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Emerald Article: Investigating occupational burnout of food and beverage employees: The case of Cyprus Anastasios Zopiatis, Nicholas Orphanides

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To cite this document: Anastasios Zopiatis, Nicholas Orphanides, (2009),"Investigating occupational burnout of food and beverage employees: The case of Cyprus", British Food Journal, Vol. 111 Iss: 9 pp. 930 - 947 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00070700910992853 Downloaded on: 18-02-2013 References: This document contains references to 58 other documents Citations: This document has been cited by 1 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com This document has been downloaded 738 times since 2009. *

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Anastasios Zopiatis, Nicholas Orphanides, (2009),"Investigating occupational burnout of food and beverage employees: The case of Cyprus", British Food Journal, Vol. 111 Iss: 9 pp. 930 - 947 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00070700910992853 Anastasios Zopiatis, Nicholas Orphanides, (2009),"Investigating occupational burnout of food and beverage employees: The case of Cyprus", British Food Journal, Vol. 111 Iss: 9 pp. 930 - 947 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00070700910992853 Anastasios Zopiatis, Nicholas Orphanides, (2009),"Investigating occupational burnout of food and beverage employees: The case of Cyprus", British Food Journal, Vol. 111 Iss: 9 pp. 930 - 947 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00070700910992853

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BFJ 111,9

Investigating occupational burnout of food and beverage employees

The case of Cyprus
Anastasios Zopiatis
Department of Hotel and Tourism Management, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus, and

930

Nicholas Orphanides
Department of Culinary Arts Management, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate the burnout phenomenon in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus. The researchers aim to utilize the ndings, rst, to inform, thus educate, industry stakeholders as to the current status of the burnout phenomenon, and second, to develop and propose specic practical preventive measures that mitigate the burnout effects. Design/methodology/approach Following a comprehensive literature review, a questionnaire was developed and administered to a randomly identied sample of 1,000 food and beverage professionals in Cyprus. These included individuals currently holding full time positions, both at an operational and managerial level, in licensed food and beverage establishments in Cyprus. Findings It was found that food and beverage employees in Cyprus score slightly higher in the dimension of emotional exhaustion (34.3 percent), slightly higher in the diminished level of personal accomplishment (29.0 percent) and similar in the depersonalization dimension (25.1 percent) compared with their American counterparts. Originality/value The ndings of this research activity may serve as a guide to others outside of the Cyprus specic environment, to investigate burnout within distinct hospitality environments. Keywords Hospitality services, Stress, Cyprus Paper type Research paper

British Food Journal Vol. 111 No. 9, 2009 pp. 930-947 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0007-070X DOI 10.1108/00070700910992853

Introduction Burnout is dened as the syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization of others, and a feeling of reduced personal accomplishment (Lee and Ashforth, 1990, p. 743) that has detrimental effects for both the individual employee and his/her organization. The topic has captured the attention of hospitality scholars who have investigated the topic from an array of perspectives (Krone et al., 1989; Reynolds and Tabacchi, 1993; Vallen, 1993; Merritt, 1996; Pienaar and Willemse, 2008). Many of these scholars have focused on burnout causes and effects while others, utilizing, the most widely quoted Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), have sought to measure the level of burnout of employees. Taking into consideration the unique nature of the food and beverage industry, which is characterized by a high degree of physical, mental and psychological pressure, conditions that might lead to occupational burnout, this research sets out to

