Occupational Burnout in Hotel Industry and Its Relationship to Social Health (A Case Study on Hotel Employees in Mashhad)

The health of efficient human resources is considered as an important factor in any system. Taking into account the social health of human resources as a valuable capital is also an important factor in actualization of talents and creativity and the avoidance of occupational burnout. Occupational burnout is additionally a quite common phenomenon in many jobs and occupations which can endanger employees’ health and well-being in different forms. The present study aims to examine the relationship between social health and occupational burnout among the employees of four and five star hotels in Mashhad. The modern human has to bear some constraints and pressures in the process of adaptation to social and occupational environments. Therefore, jobs may cause dissatisfaction and disadaptation and consequently the person may experience a deviation from his/her natural and normal routine and suffer depression. Different aspects of individuals’ occupational duties and responsibilities can potentially be stressful for them, the most common of which are role ambiguity, role conflict, overwork, conflicting relations with colleagues and supervisors, and incongruity between occupational resources and occupational demands. Relatively speaking, each of occupational burnout factors in jobs and workplaces could have tangible and considerable psychological, social, behavioral and physiological consequences for individuals which somehow undermine the efficiency and proficiency of people. Social health is also one of the major factors in human growth and development and indicates how an individual evaluates his/her performance in the society and environment in which he/she lives. Since human resources are regarded as the most important factors effective in any institution and organization, their social health is one of the key issues in any society. In fact, special attention should be given to it in any civil society as a part of a culture. Since Mashhad metropolis hosts a large number of pilgrims every year due to the existence of the shrine of Imam Reza (AS), passengers’ travelling in this metropolis is clearly evident which is continual and although it reaches its peak on holidays, it constantly continues during the year despites the ups and downs. Thus, contrary to tourism which is a seasonal process, pilgrimage, which is of course similar to tourism in a general sense, holds a different approach in the development process. Yet, the existence of pilgrim reception structures (efficient or inefficient) in the metropolis, especially at a large scale is currently very obvious which requires a lot of study. The theoretical framework of this study is the joint approach in the field of sociology and social psychology (social health theory of Keyes and occupational burnout theory of Maslach and Jackson). And the theories of De Pelao, White, Grosch and Olson have been used in the field of demographic variables. The preset study has been conducted through survey method. The population consists of all hotel employees in Mashhad metropolis. The sample size is equal to 650 using quantitative Cochran formula (by calculating the variance) and stratified random sampling method has been used for sampling. In this study, the relationship between social health and its dimensions (social unity, social acceptance, social contribution, social adaptation and social actualization) and occupational burnout and its dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment) and their interactive effects have been investigated. Discussion and The results suggest that the employees in three to five star hotels in Mashhad enjoy social health index averagely (41.1%).Moreover, it has been observed that the degree of employees’ occupational burnout is high (42.4 %). The results indicate a significant and reverse relationship between social health, its dimensions and the structure of occupational burnout. The findings also confirm the significant impact of social health on the dimensions of occupational burnout (emotional exhaustion (-0.206), depersonalization (-0.228) and lack of personal accomplishment (-0.113). The regression results show that of social health dimensions, the dimension of social contribution has the greatest direct impact on occupational burnout of employees with the beta value (-0.48). According to the value of variance analysis, 189.256 at the error level smaller than 0.01 is significant and it can be concluded that the regression model of this study consisting of 5 independent variables and one dependent variable (occupational burnout) is a good model. These 5 variables can clarify the degree of occupational burnout and the achieved results can be generalized to the sample. Furthermore, the equation of occupational burnout forecast can clarify 55. 3 percent of the variance of the dependent variable. In the new industry, the development of human resources is considered as one of the concerns of planners in the field of human resources. In addition to selecting and establishing the best human resources, a suitable ground for their maintenance should be provided. In maintaining the up-to-date human resources, occupational pressures are one of the factors that can endanger the social health of human resources. For planning in the field of tourism and optimal use of the existing potential resources in our country in hotel and tourism industries, first, identifying the factors and variables that influence the development of this industry is necessary. It is in the light of good human relations that organizations (hotels) can improve the relationship between people and their teamwork spirit and cause the cooperation among the members of this group. As a result, they can change an organization to a good place to live and work and avoid the occupational burnout of their employees. The proper employment of people in the right jobs, at the right time, in the right place and in the right conditions and environments is one of the pillars of human resource management.