Teachers’ emotional labour, discrete emotions, and classroom management self-efficacy

Extending research on teachers’ emotions beyond general educational contexts and Western samples, we examined how teachers’ emotions correlated with their emotional labour strategies and classroom management self-efficacy with an East-Asian sample in an English teaching context (127 Korean English teachers). Surface acting (emotional expressions modification) correlated positively with anxiety and frustration, whereas deep acting (internal feelings modification) correlated positively with enjoyment and pride and negatively with anxiety. Enjoyment and anger correlated positively and frustration negatively with classroom management self-efficacy. Enjoyment and frustration were documented as mediators in the relationship between emotional labour strategies and classroom management self-efficacy. The results suggest that deep acting is linked to experiencing positive emotions, which in turn is positively related to classroom management self-efficacy, whereas surface acting is linked to experiencing negative emotions, which in turn relates negatively to classroom management self-efficacy. Theoretical and educational implications will be further discussed.