Burnout and engagement: A comparative analysis using the Big Five personality dimensions

This study focuses on job burnout, job engagement, and their relationships with the Big Five personality dimensions: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. The data were collected from employees (managerial/supervisory positions and non-supervisory positions) working for quick-service restaurants. Engagement, the emerging new concept, is perceived to be situated at the opposite end of the continuum of burnout, but the results of this study indicate they may be, rather, two distinctive concepts driven by different personality dimensions. The most critical personality trait affecting burnout is neuroticism and the most eminent traits predicting engagement are conscientiousness and neuroticism. This study does not validate the effects of positive personality traits such as extraversion and agreeableness on burnout and they are found to be weakly related to employees’ work engagement, as well.     

Effects of organizational/occupational characteristics and personality traits on hotel manager emotional exhaustion

Emotional exhaustion is a type of burnout and a state of mental weariness. It is an important issue for hospitality organizations because customer contact employees and hospitality managers function in an environment that is particularly susceptible to the creation of the antecedents of burnout. Further, emotional exhaustion itself is costly to hospitality organizations and individuals because it has been shown to result in depersonalization, detachment, decreased service quality and job performance, and increased turnover. Using a sample of 544 hotel managers from 36 hotels located throughout the United States, this study examines whether emotional exhaustion is a function of organizational and occupational characteristics, including job demands, quality orientation, pressure to produce, and need for “face time.” In addition, this study analyzes whether personality traits of the managers themselves, including extroversion and neuroticism, are predictors of emotional exhaustion. This study found emotional exhaustion of hotel managers to be a function of not only job and organizational characteristics, but also personality characteristics.     

Reducing burnout and enhancing job satisfaction: Critical role of hotel employees’ emotional intelligence and emotional labor

Despite its strong theoretical relevance with emotional labor, employees’ ability to understand and regulate emotions (i.e., emotional intelligence, EI) has seldom been studied, especially how it affects hotel employees responding to the firm's display rules (i.e., emotional labor) and experiencing burnout and job satisfaction. Thus, this study investigated direct and indirect effects of employees’ EI on two different forms of emotional labor (i.e., emotional effort: EE; emotional dissonance: ED): burnout and job satisfaction. Data were collected from 309 customer-contact hotel employees and managers in the United States. Results of structural equation modeling showed that EI had a direct, positive effect on EE and personal accomplishment and a direct, negative effect on ED and depersonalization. EI was also found to indirectly affect job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion through the mediating roles of personal accomplishment and ED, respectively. Additionally, ED was found to directly affect depersonalization and indirectly affect job satisfaction through emotional exhaustion while EE directly affects personal accomplishment and indirectly affects job satisfaction through personal accomplishment. Finally, personal accomplishment was found to mediate the depersonalization–job satisfaction relationship. Managerial implications for human resource practices are provided.     

Job stress and well-being of female employees in hospitality: The role of regulatory leisure coping styles

The job stress and coping behavior of female employees has become a key issue in the hospitality industry. This study investigates the moderating role of regulatory leisure coping styles on the effect of job stress on female employees’ well-being. Specifically, this study extends Patry et al.’s (2007) findings to further confirm the direct and moderating role of regulatory leisure coping styles in the relationship between job stress and well-being. Data were collected from the female employees of 22 tourist hotels in Taiwan. The results showed that the Planned-Breather Leisure Coping Style (PBLCS) was positively and significantly associated with well-being, whereas the Avoidant Leisure Coping Style (ALCS) had a negative and significant effect on it. In addition, the results also revealed that the PBLCS plays a buffering role, but that the ALCS plays an amplifying role. Based on these findings, the implications and research suggestions are then discussed.     

Personality profiles for hospitality employees: Impact on job performance and satisfaction

Prevailing hospitality research has demonstrated the impact of personality traits on various human resource outcomes. However, most studies on employee personality applied a construct-centered approach and treated each personality dimension as a separate construct. Although some psychologists have begun to study the combinations of various personality dimensions as overall individual profiles, much remains unknown about the generalizability of these personality profiles in hotel employees and how these profiles might affect individual work outcomes, including job performance and satisfaction. To address this literature gap and cross-validate the results, data from 1035 respondents was collected from two five-star hotels of Hong Kong with different backgrounds. Drawing on self-regulation theory and using the Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), we identified two major personality profiles from the respondents. Results showed that the personality profiles led to varying levels of job performance and satisfaction, depending on the employees’ frequency of contact with the hotel guests. Conceptual, methodological, and practical implications were discussed.     

Perceived stress as a moderator of perfectionism,burnout, and job satisfaction among the millennial service workforce

The purpose of this study was to examine if perceived stress moderated the relationship between both adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism and two main outcomes, job satisfaction and burnout, among a sample of 131 Millennials in the hospitality industry. Millennial students enrolled in various hospitality management programs in the United States and employed at least part-time in the hospitality industry completed self-administered questionnaires on their perfectionism, perceived stress, job satisfaction, and three subtypes of burnout (personal, work-related, and customer-related). The results of this study indicated that while perceived stress did not have a moderating effect in regards to either dimension of perfectionism and job satisfaction, perceived stress did moderate the relationship between adaptive perfectionism and all three subtypes of burnout. The implications for hospitality employees with high levels of adaptive perfectionism are discussed.     

