Acquiescence to Criticism: The Meaning of Emotions in the Multidimensional Evaluation of an Academic Teacher’s Work

Emotions play a central role in the professional work of every employee, shaping interactions and cooperation. In the work of an academic teacher, they can build motivation to work and influence the perceived satisfaction and self-esteem (pride), although they can also strongly contribute to burnout and demotivation (shame, fear). Interactional situations in which an academic teacher finds themselves arouse certain emotions and create the need to manage them. The work of an academic teacher is constantly assessed, which influences self-assessment. Strong rivalry and competitiveness make it necessary to develop mechanisms for managing emotions to deal with criticism, work through failures, and adjust the level of one’s own ambitions to institutional requirements. The article is based on qualitative research embedded in the interpretative paradigm, conducted with academic teachers. It presents their self-protection strategies developed in response to the continuous criticism and evaluation of their work, demonstrating that the idea that performance evaluation does not hold in contemporary realities. Employee evaluation, along with excessive bureaucratization and a neoliberal mode of management, contributes to the demotivation of academic staff.