Managing workforce diversity is a challenge for all organizations, but perhaps more so for organizations in the public sector. Public servants often deal with stressful working conditions, managing high workloads and confronting citizens in difficult situations (Lipsky, 2010). In order to perform job tasks effectively, public servants rely on Emotional Labor (EL), using emotive behavior and sensing in order to make decisions (Guy & Lee, 2015). EL skills are essential to the overall performance of an organization because they contribute to job satisfaction and retention (Sloan, 2014; Hsieh & Guy, 2009). However, a variety of factors can impact the performance of EL, and ultimately the delivery of public service. More specifically, EL varies between men and women in certain types of public sector professions. For example, women in policing must learn new behaviors to convey authority to citizens, presenting emotional demands that contribute to stress and burnout, ultimately having the potential to affect the delivery of service (Martin, 1999).
In Bolivia, surveys of public servants identify systemic perceived corruption, with bureaucrats in local government facing varied levels of political pressure (World Bank, 2000). Bolivian organizational culture is also dominated by patriarchal systems of power with an emphasis on positive male values including self-assertion and control, commonly referred to as “machismo”. On the other hand, female values of cooperation, empathy, and intuition, known as “marianismo” are often associated with powerlessness. Public managers must be able to navigate and understand how their workforce copes with these challenges, with a particular understanding of the demographic and cultural factors that may play a role in individuals’ expectations and emotional intelligence. An exploration of this phenomenon across organizational settings and cultural contexts provides a valuable understanding of how EL manifests itself based on varying demands.
This study explores gender differences in emotional labor among public servants in Bolivia, asking the research question: Does gender affect the manifestation of emotional labor? Emotional labor is examined in three constructs including emotive capacity, pretending expression, and deep acting.
The GNM Emotional Labor Questionnaire (Guy et al., 2008) was administered to 400 public servants in La Paz, Bolivia, using a convenience sample. The sample included participants from two sites 1) The Ministry of Social Development for the Department of La Paz, and 2) The Municipal Center for Child Development. Using exploratory factor analysis, this study compares relative performance in the aforementioned constructs based on gender. Results aim to identify any gender differences in emotional labor skills.
