The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of how retail employees experience the organizational conditions in the workplace in order to be able to perform emotional work in relation to customers. The study is conducted through six qualitative semi-structured interviews with retail employees who are employed in different companies in the retail industry in Sweden. Based on the perspective of Arlie Hochschild's sociology of emotions and the concept of social support, the empirical material has been analyzed. The study's research questions are the following: ● How do retail employees relate to emotional labor? ● How are the organizational conditions at the workplace perceived for performing emotional labor? The result of the study shows that in their work role, retail employees manage and influence both their own and the customers' emotions in order to achieve customer trust. The varying expectations of expressed emotions in different situations can be described through Hochschild's concept of emotion rules and take place on the basis of both informal and formal emotion rules. Retail employees are constantly exposed to managing a distance between perceived and expressed emotions at work, which can be explained through two more of Hochschild's concepts: surface acting and deep acting. To manage emotional work, retail employees express the importance of social support from the environment. On the other hand, the study shows that social support from managers and supervisors was lacking in all interviewees' workplaces, which affects the perception of the organizational conditions for performing work. Time constraints, staff shortages and unreasonable demands from management are perceived as factors that affect the ability to perform emotional labor and risk resulting in unwanted emotions with negative attributes. In contrast to previous research, the results of this study show that retail employees' approach to emotional labor is influenced by more factors than interaction with the customer. / Syftet med denna studie är att skapa en ökad förståelse för hur butiksmedarbetare inom handelsbranschen upplever de organisatoriska förutsättningarna på arbetsplatsen för att kunna utföra det emotionella arbetet i relation till kunder. Studien utförs genom sex kvalitativa semistrukturerade forskningsintervjuer med butiksmedarbetare som förvärvsarbetar på olika företag inom handelsbranschen i Sverige. Utifrån Arlie Hochschilds emotionssociologiska perspektiv och begreppet socialt stöd har det empiriska materialet analyserats. Studiens frågeställningar är följande: ● Hur förhåller sig butiksmedarbetare till det emotionella arbetet? ● Hur upplevs de organisatoriska förutsättningarna på arbetsplatsen för att utföra det emotionella arbetet? Studiens resultat visar att butiksmedarbetare i sin yrkesroll hanterar och påverkar både sina individuella och kunders känslor i syfte att uppnå ett kundförtroende. De varierande förväntningar på uttryckta känslor i olika situationer kan beskrivas genom Hochschilds begrepp känsloregler och sker utifrån både informella och formella känsloregler. Butiksmedarbetare utsätts ständigt för hantering av en distans mellan upplevda och uttrycka känslor i arbetet, vilket kan förklaras genom ytterligare två av Hochschilds begrepp: ytagerande och djupagerande. För att hantera det emotionella arbetet är socialt stöd från omgivningen betydelsefullt för butiksmedarbetarna. Däremot visar studien att det sociala stödet från chef och ledning är bristande på samtliga intervjupersoners arbetsplatser, vilket påverkar upplevelsen av de organisatoriska förutsättningarna för att utföra arbetet. Tidsbrist, personalbrist och orimliga krav från ledningen upplevs vara faktorer som påverkar möjligheten till att utföra det emotionella arbetet och riskerar att resultera i oönskade känslor med negativt attribut. Till skillnad från tidigare forskning visar studiens resultat att butiksmedarbetares förhållningssätt till det emotionella arbetet påverkas av fler faktorer än interaktion med kund.

Text in English / Violent crime and more specifically armed robberies constitute a growing threat to shopping centres in terms of their vulnerability to such criminal acts. These violent crimes are becoming ever more organised and sophisticated. Shopping centres across South Africa have become the latest targets for these syndicates. Due to the increasing number of armed robberies and violent crimes at shopping centres and the nature of violence used in these attacks, it points to a need for improvements to be made to the security measures that are in place at shopping centres. This study explored the risks and vulnerabilities at shopping centres that have led to the phenomenon of armed robberies at shopping centres in Gauteng; evaluated the current physical protection systems that are in place at shopping centres in Gauteng in order to assist with the reduction of shopping centre armed robberies; and recommendations were made for the implementation of effective security risk control measures at shopping centre’s across South Africa and specifically the province of Gauteng. Self-administered questionnaire surveys were used to explore the phenomenon from the perspectives of both retail employees and customers. The data collected from the questionnaires, utilising the non-experimental research design, were quantitatively analysed. Based on the findings from the study recommendations for the improvement of shopping centre security were formulated along with recommendations for future research. / Security Risk Management / M.Tech. (Security Management)

Text in English / Violent crime and more specifically armed robberies constitute a growing threat to shopping centres in terms of their vulnerability to such criminal acts. These violent crimes are becoming ever more organised and sophisticated. Shopping centres across South Africa have become the latest targets for these syndicates. Due to the increasing number of armed robberies and violent crimes at shopping centres and the nature of violence used in these attacks, it points to a need for improvements to be made to the security measures that are in place at shopping centres. This study explored the risks and vulnerabilities at shopping centres that have led to the phenomenon of armed robberies at shopping centres in Gauteng; evaluated the current physical protection systems that are in place at shopping centres in Gauteng in order to assist with the reduction of shopping centre armed robberies; and recommendations were made for the implementation of effective security risk control measures at shopping centre’s across South Africa and specifically the province of Gauteng. Self-administered questionnaire surveys were used to explore the phenomenon from the perspectives of both retail employees and customers. The data collected from the questionnaires, utilising the non-experimental research design, were quantitatively analysed. Based on the findings from the study recommendations for the improvement of shopping centre security were formulated along with recommendations for future research. / Security Risk Management / M.Tech. (Security Management)