investigate the phenomenon in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus. In addition, the study investigates whether variables such as job satisfaction, career progression, job recognition (acknowledgement), organizational environment, job clarity, equality (lack of favoritism), and autonomy are predictors of burnout in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus. Literature review Denition Burnout empirical research began to emerge in the late 1970s as a response to its widespread effects on a wide variety of professions. At its early stages, burnout was considered an extreme form of stress (Bradley, 1969) and then to denote a state of physical and mental depletion caused by working conditions (Freudenberger, 1974). During the early 1980s the number of burnout denitions multiplied; however the most referenced include the three major components of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment (Cordes and Dougherty, 1993). Maslach (1982) reinforced the three burnout components by including them in the development of her burnout inventory; the most widely used instrument that measures burnout. Causes and effects Throughout the years, a number of scholars have investigated burnouts causes and effects (Maslach and Jackson, 1981; Leiter and Maslach, 1988; Cordes and Dougherty, 1993; Murray-Gibbons and Gibbons, 2007). As regards to burnout causes, scholars attribute high levels of emotional exhaustion to a number of probable causes ranging from work overload (Murray-Gibbons and Gibbons, 2007), role conict (Sethi et al., 1999), unrealistic personal expectations (Stevens and ONeill, 1983), excessive interpersonal interactions (Cordes and Dougherty, 1993) and the lack of effective stress coping mechanisms (Erera-Wetherley, 1996). The second dimension of burnout, depersonalization, is attributed to causes such as work stress (Perrewe et al., 1993), excessive interpersonal interaction (Maslach, 1982), excessive workload (Burke, 1989), and the nature of job responsibilities, e.g. handling customer complaints or other difcult situations (Patton and Goddard, 2003). Finally, diminished personal accomplishment is attributed to lack of recognition and/or positive feedback (Jackson and Schuler, 1983), the feeling of inadequacy and/or incompetence (Janssen et al., 1999), the provision of pseudo-authority (Zopiatis and Constanti, 2005), the unrealistic expectations as regards their work situation, the poor quality of management (Gill et al., 2006), the limited opportunities to participate in decision making (Miller et al., 1989) and the discrepancy between employees contributions and organizational rewards; the feeling of being undervalued (Murray-Gibbons and Gibbons, 2007). The detrimental effects of burnout can easily disrupt the smooth operation of any organization. Kahill (1988) divided burnout consequences into ve distinct categories: (1) physical; (2) emotional; (3) interpersonal; (4) attitudinal; and (5) behavioral.

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A variety of physical and mental health problems such as chronic fatigue, headaches, insomnia, gastrointestinal illness, high blood pressure, muscle tension, depression, anger, anxiety, sudden weight loss or gain are closely associated with increased levels of burnout (Maslach and Pines, 1977; Kahill, 1988; Burke and Greenglass, 2001; Stanley, 2004). Interpersonal effects include the withdrawal of the individual from socializing activities and negative changes on the quality of interactions with clients, coworkers and family (Maslach and Jackson, 1981; Cordes and Dougherty, 1993), while attitudinal consequences include the development of a negative, most often unprofessional, attitude toward customers, colleagues, and the organization in general (Pienaar and Willemse, 2008). Finally, behavioral effects include both work and consumption-related behaviors. The rst is related with organizational problems such as turnover, absenteeism, and reduce productivity (Cordes and Dougherty, 1993), while the second with issues such as drug and alcohol abuse (Stallworth, 1990; Lang, 1991). It is important to note that burnout can have damaging effects on the organizations ability to meet or exceed customer expectations, especially in environments like the food and beverage industry (Singh, 2000). The individuals diminished commitment to the organization (Maslach and Leiter, 1997) automatically causes an increase in nancial costs related to turnover, increased medical coverage, and lower levels of productivity (Golembiewski et al., 1998). Vallen (1993) veried the positive relationship between organizational climate and burnout while Wright and Bonett (1997) establish a negative relationship between work performance and emotional exhaustion. In addition, burnout enhances an unhealthy working environment characterized by conict, distress, poor attitudes, low morale, and lack of professionalism (Evans, 1992). These, in turn, decrease the organizational citizenship behavior of employees (Su-Fen and Miao-Ching, 2006) and increase their propensity to leave (Muhammad and Hamdy, 2005). Finally, the diminished levels of customer service and inability to satisfy the customers would most certainly lead to negative word of mouth and loss of potential business for the organization (Blodgett et al., 1993). MBI The most widely acknowledged tool for measuring burnout within the hospitality industry is the MBI. The MBI measures three dimensions of burnout (Maslach, 1982): (1) emotional exhaustion, where ones emotions are used up, thus feels drained when contacting others; (2) depersonalization, a result of the stressors of the job whereby one feels detached from work and people become objects to be dealt with, not humans; and (3) personal accomplishment, feeling incompetent and doubting ones abilities in achieving anything. The inventory consists of 22 statements that examine the three burnout components of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment. Respondents were asked to state on a scale from 0 (never) to 6 (every day) how often they fell that a particular statement applies to them. A high degree of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization in relation to a low level of personal accomplishment indicates high burnout. In particular, according to Maslach (1982), high burnout exists when the scores of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization components fell in the

