Burnout and food safety: Understanding the role of job satisfaction and menu complexity in foodservice

This study measures job motivation, satisfaction, and burnout amongst foodservice employees, as well as the menu complexity in foodservice establishments. It verifies the relationship between these factors and food safety practices. We visited 20 foodservice establishments and interviewed 202 foodservice employees. Job motivation, satisfaction, and burnout were assessed using validated questionnaires. Menu complexity was evaluated by considering the number of meals prepared in different courses. Data relating to food safety violations were obtained using a food safety checklist. Our findings show that foodservice employees exhibit high levels of job motivation, job satisfaction, and personal burnout. In restaurants with more complex menus, instances of burnout as well as food safety violations are higher, and these have a negative impact on foodservice employees’ job motivation. Job satisfaction is positively affected by job motivation and negatively affected by burnout. Cognitive aspects of food safety, practical implications, and limitations of this study are discussed.     

Perceived stress and burnout syndrome: A moderated mediation model of self-efficacy and psychological comfort among polish air traffic controllers

How can one protect oneself against stress and burnout syndrome? What is the role of human cognitive processes? This study explores the moderated mediation effects of the trait of self-efficacy in a mode of perceived stress and burnout syndrome in a group of Polish air traffic controllers. The first aim of this study was to develop a better understanding of the construct of perceived stress. We proposed a latent variable, called psychological comfort, to clarify the role of self-efficacy in relation: stress and burnout. The second aim was to test the assumptions about the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between stress and burnout via the level of psychological comfort. The most important aim was to investigate whether the direct and indirect associations between stress and burnout were moderated by the level of psychological comfort. For the study, self-report questionnaires were distributed to 609 active air traffic controllers from 18 air traffic control centers of the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA). Three hundred forty sets of questionnaires were returned (55.88%) of which 110 were correctly completed (return rate - 18.1%). We formulated 5 hypotheses. Two of them were confirmed: the indirect effect of perceived stress on occupational burnout via general self-efficacy was significant and the indirect relationship between perceived stress and occupational burnout would be different for air traffic controllers characterized by various levels of psychological comfort. The study emphasizes the role of certain human cognitive resources which may play a role in the relationship between stress and burnout: self-efficacy, perceived stress, and psychological comfort. There are important practical conclusions from the research. Knowing about the level of psychological comfort helps to plan better actions to protect against the negative impact of chronic stress on cognitive functions and against the development of clinical symptoms of burnout syndrome.     

Hotel job burnout: The role of personality characteristics

In hospitality and tourism academia, most research focuses on the work domain as a major source of hospitality job stress, with little attention given to employee characteristics. This study examines the effect of the Big Five personality dimensions (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience) on hotel employees’ job burnout. After controlling for two commonly known job burnout antecedents (autonomy and quantitative workload), study results indicate that personality attributes explain significant proportions of three job burnout factors. The most noteworthy finding is the predictability of the agreeableness trait in hotel employees’ job burnout. Because of the mixed results reported on the relationship between this trait and job stress in other disciplines, more vigorous future research is recommended to validate the value of this personality to the hospitality industry.     

Reducing turnover intention: Perceived organizational support for frontline employees

Frontline employees are generally under great pressure, and carry out repetitive and mundane daily tasks, leading to burnout and a high turnover intention among them. To identify ways to reduce this turnover intention, this study examines the effect of perceived organizational support (POS) on burnout and turnover intention in the Chinese context and adds to the literature on frontline employee burnout. Using data from a survey of the frontline employees of a gas station in Beijing, we examine the mediating effects of frontline employee burnout on their POS and turnover intention. This study shows that POS has a significant negative impact on burnout and turnover intention, and that job resources cannot substitute POS.     

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.     

浅析高校辅导员职业倦怠产生原因及对策

目前,在我国高校辅导员职业倦怠已成一种普遍现象,需要予以足够的重视。本文对其形成的原因、表现及危害进行阐释并提出相应对策,已达到预防和解决职业倦怠这一问题的效果。     

Deciding to leave but staying: teacher burnout,precursors and turnover

Changing jobs or professions, which is one reported behavioural outcome of teacher burnout (Lee and Asforth, 1990), is a logical method of escape. Unfortunately, large percentages of teachers who suffer burnout remain in their positions (Jackson et al ., 1986; Watts and Short, 1990) and may negatively affect the educational process. If the potential negative effects of burnout are to be avoided, it is necessary to identify behaviours that may serve as precursors to burnout. A model is presented here that incorporates a direct comparison between an employee's capacity and job demands (Jaques, 1961). The behaviours resulting from these comparisons are unique and may serve as precursors to the more intense attitudinal and behavioural outcomes associated with burnout (Cherniss, 1980a, 1980b; Maslach and Jackson, 1981, 1986). In addition, each unique behaviour (Jaques, 1961) represents an opportunity to manage turnover better and to intervene in the burnout process.     

Does positive affectivity moderate the effect of burnout on job outcomes? An empirical investigation among hotel employees

A conceptual model examining positive affectivity as a moderator of the influence of burnout on extra-role performance and quitting intentions is developed and tested. Data obtained from employees in the hotel industry in Turkey were used to assess the model. As hypothesized, burnout influences extra-role performance deleteriously and exacerbates quitting intentions. The results of the Chow test also reveal that positive affectivity serves as a moderator in reducing the detrimental impact of burnout on extra-role performance and quitting intentions. The findings and their implications are discussed.     

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.     

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.