تاثیر سرزندگی راهنمایان گردشگری در فرسودگی شغلی و قصد ترک شغل

سرزندگی راهنمای سفر مفهوم جدیدی در مطالعات گردشگری است که به آموزش کارکنان و ابزاری برای مدیریت منابع انسانی و انگیزش کارکنان کمک می‌کند. در این راستا، این پژوهش به بررسی نقش سرزندگی راهنمایان سفر در فرسودگی شغلی و قصد ترک شغل آن‌ها می‌پردازد. روش پژوهش از نوع توصیفی پیمایشی است که با جهت‌گیری کاربردی انجام شده است. جامعۀ آماری تحقیق راهنمایان گردشگری بودند. حجم نمونه براساس فرمول کوکران، 155 نفر تعیین و به روش تصادفی و به‌صورت اینترنتی انتخاب و توزیع شد. ابزار تحقیق پرسش‌نامۀ استاندارد بود که با استناد به ادبیات تحقیق انتخاب شد. پایایی ابزار تحقیق ازطریق شاخص‌های آلفای کرونباخ و پایایی ترکیبی (cr) تایید شد. همچنین روایی ابزار تحقیق ازطریق روایی صوری (با استفاده از نظر خبرگان) و روایی سازه، با شاخص میانگین واریانس‌های استخراجی (ave) برای روایی همگرا و آزمون فورنل لارکر برای روایی واگرا، تایید شد. تجزیه‌وتحلیل داده‌ها نیز با استفاده از معادلات ساختاری و با نرم‌افزار smartpls انجام شد. نتایج تحقیق نشان داد که سرزندگی راهنمایان گردشگری تاثیر معکوس و معناداری در فرسودگی شغلی و قصد ترک شغل دارد. همچنین فرسودگی شغلی تاثیر مثبت و معناداری در قصد ترک شغل دارد. درنهایت، سرزندگی ازطریق نقش میانجی فرسودگی شغلی تاثیر غیرمستقیمی در قصد ترک شغل راهنمایان گردشگری دارد. نتایج تحقیق نشان می‌دهد که با توجه به اهمیت شغل راهنمایان گردشگری در توسعۀ این صنعت، سرزندگی به‌عنوان مفهومی جدید می‌تواند با ایجاد تحول در حوزۀ راهنمایان و تغییر دیدگاه دربارۀ این شغل، در راستای کاهش فرسودگی و قصد ترک شغل موثر بوده و از این طریق، به بهبود کیفیت سفرهای گردشگری کمک کند.

effect of playfulness of tour guides on job burnout and intention to leave the job