upper third of the normative distribution and for personal accomplishment in the lower third. Golembiewski and Munzenrider (1981) suggested that the three burnout components could be added in order to calculate an overall measurement. However, Maslach and Jackson (1981) disagree with such a view, arguing that empirical evidence suggests that the three burnout components are conceptually distinct and any effort to aggregate them might result in a considerable loss of information. It is also important to note that several scholars (Koeske and Koeske, 1989; Lee and Ashforth, 1990) reported statistical signicant associations (correlations) between the components of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization[1]. The reliability and validity of the MBI has been conrmed by a number of related studies (Maslach and Jackson, 1981; Anderson and Iwanicki, 1984; Koeske and Koeske, 1989; Richardsen and Martinussen, 2004). Burnout studies conducted in the hospitality industry A growing body of burnout related literature examined the service sector in general; and in particular the hospitality industry (Krone et al., 1989; Tabacchi et al., 1990; Lang, 1991; Reynolds and Tabacchi, 1993; Vallen, 1993; Kuruuzum et al., 2008; Pienaar and Willemse, 2008). Mann (1997) supports the notion that as service sector occupations are on the rise burnout is likely to become a more common condition in the workplace. Table I, summarizes the ndings of a number of studies which examined burnout in the hospitality industry utilizing the MBI. Overall, the majority of the previous studies depict a rather moderate or average picture with regard to the hospitality employees levels of burnout. This is a typical case in which averages dont always project the real picture. While many might feel at ease with the moderate level of burnout experienced by industry employees, the fact remains that one in every three employees (see Table I), thus the overall average, experience high levels of burnout. In an industry in which teamwork and inter-and/or-intra departmental communication determines the quality of the experience offered to customers, and thus their satisfaction, the fact that almost 30 percent of its manpower exhibit signs of high emotional exhaustion, high depersonalization and a low feeling of personal accomplishment deserves our attention. Purpose and research questions The primary purpose of this research is the investigation of the burnout phenomenon in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus. The researchers aim to utilize the ndings to inform, thus educate, industry stakeholders as to the current status of the burnout phenomenon, and to develop and propose specic practical preventive measures that mitigate the burnout effects. The following research questions, reecting the studys primary purpose and objectives were formulated: RQ1. What is the current level of burnout experienced by food and beverage employees in Cyprus? RQ2. What is the prole (suggestive), based on demographics and other relevant data, of the food and beverage employee who is more vulnerable to burnout symptoms?

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Author(s) 1989 Hotel Food Service Managers 2008 Middle managers in 4 and 5 star hotels 1998 Frontline hotel employees 1996 Private Club Managers USA 152 Maslachs Burnout Inventory New Zealand 96 Maslachs Burnout Inventory Turkey 139 Maslachs Burnout Inventory (Turkish Version)b USA 532 Maslachs Burnout Inventory

Krone et al.

Kuruuzum et al.

Ledgerwood et al.