Big Five Personality Traits and Turnover Intention Among Thai Hotel Employees

This study hypothesized that the Big Five personality traits predicted turnover intention, and that hospitality competency and job satisfaction mediated the relationship of the Big Five personality traits to turnover intention among 183 Thai hotel employees. Regression analysis with bootstrapping was used to test the direct and mediation effects. Results supported two hypotheses: the Big Five personality traits negatively predicted turnover intention and job satisfaction mediated the relationship of the Big Five personality traits to turnover intention while hospitality competency did not. Thai hotel employees’ Big Five personality traits were related to their job satisfaction to predict their turnover intention.     

Examining job stress and burnout of hotel room attendants: Internal marketing and organizational commitment as moderators

ABSTRACT

Housekeeping is a support department that helps provide and support quality service and products for hotel customers. Room attendants, however, face as much job stress as other staff. Therefore, this study examines the causal relationships among job stress, job burnout, and turnover intentions, while also verifying internal marketing and organizational commitment as moderators for the effect of job stress on burnout. Study results indicate that room attendants who suffer job stress do have higher job burnout, which, in turn, affects their turnover intentions. Further, internal marketing and organizational commitment significantly moderates job stress and job burnout.     

Hotel service providers’ emotional labor: The antecedents and effects on burnout

The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents and consequences of two emotional labor strategies (surface and deep acting) in the lodging industry. Variety, duration, and positive display rules are significant predictors of hotel service providers’ deep acting and negative display rules are related to service providers’ surface acting. Employees ohigh in neuroticism are more likely to fake their emotional expressions (surface acting) when dealing with guests and those high in extraversion are more likely to try hard to invoke the appropriate emotions (deep acting). Results further indicate that surface actors are more exhausted and cynical than deep actors and the mediating role of emotional labor between burnout and job and personality characteristics is found to be rather weak. Managerial implications for hotel operators are discussed.     

Do organizational practices matter for hotel industry employees’ jobs? A study of organizational practice archetypical configurations and job outcomes

Earlier research has demonstrated that organizational environment variables influence employees’ job outcome variables. This study focuses on the organizational practice dimensions of the hospitality industry and demonstrates that: (1) employees’ perceptions of practices can be construed as a limited set of archetypical configurations, and (2) the configurations are related to job outcome variables. The practice configurations are generated by cluster analysis, and the reliability and validity of the classification is demonstrated.     

The effects of personality traits and attitudes on student uptake in hospitality employment

A good understanding of why students either abandon or desire hospitality jobs is critical. The present study investigates the effects of personality traits and attitudinal factors on hospitality employment aspirations in a sample of 483 post-internship undergraduate hospitality seniors in Taiwan. The results show that the personality trait of extroversion is a significant predictor of students’ attitudes towards and aspirations regarding hospitality jobs. Industry-person congruency is a key attitudinal factor mediating the effect of extroversion on hospitality employment aspirations. Several implications for both hospitality educators and practitioners are also discussed.     

Employees intent to leave: A comparison of determinants of intent to leave versus intent to stay

The purpose of the study is to examine whether the predictors that decrease employee intention to leave will also increase employees’ intention to stay. Therefore, the objective of the study is twofold: (1) to examine the influence of perceived organizational support, perceived supervisors’ support, and organizational commitment regarding intent to leave and (2) to investigate the influence of the same variables on intent to stay. A total of 416 hospitality employees in the U.S. participated. The results suggest that perceived organizational support and organizational commitment decreased intent to leave while only perceived organizational support had a positive impact on intention to stay. Implications detail ways that hospitality organizations can focus on increasing their employees’ commitment through perceived organizational support as a critical component of turnover culture.     

Eliciting and analysing the basic assumptions of hospitality employees about guests,co-workers and competitors

The aim of this study is to explore the content and structure of hospitality employees’ assumptions about guests, co-workers, and competitors. A qualitative study was conducted whereby 20 hospitality employees were interviewed using repertory grid and laddering. Through content analysis we identified seven assumption dimensions (predictability, control, affect, responsibility, communication, competence, and ethics). The analysis further suggested that different dimensions are emphasised in relation to the hospitality product (e.g. predictability and control), the hospitality organisation (e.g. responsibility and competence), and the hospitality market (e.g. ethics). The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for future research and managerial practice.     

