surface acting – covering emotion and deep acting) and two outcome measures (i.e., job satisfaction and turnover intention). Results support theoretical claims that men’s privileged status shields them from having to perform emotional labor as frequently as women. Further, when male nurses do perform higher levels of emotional labor, they are shielded from the negative effects of covering emotion and their deep acting correlates with higher job satisfaction—a status bonus—compared to that of their female colleagues. Implications for gender theory, emotional labor, and nursing policy and practice are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Marci D. Cottingham

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Akron, 302 E Buchtel Ave, Akron, OH, 44325, USA

    Rebecca J. Erickson

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Akron, 302 E Buchtel Ave, Akron, OH, 44325, USA

    James M. Diefendorff

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  1. Marci D. Cottingham
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  2. Rebecca J. Erickson
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  3. James M. Diefendorff
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Correspondence to Marci D. Cottingham.

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The research reported here is based on data from a larger study, “Identity and Emotional Management Control in Health Care Settings” funded by the National Science Foundation (SES-1024271). Direct all correspondence to Marci Cottingham at the Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599; cottingham@unc.edu.

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Cottingham, M.D., Erickson, R.J. & Diefendorff, J.M. Examining Men’s Status Shield and Status Bonus: How Gender Frames the Emotional Labor and Job Satisfaction of Nurses. Sex Roles 72, 377–389 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-014-0419-z

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