Far and not away: expatriates navigating emotional labor amid war

Purpose This study examines how expatriate hospitality workers navigate emotional labor amid prolonged crises. It explores the dual emotional burden of maintaining professional composure while experiencing personal distress due to conflict in their homeland. The study advances emotional labor theory by incorporating cultural resilience, coping mechanisms and workplace relational dynamics under extreme stress. Design/methodology/approach A grounded theory approach was employed, using in-depth interviews with expatriate hotel workers in a non-conflict host country. Thematic coding and analysis were used to develop a conceptual framework addressing emotional labor in crisis contexts. Findings Four key themes emerged: (1) cultural resilience as a coping resource, (2) work as a paradoxical refuge from distress, (3) the role of empathetic customer interactions in shaping emotional labor and (4) the intensification of emotional labor due to gendered cultural expectations. Additionally, the study identifies four distinct types of guilt that shape expatriates’ emotional experiences. Practical implications Findings suggest that hospitality organizations should implement structured interventions to support expatriate employees during crises. These include developing workplace routines that provide emotional stability, integrating cultural and gender-sensitive training, offering counseling resources and fostering workplace environments where customer empathy reduces emotional strain on staff. Originality/value This study extends emotional labor theory by incorporating cultural, crisis and organizational dimensions. It introduces work as a dual-functioning space of stress and refuge, underlines the transformative role of customer interactions and highlights the underexplored interplay between privilege, guilt and emotional labor in crisis contexts.