Antecedents of emotional labour for holiday representatives: a framework for tourism workers

Despite advances in the tourism literature on emotional labour (EL), there is still a need to provide a detailed understanding of the antecedents because of their impact on tourism employees’ workplace performance. This research presents a comprehensive framework of these antecedents by adopting a multi-method qualitative research design. Data was collected from 21 holiday representatives employed overseas by UK based tour operators. These employees were selected because they experience one of the highest levels of EL in customer service roles. The findings reveal that EL is multifaceted and complex. It identifies a new category of antecedents related to the work context and the myriad of workplace relationships which impact how these employees construct their EL. It provides insights into job roles where there are no clear distinctions between work and leisure, increasingly identified as typical for tourism workers. The findings inform tour operator policies on recruitment, training, and employee support.