Work-to-leisure spillover and job burnout among frontline employees in Taiwan tourism and hospitality industries: The moderating role of job autonomy

Background Frontline employees’ job characteristics in tourism and hospitality cause them to suffer owing to work-to-leisure facilitation, which frequently involves work–leisure conflict. The mechanisms in the relationship between two work-to-leisure issues’ spillover effects and job burnout remain unclear. Objective This study explores work-to-leisure facilitation’s spillover effects on job burnout among frontline employees in travel agencies and the hospitality industry. Specifically, we examined (1) the mediating effects of the need for recovery between work-to-leisure facilitation spillover and job burnout and (2) the moderating effect of job autonomy on work-to-leisure spillover’s impact on employees’ need for recovery. Method A two-wave questionnaire-style survey was employed to collect paired data from 566 hospitality and tourism employees in Taiwan. Confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis were conducted for data analysis. Result Work-to-leisure conflict and facilitation were positively and negatively related to the need for recovery, respectively. The need for recovery was positively related to job burnout and mediated the impact of work-to-leisure spillover on job burnout. Job autonomy moderated the impact of work-to-leisure conflict and facilitation on the need for recovery. Conclusion The findings provide useful insights for maintaining frontline employees’ mental health and the sustainability of human resources in the tourism and hospitality industries.