Merritt

Pienaar and Willemse

Reynolds and Tabacchi 1993 Food and Beverage General Managers (GM) and Assistant General Managers (AGM)

Table I. Burnout Studies in the Hospitality Industry (Presented in Alphabetical Order) Year Population Country Sample size Instrument used Findings 2008 Service employees and bar attendants USA South Africa 150 Maslachs Burnout Inventory 79 Maslachs Burnout Inventory Respondents with a high level of burnout Emotional exhaustion 28% Depersonalization 20% Personal accomplishment 12% (Low)a Average burnout scores Emotional exhaustion 2.11/4.00b Depersonalization 2.32/4.00b Personal accomplishment 3.16/4.00b Average burnout scores Emotional exhaustion 2.11/6.00 Depersonalization 1.33/6.00 Personal accomplishment 4.03/6.00 Average burnout scores Emotional Exhaustion Mean 20.09 (Average) Depersonalization Mean 8.81 (Average) Personal accomplishment Mean 37.03 (Average) Average burnout scores Emotional exhaustion 2.78/6.00 Depersonalization 2.58/6.00 Personal accomplishment 4.93/6.00 Respondents with a high level of burnout Emotional exhaustion 30% GM Depersonalization 30% GM Personal accomplishment 6% GM (Low)a Assistant GM Emotional exhaustion 35% AGM Depersonalization 24% AGM Personal accomplishment 29% AGM (Low)a (continued )

Author(s) 1990 Food and Beverage Managers 1993 Hospitality Professionals USA 130 Maslachs Burnout Inventory USA 199 Maslachs Burnout Inventory

Year Population

Country

Sample size Instrument used Findings

Tabacchi, Krone and Farber

Vallen

Zopiatis and Constanti 2005 Hospitality Professionals Cyprus

73 Maslachs Burnout Inventory

Respondents with a high level of burnout Emotional exhaustion 30% Depersonalization 24% Personal accomplishment 17% (Low)a Average burnout scores Emotional exhaustion Mean 24 (Average) Depersonalization Mean 10 (Average) Personal accomplishment Mean 37 (Average) Respondents with a high level of burnout Emotional exhaustion 22% Depersonalization 20% Personal accomplishment 40% (Low)a

Notes: Presented in alphabetical order; apercentage indicates those that scored low in the personal accomplishment dimension. High level of burnout high emotional exhaustion, high depersonalization and low personal accomplishment; b the Turkish version of the MBI utilized a ve-point rating scale (0-4) compare to the original seven-point (0-6)

Investigating occupational burnout 935

Table I.

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RQ3. Are the variables of: overall job satisfaction; satisfaction with ones career progression; job recognition; quality of the organizational environment; job clarity; equality (lack of favoritism); and decision autonomy predictors of burnout in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus? The seven variables mentioned in RQ3 were shown by the literature review to be elements of an organizational environment associated, positively or negatively, with the burnout phenomenon. In particular, the seven elements were examined by scholars as follows: (1) overall job satisfaction (Brewer and Clippard, 2002; Kuruuzum et al., 2008); (2) satisfaction with ones career progression (Becker et al., 2006); (3) job recognition (Jackson and Schuler, 1983; Murray-Gibbons and Gibbons, 2007); (4) quality of the organizational environment (Leiter and Maslach, 1988; Vallen, 1993; Advani et al., 2005); (5) job clarity vs role ambiguity (Schwab et al., 1986; Sethi et al., 1999; Kuruuzum et al., 2008); (6) equality (lack of favoritism perceived fairness) (Ledgerwood et al., 1998; Patton and Goddard, 2003; Yagil, 2006); and (7) decision autonomy predictors (Schwab et al., 1986; Kim et al., 2007). Methodology Following a comprehensive literature review, a questionnaire which included the MBI was developed and administered to a randomly identied sample of 1,000 food and beverage professionals in Cyprus. More specically, our research population included individuals currently holding full time positions, both at an operational and managerial level, in licensed food and beverage establishments in Cyprus. According to government statistics, cross-referenced with gures provided to the researchers by local hospitality and culinary associations, 4,000 individuals are currently working in such establishments. Because of the typical low response rate of hospitality related studies in Cyprus (Zopiatis and Constanti, 2005), a mix method, which included post mail followed by a telephone reminder and face to face individual distribution, was utilized to administered the questionnaires. Prior of being administered, the questionnaires were pilot-tested for reliability with the utilization of the test re-test method and for validity with a panel of three experts. The collected data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v. 14). Descriptive statistics were primarily utilized to analyze the collected data of the MBI, while inferential statistics, namely reliability analysis (Cronbachs Alpha) was utilized in order to determine the extent to which the items in each sub-category relate to each other, independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA with Post Hoc Multiple Comparison Test (Tukey HSD), were utilized to compare the means and develop a suggestive prole of the burnout-vulnerable, while multiple regression analysis (stepwise) investigated the association between the three burnout dimensions and other variables. Research ndings The questionnaires were distributed to 1,000 professionals currently working in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus. A total of 220 were returned to the researchers.

