Passing on Opportunity: The Attitudes to the Negative Impacts of Tourism on Residents’ Willingness to Work in the Hospitality Industry

While prior hospitality and tourism research has shown interest in the impact of tourism on destination sustainability and residents’ perceptions, it remains unclear how these changes could affect residents’ attitudes toward hospitality employment. This study explores the relationship between residents’ attitudes to the negative impact of tourism and their willingness to work in the hospitality industry under the mediation effect of residents’ emotional exhaustion and psychological well-being. Furthermore, the boundary condition of residents’ destination management perceptions was also explored between attitudes to the negative impact of tourism and the aforementioned mediators. Results obtained through an online survey showed that while the influence between residents’ attitudes to the negative impact of tourism on their willingness to work in the hospitality industry is identified, emotional exhaustion and psychological well-being were not significant mediators. Moreover, the boundary condition of residents’ destination management perceptions was not shown to be a significant moderator when exploring residents’ attitudes to the negative impact of tourism on both emotional exhaustion and psychological well-being. Only residents’ psychological well-being was shown to significantly reduce residents’ willingness to work in the hospitality industry when negatively influenced.