Knowledge@ASB: Faking it in Frontline Roles

Soaring sales figures and satisfied customers are two vital components of business success. But those on the frontline – charged with dealing with tricky customers and talking up the products and services – can pay a high emotional toll. Some staff are better at "surface acting"or faking it on the job, argues Markus Groth, a professor at the Australian School of Business and co-author of the paper, Willing and Able to Fake Emotions: A Closer Examination of the Link between Emotional Dissonance and Employee Well-Being.Training can help, but the secret to keeping everybody happy may come down to who’s hired in the first place.