JOB CRAFTING AS A STRATEGY TO REDUCE EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION AMONG HOTEL FRONTLINE EMPLOYEES

Abstract

The hospitality industry faces considerable challenges in safeguarding the psychological well-being of its frontline employees, who face direct emotional demands from guests every day. Emotional exhaustion, a core dimension of burnout, has been identified as one of the leading causes of turnover in this sector. This study examines the effect of job crafting on emotional exhaustion among hotel frontline employees using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework. A quantitative approach was employed through a survey of frontline employees at 4- and 5-star hotels in the city of Bandung, with the data analyzed using SEM-PLS. The results show that job crafting has a significant negative effect on emotional exhaustion and a significant positive effect on employees' perceived job resources. These findings suggest that job crafting can serve as a relatively low-cost, practical intervention for hotel management to reduce the risk of burnout and curb frontline employee turnover.