From Service Failure to Job Burnout: Unraveling the Roles of Self-Efficacy and Social Support Among Hospitality Employees

Service failure, a critical determinant of negative customer outcomes, has been predominantly studied from a consumer-centric perspective, leaving the employee impact underexplored. Grounded in Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study investigates how service failures lead to job burnout among frontline employees in hospitality context. Using a mixed-methods approach, Study 1 identifies five failure dimensions (attitude, ability, communication, process, and resources) via the Critical Incident Technique. However, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) consolidated these into a unidimensional structure, suggesting that employees perceive these diverse failures as a unified stressor. Study 2 validates the model using SEM with data from 343 employees. Results reveal a dual-path mediation mechanism: service failure exacerbates burnout directly and indirectly by eroding self-efficacy and perceived colleague support. Paradoxically, while organizational support enhances self-efficacy, high levels of organizational support and leader empathy amplify the negative impact of failure on self-efficacy. These findings contribute by shifting the focus to employees, validating the EPSF scale, and identifying a ‘resource reversal effect’ that challenges the traditional buffering hypothesis. Practical implications for resource management are discussed.