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.