playfulness is a new concept in tourism studies that can assist in training employees and serve as a tool for human resource management and employee motivation. in this regard, this research examines the role of the playfulness of tour guides on their job burnout and intention to leave the job. the research method was descriptive-correlational and applied in orientation. the statistical population of the study consisted of tour guides, with the sample size determined to be 155 individuals based on the cochran formula, selected and distributed randomly and online. the research tool was a standard questionnaire that included the playfulness questionnaire for tourism guides by cheng et al. (2020), the maslach burnout inventory by maslach et al. (1996), and the intention to leave the job questionnaire by mansour and tarmbli (2016). the reliability of the research instruments was confirmed using cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability (cr) indices, and the validity of the research instruments was confirmed through content validity (expert opinion) and construct validity using the average variance extracted (ave) for convergent validity and the fornell-larcker criterion for discriminant validity. data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling and smartpls software. the results of the study indicated that the playfulness of tourism guides has a significant and inverse effect on job burnout and intention to leave the job. additionally, job burnout has a significant positive effect on the intention to leave the job. ultimately, playfulness has an indirect effect on the intention to leave the job of tourism guides through the mediating role of job burnout. keywords: playfulness, tour guide, job burnout, intention to leave job, tourism 1. introductiontourism industry is a highly interactive service sector where most services are provided through significant interaction between customers and staff (stamolampros et al., 2019). due to the service-oriented nature of the tourism industry, human factors play a crucial role in the quantity and quality of services delivered across various sectors, significantly influencing tourists’ experiences. among these, travel guides are one of the most important actors in this field, as they are in close contact with tourists (yetgin benligiray, 2019). research shows that travel guides are a key factor in tourist satisfaction and play an important role in shaping word-of-mouth advertising, destination image, and travel agency image. specific personality traits that enable travel guides to create an entertaining experience for group members include cheerfulness, a sense of humor, extroversion, and high emotional intelligence. all of these characteristics reflect the trait of “playfulness” in the profession of travel guiding, and according to this, the guiding process is associated with the guide’s personality traits (cheng et al., 2020). given that limited studies have been conducted on playfulness and its relationship with job burnout and intention to leave job in the field of tourism and travel guiding, and considering that the playfulness of travel guides plays a significant role in the execution of their job duties, leading to better performance and greater satisfaction, it is essential to develop the literature on this concept. therefore, this study aims to assess the playfulness of travel guides and its impact on job burnout and intention to leave job. 2. literature review2.1. playfulness of travel guidesplayfulness is one of the essential constructs for mental health, first defined by lieberman (1965) as a trait exhibited by individuals during recreational or playful activities (cheng et al., 2020). playfulness is the tendency to create or reconstruct a situation that provides enjoyment, humor, and fun for oneself and possibly others (proyer, 2014). recent studies have addressed the application of playfulness in work activities. a workforce characterized by playfulness can perceive work as a pleasurable, energetic, and enthusiastic activity and adapt to negative emotions and work pressure (cheng et al., 2020). the incorporation of playfulness in the workplace is associated with positive outcomes such as intrinsic motivation, verbal and non-verbal skills, quality of life, stress coping skills, positive attitudes toward the work environment, and job satisfaction. playfulness also enhances job performance and alleviates burnout and work pressure (fang et al., 2019). 2.2. job burnoutjob burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion that arises from prolonged engagement in situations where high emotional demands are placed on an individual. like other service sectors, hospitality employees also exhibit high levels of burnout (lu gursoy, 2016). travel guides, in particular, often have frequent and intense interactions with group members and are expected to display a range of emotions. they play the role of emotional laborers in the tourism environment. one of the factors that can influence job burnout may be the playfulness of travel guides. being playful, along with humor and fun at work, allows for the proper release of negative energies, thereby creating balance in work environments (yu et al., 2007). studies indicate that fun at work leads to increased employee motivation, teamwork, quality, productivity, creativity, and customer satisfaction (berg, 2001). employees who experience fun at work have fewer conflicts, better relationships, and a greater sense of belonging (chan, 2010). furthermore, fun in the workplace reduces problems and improves healthy relationships in the work environment (romero cruthirds, 2006). therefore:hypothesis 1: playfulness affects the job burnout of tourism guides. 2.3. intention to leave jobintention to leave job refers to employees’ behavioral inclination toward attempting to leave their job or organization, which may ultimately lead to actual job turnover (chen et al., 2014). research shows that individuals who enjoy their work and are satisfied with their environment are less inclined to seek new employment (pekdemir et al., 2018). hanfeng et al. (2019) found that perceived playfulness by employees can reduce intention to leave job in a patriarchal leadership context. pekdemir et al. (2018) also showed that attitudes toward fun in the workplace directly affect intention to leave job. therefore:hypothesis 2: playfulness of guides affects their intention to leave job.on the other hand, effective employee services reduce intention to leave job for employees. employees’ perceptions of the work environment predict their psychological feelings, thus influencing their turnover (mcknight et al., 2009). some studies have examined the impact of job burnout on employees’ intention to leave job. scanlan and stehlik (2019) indicated that job satisfaction, intention to leave job, and job burnout are all significantly related. another study by han et al. (2016) aimed to understand the relationships between customer violence, employee burnout in restaurants, and their intention to leave job, with results indicating that the relationship between customer violence and intention to leave job is fully mediated by job burnout. therefore:hypothesis 3: job burnout of guides affects their intention to leave job.hypothesis 4: job burnout serves as a mediating variable in the relationship between the playfulness of guides and their intention to leave job.3. methodologythe present research is applied and descriptive-survey in nature. the statistical population consists of travel guides in iran, and sampling was conducted online. to determine the sample size, given the unknown nature of the exact population, cochran’s formula for unknown populations (n = (z^2 s^2) / d^2) was used, resulting in a sample size of 155 individuals. data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling (sem) with the partial least squares (pls) method, utilizing smartpls software. the tools used in the research included cheng et al.’s (2020) playfulness questionnaire for travel guides, the maslach et al. (1996) job burnout questionnaire, and the mansour and tarmabli (2016) intention to leave job questionnaire. to evaluate the reliability of the research, cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability were employed, and for assessing the validity, content validity through expert opinions and construct validity were utilized to confirm the validity of the research instruments.4. resultsthe results of the study revealed that in the first hypothesis, the impact of playfulness of travel guides on job burnout was confirmed with a path coefficient of -0.56 and a significance coefficient of -6.29. the negative sign indicates that the playfulness of travel guides has an inverse effect on job burnout. additionally, in the second hypothesis, the results indicated that the playfulness of travel guides has a negative and significant effect on their intention to leave job, with a path coefficient of -0.257 and a significance coefficient of -2.902. in the third hypothesis, the results demonstrated that job burnout has a positive and significant effect on intention to leave job among travel guides, with a path coefficient of 0.667 and a significance coefficient of 8.912. finally, in the fourth hypothesis, the indirect effect of the playfulness of travel guides on intention to leave job through the mediating variable of job burnout was examined, which showed that the playfulness of travel guides has an indirect effect of -0.368 with a t-statistic of 4.447 on intention to leave job. thus, job burnout serves as a mediator in the relationship between the playfulness of travel guides and their intention to leave job. 5. conclusionthis study examined the role of playfulness of travel guides on job burnout and intention to leave job. to this end, four hypotheses were formulated. in the first hypothesis, it was found that the playfulness of travel guides has a negative and significant effect on their job burnout. this result indicates that efforts to enhance playfulness traits through humor, increasing interaction between travel guides and tourists, and employing interesting creativity in the guiding process can prevent job burnout, fatigue, stress, and alienation among guides. in the second hypothesis, the results indicated that among travel guides, job burnout has a direct impact on their intention to leave job. increased burnout and psychological issues stemming from work, such as stress, conflicts, and indifference to performance outcomes, ultimately lead to a greater inclination towards leaving the work environment. in the third hypothesis, the results demonstrated that the playfulness of travel guides has an inverse effect on intention to leave job; thus, with increased playfulness among travel guides, their interest in their job rises, consequently reducing their intention to leave job. in the fourth hypothesis, the indirect effect of the playfulness of travel guides on intention to leave job through the mediating role of job burnout was confirmed. playfulness is a trait in individuals characterized by qualities such as humor, cheerfulness, motivation, energy, adventurousness, sociability, boldness, eagerness, and happiness. if these traits are present in guides, their inclination and motivation in their job will increase, thereby reducing their intention to leave job.in summary, it can be said that considering the importance of the job of tourism guides in the development of this industry, playfulness as a new concept can effectively reduce burnout and intention to leave the job by creating transformation in the field of guides and changing perspectives toward this profession, thereby contributing to the improvement of the quality of tourism trips.