Job Crafting and Burnout as Predictors of Food Safety Behaviors in the Foodservice Industry

• Published in: Foods Vol. 11; no. 17; p. 2671
• Main Authors: Nascimento, Leticia Guimarães Perdomo, da Silva, Ageo Mario Candido, Stedefeldt, Elke, da Cunha, Diogo Thimoteo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.09.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Behavior; Burn out (Psychology); Burnout; Employee involvement; Food; food behaviors; Food industry; Food safety; Food science; Food service; Hypotheses; Influence; job demands; Job design; Management; Multivariate statistical analysis; Occupational health; Occupational safety; Physiology; restaurant; Restaurants; Safety; Safety and security measures; training; work engagement; Workers; Brazil; training; work engagement; food service; job demands; restaurant; food behaviors
• ISSN: 2304-8158; 2304-8158
• DOI: 10.3390/foods11172671

This study aimed to investigate whether job crafting, burnout, and work engagement predict food safety behaviors in the foodservice industry. It was a cross-sectional study conducted in Cuiabá (Brazil) among foodservice workers. Four instruments were used among foodservice workers for the examination: (a) job demands and resources, (b) job satisfaction, (c) burnout, and (d) work engagement. Food safety practices were measured using a validated risk-based checklist. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis model. In this study, 22 restaurants and 302 foodservice workers were examined. It was found that the “job demands-resources” model was valid for foodservice workers, i.e., burnout was strongly predicted by job demands (β = 0.550; p < 0.001); job resources were a positive predictor of work engagement (β = 0.258; p < 0.001); and burnout was a negative predictor of work engagement (β = −0.411; p < 0.001). Food safety violations were predicted by job crafting (β = −0.125; p = 0.029) and burnout (β = 0.143; p = 0.016). The results indicate that mitigating burnout and increasing job crafting can be important supporting strategies to improve food safety behaviors.