Work–leisure conflict and its associations with well-being: The roles of social support,leisure participation and job burnout

In hospitality and tourism industries employees, work–leisure conflict (WLC) resulting from job characteristics can affect work attitudes and personal life. This study revealed that social support has moderating effects on the relationships among work–leisure conflict, leisure participation, job burnout and well-being. Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis of 488 valid questionnaires collected from a sample of employees in the hospitality and tourism industries showed that (1) WLC positively affects job burnout and negatively affects leisure participation and well-being; (2) leisure participation is positively associated with well-being, but burnout is negatively associated with well-being; (3) leisure participation and job burnout have mediating roles in the full model; (4) social support is a moderator in the full model. The analytical results of the study provide a reference for managing employees in the hospitality and tourism industries.     

A deeper look at national culture and leadership in the hospitality industry

Increased internationalization and demographic shifts have made multicultural management a prime concern for hospitality leaders. Past research suggests that cultural similarity between managers and subordinates impacts employees’ appraisal of their leaders and work-related attitudes. Extending this line of research, the purpose of this paper is to examine more closely how employees evaluate leaders with varying national cultures and identify any subsequent employee responses. First, the results of an open-ended questionnaire on cultural influences, perceived leadership and work-related outcomes administered to 112 hospitality managers and staff members in a highly multicultural environment are discussed. Next, perspectives drawn from in-depth interviews with 12 hospitality stakeholders help to synthesize the findings. The results suggest that this is a highly complex issue, which can have a significant impact on employee reactions their leaders and the service received by guests. Implications for hospitality leaders are discussed.     

Empowerment in hospitality organizations: Customer orientation and organizational support

Although empowering employees has often been prescribed as an efficient strategy for hospitality organizations, the strategy alone cannot ensure success. Individual and organizational factors should be considered to increase employees’ perception of empowerment. This study examines the impact of employees’ customer orientation and organizational factors on the employee empowerment perceptions. Our findings, based on a survey of 203 guest contact employees, suggest that organizations should hire customer oriented people, guide them with service training, provide a reward system, and facilitate service standards communication in order to increase perceived empowerment. Implications of these findings for hospitality service managers are discussed.     

It affects,it affects not: A quasi-experiment on the transfer effect of co-branding on consumer-based brand equity of hospitality products

Although co-branding is postulated to be beneficial for hospitality brands, empirical test of either transfer effect or spillover effect of co-branding on consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) of hospitality brands is yet to receive attention from researchers. A quasi-experiment design was applied to test the transfer effect of co-branding on the CBBE of the composite brand, controlling for the familiarity, compatibility (fitness) and complementary of the partner brands. A within-subject (repeated measures) design with four steps measuring the CBBE of internationally known and compatible hotel and restaurant brands and their co-brand, as well as respondents’ own most familiar hotel and restaurant brand and their co-brand was applied in four steps to a class of 46 students enrolled for a tourism and hospitality class at a Tourism and Hotel Management School based in Asia. The t-test of differences revealed that the co-brand of the internationally known and compatible hotel and restaurant brands lead to synergy with both brands being winners and none losers, while the co-brand of respondents’ own most familiar brands lead to losses mostly, despite their high ratings individually. Implications and future research suggestions are provided.     

Hotel career management in China: Developing a measurement scale

This study aims to develop a measurement scale for organizational career management (OCM) in China's hotel industry. The scale development procedure includes four steps: developing initial items, implementing purifying measures, data collection, and assessing the reliability and validity of the proposed measurement scale. Both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) are used to test the reliability and validity of the measurement scale thus developed. The development process results in a reliable and valid scale for hotel career management incorporating three dimensions: (1) career appraisal and advice, (2) a career development program, and (3) career training. Given the scarcity of research on career management in China, the measurement scale developed in this study will serve as a foundation for future research. The findings of this study may help to stimulate further empirical research on the relationship between hotel career management and employees’ career commitment and career satisfaction.     

An examination of the links between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its internal consequences

The purpose of this study is to examine the links between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its internal consequencesusing the hotel employees' CSR perception, Quality of Working Life (QWL), affective commitment, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and job performance. Although CSR has been widely studied from the perspective of employees, no previous study has related it to QWL in the field of hospitality research. Applying relevant theories, the study empirically substantiates the connection between the constructs and provides theoretical and practical implications. The results, drawn from data collected from hotel employees in upscale hotels in South Korea, show that hotel employees' CSR perception of the firm positively influences their QWL, affective commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior, which, in turn, enhance their job performance.     

Influence of environmental stimuli on hotel customer emotional loyalty response: Testing the moderating effect of the big five personality factors

The aim of this research was to test the moderation effects of the Big Five Factors (BFF) of personality on hotel ambience-guests’ consumption emotions–loyalty relationship. This was an attempt to extend the Stimuli–Organism–Response (S–O–R) that has been widely used in consumer studies without integrating personality factors that may exert effects on the relationships. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to hotel guests; 563 responses were used in data analysis. The results of the structural model affirm the effect of hotel ambience on guests’ consumption emotions, with those emotions having significant effects on loyalty. Among the personality factors, extraversion, openness to experience and agreeableness significantly moderated the relationships, with groups scoring high in traits having stronger relationships than those lower in traits. Overall, the study supports the extension of the S-O-R with the inclusion of personality. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.