Problematizing the authentic self in conceptualizations of emotional dissonance

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dc.contributor.authorLinehan, Carol
dc.contributor.authorO'Brien, Elaine
dc.date.accessioned2019-01-29T12:55:33Z
dc.date.available2019-01-29T12:55:33Z
dc.date.issued2018-12-03
dc.date.updated2019-01-29T12:45:35Z
dc.description.abstractWith exhortations to be ‘your authentic self’ proliferating in workplaces what does this mean for emotion and identity management at work? This article explores the relationship between emotional labour and identity. It focuses on the tension or ‘emotional dissonance’ that can be experienced when a job role requires the display of organizationally appropriate emotions. Experiences of emotional dissonance are examined through in-depth interviews and diary study with human resource professionals. We tease out the contradictions participants are immersed in, the affective sensemaking they engage in about such contradictions and demonstrate the individual’s capacity for multiple selves to address contextual demands. From this, a new conceptual lens on emotional dissonance is proposed. Conventional conceptualizations view dissonance as a clash between ‘real’ and ‘false’ emotion predicated on an authentic self that is transmuted in organizational settings. Our theoretical contribution is to argue that emotional dissonance arises from the struggle to construct a situationally salient self in the face of conflicting emotions and loyalties to competing selves and values. The struggle in emotional labour is not with ‘the truth of oneself’ but rather with identifying which self to foreground in a given situation.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationO'Brien, E. and Linehan, C. (2018) 'Problematizing the authentic self in conceptualizations of emotional dissonance', Human Relations. doi:10.1177/0018726718809166en
dc.identifier.doi10.1177/0018726718809166
dc.identifier.endpage27en
dc.identifier.issn018-7267
dc.identifier.issn1741-282X
dc.identifier.journaltitleHuman Relationsen
dc.identifier.startpage1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/7372
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherSAGE Publicationsen
dc.relation.urihttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018726718809166
dc.rights© 2018, the Authors. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.en
dc.subjectAuthenticityen
dc.subjectEmotional dissonanceen
dc.subjectEmotional labouren
dc.subjectIdentityen
dc.subjectMultiple selvesen
dc.subjectSensemakingen
dc.titleProblematizing the authentic self in conceptualizations of emotional dissonanceen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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