Abstract
This study investigates the impact of meaningful work on job burnout (JBO) among frontline employees in Nairobi City County. Data was collected from 309 employees in various hotel categories ranging from two- to five-star-rated hotels. The present study applied the conservation of resources (COR) theory to develop a framework. It found that positive meaning in work had inverse relationships with all aspects of JBO. The negative influence of meaning-making through work significantly affected emotional exhaustion (EE) but not depersonalization (DP) and reduced personal accomplishment (RPA). The study recommends that operators and managers of classified hotels recognize the importance of boosting a sense of meaning and worthwhileness in the workplace. It also suggests that frontline employees with higher levels of positive meaning in work demonstrate lower levels of JBO. The study also includes gender identity as a moderator variable to examine the moderating association between meaningful work and JBO. This study is one of the few efforts to explore the effect of meaningful work on JBO among frontline employees in a developing country and the first to explore the moderating role of gender identity in this context.
Keywords
depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, job burnout, meaningful work, reduced personal accomplishment
ORCID Identifiers
John Kahuthu Gitau: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4182-4132
Rosemarie Ayuma Khayiya: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-3377
Vincent Nyamari Maranga: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1927-5966
DOI
10.5038/2771-5957.3.1.1042
Recommended Citation
Gitau, J. K., Khayiya, R. A., & Maranga, V. N. (2024). Meaningful work and job burnout among frontline employees of classified hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya: Does gender identity matter?. Journal of Global Hospitality and Tourism, 3(1), 6-22. https://www.doi.org/10.5038/2771-5957.3.1.1042
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Included in
Hospitality Administration and Management Commons, Human Resources Management Commons, Marketing Commons, Tourism and Travel Commons
