Job Burnout among Airline Employees in Japan: A Study of the Buffering Effects of Absence and Supervisory Support

The present study focuses on the cultural meaning and effectiveness of coping strategies on the process of burnout among Japanese employees in the airline industry. The role of self-applied and other-applied strategies for coping with burnout is investigated. Voluntary absence and supervisory suppor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of cross cultural management : CCM 2005-04, Vol.5 (1), p.67-85
Main Authors: Tourigny, Louise, Baba, Vishwanath V., Lituchy, Terri R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Airlines
Attitudes to work
Behavior
Burnout
Coping
Cultural values
Culture
Employees
Human resource management
Industrywide conditions
Japan
Management
Mental depression
Mental health
Organizational culture
Society
Studies
Supervisors
Vacations
Work ethic
Working conditions
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Summary:The present study focuses on the cultural meaning and effectiveness of coping strategies on the process of burnout among Japanese employees in the airline industry. The role of self-applied and other-applied strategies for coping with burnout is investigated. Voluntary absence and supervisory support were chosen as the self- and other-applied coping mechanisms because of their theoretical and contextual relevance. The study was guided by the restorative model of absence. A sequential model of burnout with emotional exhaustion leading to both depersonalization and diminished personal accomplishment was used to study the moderating effects of coping mechanisms. Data were collected from 90 airline service employees working in Tokyo, Japan. Existing instruments of measurement with appropriate translations were used. Absence was found to moderate the relationship between emotional exhaustion and diminished personal accomplishment, while supervisory support was found to moderate the relationship between emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. The theoretical implications of differential moderating effects in a burnout episode as well as its practical implications for the Japanese workplace are discussed.
ISSN:1470-5958
1741-2838
DOI:10.1177/1470595805050825