Emotional labour and the job satisfaction of adventure tour leaders in Australia

This thesis critically examines the relationships between two types of emotional labour and job satisfaction of adventure tour leaders employed within Australia, applying a mixed methods approach. While deep acting has a statistically significant positive impact on adventure tour leaders’ job satisfaction, there is no statistically significant relationship between surface acting and job satisfaction. These findings are consistent with research suggesting that deep acting could help to convey a sense of authenticity and a feeling of achievement in employees, thus leading to higher levels of job satisfaction. This has implications for the way adventure tour operators manage their human resources.