Closing in on closeness: Teacher immediacy as a form of emotion labor

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) reconceptualize teacher immediacy as a form of emotion labor, and (2) to examine the consequences of teacher immediacy in the higher education context. Specifically, this study examined (1) how teacher immediacy influenced teacher well-being (i.e., emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction) and organizational well-being (i.e., student learning, teacher performance), (2) how reliance on particular acting types (i.e., forms of emotion labor) moderated associations between teacher immediacy and organizational well-being, (3) how individual factors (i.e., affect orientation, alexithymia, positive affectivity, negative affectivity) and organizational factors (i.e. display latitude, display training, display rules) (a) acted as antecedents of emotion labor and (b) influenced teacher immediacy, (4) how particular acting types mediated the influence of both individual and organization factors on teacher immediacy, and (5) whether emotional support moderated the negative effects of emotion labor on individual and organizational well-being. In the present study, graduate teaching assistants, undergraduate students, and immediate supervisors completed a series of questionnaires. A series of core findings were found in this study. First, teacher immediacy did positively influence student learning. Second, teacher immediacy did positively influence teacher job satisfaction and teacher performance evaluations. Third, teachers did rely on different forms of acting to engage in immediacy behaviors. Fourth, the three forms of acting did influence the frequency of teacher immediacy behaviors and student outcomes. Fifth, organizational variables were associated with the frequency of teacher immediacy behaviors and the forms of acting used to engage in immediacy behaviors. Sixth, individual differences in emotionality were associated with the frequency of teacher immediacy and the forms of acting used to engage in teacher immediacy. Finally, emotional support was not a moderator of emotion labor on individual and organizational well-being