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Of these, 13 questionnaires were incomplete, and thus excluded from the study, reducing the number of usable surveys to 207. The overall response rate of 20.7 percent was viewed as satisfactory considering the low response rates experienced by similar hospitality studies which investigate so called sensitive issues (Keegan and Lucas, 2005). Table II displays the demographic prole of the participants in relation to six different variables: (1) gender; (2) age; (3) nationality; (4) type of food and beverage establishment currently employed; (5) employment level; and (6) food and beverage department (service vs production) currently working. MBI All items in the MBI subscales, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment were tested for reliability in order to determine the extent to which the items in the questionnaire are related to each other. Cronbachs alpha, a reliability
Frequencya Gender Male Female Age 20-30 31-40 Over 40 Nationality Cypriots Non-Cypriots Current employer Hotel restaurant Independent free-standing restaurant Franchised restaurant Other F&B establishments Employment level Operations employee Supervisor Manager F&B Department currently working Service (restaurant) Production (kitchen) 146 61 98 76 33 141 64 86 70 41 7 94 54 57 95 110 Valid percentage 70.5 29.5 47.3 36.7 15.9 68.8 31.2 42.2 34.3 20.1 3.4 45.7 26.3 27.8 46.3 53.7

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Note: a Some demographic questions were not answered by all participants thus, the variation in the actual frequency number

Table II. Demographic prole of the respondents (n 207)

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model of internal consistency based on average inter-item correlation; indicate a high to moderate reliability among the three burnout subscales. The authors acknowledge the fact (limitation) that in one out of the three subscales the alpha score is slightly below 0.70; the widely acknowledge level of reliability acceptance (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). In particular, and as exhibited in Table III, Cronbachs coefcient alpha for emotional exhaustion was 0.876, for depersonalization 0.698, and for personal accomplishment 0.736. Based on the average sum MBI scores presented in Table III, Cyprus food and beverage employees experience a moderate level of emotional exhaustion, a moderate degree of depersonalization and an average to low sense of personal accomplishment. In particular, the average level of emotional exhaustion according to the MBI is 21.31, way below the score of 27, which indicates a high degree of emotional exhaustion. The average participants score of depersonalization is 9.03 and falls in the middle of the moderate scores while the score of personal accomplishment, 32.86, falls just short of the low scores ( # 31). While the averages depict a rather serene picture of the overall burnout level experienced by food and beverage employees in the country, further analysis revealed some alarming ndings. In particular, 34.3 percent of the respondents rated high on the emotional exhaustion subscale while 25.1 percent scored high on the depersonalization scale. In contrast to a previous similar study conducted in Cyprus (Zopiatis and Constanti, 2005)[2], the number of participants who scored low on the personal accomplishment subscale reached 29.0 percent. Comparing the ndings with similar studies conducted in the USA (Krone et al., 1989; Tabacchi et al., 1990; Vallen, 1993; Reynolds and Tabacchi, 1993) a similar trend can be identied. In particular, most of the studies revealed that close to 30 percent of the participants experience high levels of emotional exhaustion, a fairly lower percentage, between 20-30 percent, experience high levels of depersonalization while 15-30 percent recorded low personal accomplishment levels. From this comparison, someone can conclude that food and beverage employees in Cyprus
Descriptive statistics Frequency Percentage Overall level Moderate/average 71 55 81 9.03 5.746 0.698 52 78 77 32.86 7.799 0.736 60 57 90 29.0 27.5 43.5 25.1 37.7 37.2 Moderate/average to low 34.3 26.6 39.1 Moderate/average

