Exploring the daily emotion experiences of female leaders at work

MCom (Industrial and Organisational Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom CampusOne of the major changes in leadership of the 21st century is the increase in women within leadership positions. However, despite women progressing within leadership positions, they are still faced with various daily challenges within these leadership roles. One of these challenges involves female leaders’ daily emotion experiences within the workplace as well as their management thereof. The presence of certain perceptions of emotion-prescriptive norms held by the workforce poses a serious hindrance to female leaders. Female leaders in the workplace tend to suppress or avoid their emotions due to a fear of being judged for displaying or even experiencing these emotions, which could be detrimental to their careers and their overall psychological well-being in the long-run. Emotions however, when utilised correctly could be conducive to female leaders’ success and influence among their various workforces. The objective of this study was to explore the daily emotion experiences of female leaders as well as their management thereof. A qualitative research design was utilised during the course of this study. A phenomenological approach within a constructivism paradigm was employed throughout, so as to achieve the objectives outlined in the study. Purposive as well as network sampling was used during this study to reach the female leaders (n=11) from various organisations and hierarchical levels within South Africa. The data were obtained by means of semi-structured interviews, and thematic analysis was used to transcribe and analyse the data. The results of this study indicated that female leaders experience daily emotion events on three levels in the workplace. Firstly, they experienced events on the microsystem level comprising their internal settings in their individual level. Within the microsystem the female leaders experienced emotion events related to their specific leadership style and how they lead to accommodate those around them. They experienced events in the various challenges with which they are faced within their daily work life such as their workload or even challenges relating to their roles as females, specifically within their leadership positions. Secondly, they experienced events on the mesosystem level which consists of the various elements of their microsystem levels and their interaction with one another. This level centres around interaction and refers to the events that female leaders experience when interacting with their clients or colleagues, such as conflict, communication or teamwork interactions. Lastly, they experienced events on an exosystem level, which includes events with which they do not have direct contact, but which exert an influence on their lives. This level was governed by a Covid-19-related theme since it had a significant impact on the female leaders’ lives. They experienced events in relation to lockdown, remote work, and even financial pressures due to the effects of the pandemic. The findings also showed that female leaders tend to experience positive and negative emotions as a result of these events. They experienced positive emotions such as satisfaction, happiness and calmness when they accomplished tasks or made a difference in their clients or colleges’ lives. However, since negative emotions are inevitable, they also experienced several negative emotions such as anxiety and frustration while under pressure. They also experienced sadness, anger and even fear due to their interactions with colleagues or clients. Furthermore, the research indicates that the female leaders utilised adaptive and maladaptive emotion-management strategies. With regard to the adaptive emotion management strategies, the female leaders revealed that they implemented cognitive reappraisal by changing their perspective of their emotions and the event that elicited these emotions. They utilised problem-solving by addressing the situation that had caused the event to transpire. Over and above this they also applied acceptance as an emotion-management strategy by allowing themselves to experience and express their emotions, whereas, with regard to the maladaptive emotion management strategies they employed, they employed avoidance as an emotion-management strategy by staying busy and avoiding their emotions. Lastly the female leaders used suppression emotion-management strategies by supressing any thoughts of emotions and trying to hide these emotions. It is important to take note that this study, as any other study, is not without limitations. Firstly, the study is not an equal representation of the female population. Even though the study is a female-oriented study, excluding male perspectives from the data could still be considered a limitation Furthermore, the study took place during the Covid-19 outbreak; thus, the events experienced by female leaders and the subsequent emotions could have been influenced by these unusual circumstances. Recommendations were also made with regard to organisations and future research studies, such as to include a larger more diverse sample size. Other recommendations could include creating awareness amongst organisations regarding the daily emotion experiences of female leaders as well as effective emotion-management strategies that could be employed. Organisations also need to create organisational environments that accept emotions and encourage effective emotion-management strategies. Future research could also explore female leaders’ daily emotion experiences further with regard to their specific industry and organisational level and the effect this could have on their emotion experiences. Furthermore, it could be beneficial to expand the scope of the study to include a deeper exploration of individual dispositions, affect-driven behaviours, work attitudes and judgement-driven behaviours, as indicated by the Affective Events Theory. It is also important to replicate the study in a post-Covid-19 environment to determine the significance of the impact thereof.Master