Purpose: Emotional labour is an important area of research in organizational psychology especially in the context of service industry. Past research in this area has primarily focused on the negative consequences of emotional labour. The present study is carried out to explore whether professors working in higher educational institutes experience emotional labour and how does it impact them. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a qualitative approach. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted. Findings: Three broad themes emerged from the study: (1) work environment leading to emotional labour; (2) factors facilitating emotional regulation; and (3) consequences of emotional labour. The findings revealed that the consequences of emotional labour are context specific and in the context of educational setting, it has interesting positive outcomes. Practical implications: The findings of the study provide critical insights regarding how to deal with employees who experience emotional labour at work. Originality/value: The study adopts an inductive approach to explore the experiences of emotional labour of professors in higher educational institutes.