Item Emotional exhaustion High (score $ 27) Moderate (score 17-26) Low (score # 16) Depersonalization High (score $ 13) Moderate (score 7-12) Low (score # 6) Personal accomplishment Low (score # 31) Moderate (score 32-38) High (score $ 39)

Mean Std dev. 21.31 11.700

a 0.876

Table III. The average MBI sum scores, alpha coefcients and descriptive statistics

Notes: n 207; burnout exists when individuals score high in emotional exhaustion, high in depersonalization and low in personal accomplishment

score slightly higher in the dimension of emotional exhaustion (34.3 percent), slightly higher in the diminished level of personal accomplishment (29.0 percent) and similar in the depersonalization dimension (25.1 percent) compared to their American counterparts.

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Suggestive prole of food and beverage employees most likely to experience burnout A number of scholars have developed a prole, based on demographic and occupational characteristics, of the individuals most vulnerable to burnout symptoms (Maslach and Jackson, 1985; Krone et al., 1989; Tabacchi et al., 1990; Cordes and Dougherty, 1993). Overall, ndings suggest that: . women are more vulnerable to burnout symptoms compared to their male counterparts (Tabacchi et al., 1990; Cordes and Dougherty, 1993); . more experienced employees experience lower levels of burnout (Anderson and Iwanicki, 1984); . married individuals experience lower levels of burnout (Maslach and Jackson, 1985; Buick and Thomas, 2001); . restaurant managers experience the highest levels of burnout amongst food and beverage professionals (Krone et al., 1989); . individuals working in chain afliated restaurants experience higher levels of burnout (Reynolds and Tabacchi, 1993); . individuals with children experience lower levels of burnout (Maslach and Jackson, 1985); . individuals with greater upwards career movement may experience less burnout (Cordes and Dougherty, 1993, p. 637); and . ready to tame the world individuals with unrealistic expectations as to the wants and needs of the specic work classication experience higher levels of burnout (Cordes and Dougherty, 1993). Our ndings suggest that one in every three food and beverage employees experience high levels of occupational burnout. The attempt was to isolate that 30 percent by developing a suggestive prole of the individuals most likely to develop burnout symptoms. Such a prole will help industry executives to pro-actively intervene and concentrate their efforts in preventing burnout effects for both the organization and their employees. With the utilization of both independent sample t-test and ANOVA (Post Hoc Multiple Comparison Test Tukey HSD), a suggestive prole of the food and beverage employee most likely to experience burnout symptoms was developed. Our analysis, exhibited in Table IV, suggests the following: . Female respondents experience signicantly higher levels of emotional exhaustion, slightly lower levels of depersonalization and signicantly lower levels of personal accomplishment compared to their male counterparts. . International (non-Cypriot) respondents experience a higher level of emotional exhaustion, a higher level of depersonalization, and a lower level of personal accomplishment compared to their Cypriot counterparts.

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Variable n 146 61 9.274 8.442 8.496 10.171 8.938 9.486 8.242 9.180 9.296 8.315 8.980 8.781 10.174 6.963 9.360 8.085 9.975 9.857 0.586 10.847 11.969 12.320 0.900 8.652 9.418 8.371 9.255 9.327 6.244 5.970 4.587 6.156 5.536 5.903 4.686 6.251 4.322 6.517 6.618 5.768 5.758 5.447 5.660 6.006 6.023 5.431 5.679 0.572 5.587 6.006 0.053 5.562 5.970 0.344 141 64 98 76 33 94 54 57 52 64 63 27 86 70 41 7 95 110 62 55 86 20.967 21.090 21.790 20.800 21.700 11.453 12.037 21.011 19.685 25.122 19.428 11.881 10.251 13.216 10.228 0.113 19.269 23.031 21.476 19.963 10.843 12.220 12.473 9.154 0.340 20.489 22.944 20.701 12.394 12.278 9.779 0.439 20.591 21.855 22.212 11.746 11.472 12.305 0.696 20.368 23.256 11.471 11.992 0.100 20.006 24.442 10.393 13.958 0.013 * 33.952 30.263 33.227 32.203 31.571 33.618 34.969 0.597 31.617 33.370 34.543 0.107 31.250 33.578 32.190 36.111 0.332 33.604 32.728 31.878 32.142 0.344 0.581 32.905 32.936 32.048 32.802 34.490

Sex Male Female Ethnic background Cypriots Internationals (foreigners) Age 20-30 31-40 Over 40 Job classication Operational employee Supervisor Manager Years of experience Less than 5 5-10 11-20 More than 20 Type of food and beverage operation Hotel restaurant Independent restaurant Chain afliated restaurant Other Back or front of the house Service Production Size of the F&B establishment Less than 10 FT employees 10-20 FT employees More than 20 FT employees

Notes: * Signicance level ( p , 0.05); high level of burnout high emotional exhaustion, high depersonalization and low personal accomplishment

Table IV. Comparing means (independent sample t-test and ANOVA) of the MBI subscales by the demographic variables and other related factors of food and beverage employees Emotional exhaustion Mean SD F (P) Depersonalization Mean SD F (P) Personal accomplishment Mean SD F (P) 7.241 8.504 7.731 8.004 8.296 6.689 8.187 8.306 7.140 7.387 9.065 7.463 6.869 7.271 7.522 8.100 8.249 7.057 8.412 7.299 8.854 6.097 7.558 0.002 * 0.386 0.054 0.072 0.047 * 0.687 0.977 0.213

Respondents over 40 years-of-age experience a slightly higher level of emotional exhaustion, while younger respondents (between 20-30 years-of-age) score a lower level of personal accomplishment. Supervisors experience higher levels of emotional exhaustion, higher levels of depersonalization, while operational employees experience a lower level of personal accomplishment. Respondents with ve to ten years of food and beverage experience higher levels of emotional exhaustion, while individuals with less than ve years of experience a lower level of personal accomplishment. Respondents working in chain afliated restaurants experience higher levels of emotional exhaustion, higher levels of depersonalization and lower levels of personal accomplishment. Respondents working in the production areas of food and beverage experience overall higher levels of burnout. Respondents working in food and beverage establishments with more than 20 full-time employees experience overall higher levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization but also higher levels of personal accomplishment.

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It is important to note that signicant differences between the respondents according to their demographic and other relevant characteristics were only revealed in the variables of gender and years of experience. All other differences were marginal, and thus the presented prole should be viewed with caution. It is suggested that scholars should revisit this issue in an attempt to further investigate the prole of food and beverage employees most likely to experience burnout symptoms in relation to other variables such as culture, organizational environment and occupational motives. Burnout predictors The third primary objective of the study was to examine whether variables such as: overall job satisfaction, satisfaction with ones career progression, job recognition, quality of the organizational environment, job clarity, equality (lack of favoritism), and decision autonomy are predictors of burnout. Table V presents the results of the stepwise multiple regression analysis conducted for each of the three burnout dimensions; emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. As regards to the model of emotional exhaustion, it was signicant ( p , 0.001), explaining a total of 15 percent of the variance. Two independent variables, job satisfaction and fairness, were revealed to have a signicant negative relationship with emotional exhaustion. The same two variables were revealed as predictors for the dimension of depersonalization (21 percent of the variance; p , 0.001). The model suggests that diminished job satisfaction and lack of perceived fairness have a positive impact on the individuals depersonalization traits. Finally, organizational environment, autonomy in decision making and performance recognition have a positive relationship with the burnout dimension of personal accomplishment (17 percent of the variance; p , 0.001). Overall, out of the seven independent variables utilized in the multiple regression analysis, job satisfaction and fairness had a signicant negative relationship with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, while organizational environment,

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Dependent variable

Emotional exhaustion

Depersonalization

Personal accomplishment

Note: a F (2, 206)

Table V. Multiple regression analysis (stepwise) burnout dimensions Independent variable

R2

Adjusted R 2 0.147 0.208 0.170

Fa 18.424 28.060 15.067

Signicance p value 0.000 0.000 0.000

Job satisfaction Fairness Job satisfaction Fairness Organizational environ Autonomy in decisions Performance recognition

2 0.285 2 0.174 2 0.390 2 0.137 0.225 0.178 0.161

2 4.018 2 2.460 2 5.722 2 2.009 3.232 2.532 2.228

0.15 3 0.21 6 0.182

autonomy in decision-making and performance recognition had a positive relationship with the burnout dimension of personal accomplishment. It is important to note that job satisfaction and fairness are not considered to be predictors of the personal accomplishment dimension, while variables such as career progression, quality of the organizational environment, job clarity, and equality, failed to be included in any of the three models. The authors acknowledge the low values of the adjusted R 2, revealed by the conducted multiple regression analysis, and therefore, suggest that further research should be conducted in order to further investigate burnout predictors. It is also important to mention that with the utilization of SPSSs collinearity diagnostics, the authors examined the level of multicollinearity, which refers to the excessive correlation of the predictor variables, and found no such problems (VIF less than 4). Discussion and conclusions
When the workplace does not recognize the human side of work then the risk of burnout grows, carrying it a high price and hurting all parties involved (Maslach, 1982, p. 25).

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The literature suggests that food and beverage employees are amongst the most stressful occupations in the Hospitality industry due to the nature of their job specications. Indicative is the fact that in a recent survey from the US Ofce of Applied Studies (National Survey on Drug Use and Heath; as cited in Pizam, 2008, p. 135), food and beverage employees have the second highest rate of major depression incidences. This research has provided some insights as to the burnout levels of food and beverage employees, an understudied population according to some researchers (Zopiatis and Constanti, 2005; Pienaar and Willemse, 2008). Our ndings suggest that one in every three food and beverage employees, currently working in the Cyprus food and beverage industry, experience a high degree of occupational burnout. The study also revealed that women are more vulnerable to burnout related symptoms, and emotional exhaustion and depersonalization is mostly associated with job satisfaction and fairness, while personal accomplishment is mostly related with the quality of the organizational environment, autonomy in decision making, and performance recognition. In todays volatile organizational environment short term operational imperatives often supersede long-term initiatives. Many might consider issues like burnout as merely theoretical disregarding the fact that it could easily disrupt the smooth operation of even the most sophisticated organization. Many organizations are either unaware that the problem exists or believe that if it does it is internalized by the individual who suffers the consequences. Upper management must acknowledge that burnout might knock on their door and pro-actively intervene to protect both the organization and its members from any negative effects. Managerial employees should be given the proper information, via training and education, enabling them to recognize burnout symptoms and pro-actively intervene to mitigate its effects on both the individual employee and the organization. The long-term cost of such measures is by far lower than the potential loss of revenue caused by burnout effects. It is the responsibility of management to develop and nurture a positive organizational environment in which burnout elements are minimized for all employees. Food and beverage stakeholders who wish to diminish or prevent turnover

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must rst examine their organizational environment by way of a burnout audit (Neuhauser et al., 2004). Creating awareness through an audit is the rst step toward intervention. Furthermore, practices such as delegation; mentoring; promotion of teamwork; interest in employees professional development and personal well-being; health and work-life balance initiatives; employee involvement in the decision-making processes; equal opportunities; exible working schedules; open channels of upward and downward communication; credible and creditable career progression schemes; performance recognition schemes; and internal recruiting should bestow trust and condence in employees and reinforce a positive organizational environment. The ndings of this research activity may serve as a guide to others outside of the Cyprus specic environment, to investigate burnout within distinct hospitality environments. It is important to recognize that burnout is a multidimensional phenomenon. While quantitative data collection and analysis may reveal some insights, qualitative research, in the form of focus groups in conjunction with semi-structured interviews, is essential in thoroughly investigating the phenomenons causes and effects. A similar follow-up study, enhanced with reliable qualitative elements, should be conducted in order to identify the degree of burnout compared to the ndings reported here.
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