Harmonious Passion at Work: Personal Resource for Coping with the Negative Relationship between Burnout and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction in Service Employees

Abstract

Research about harmonious passion as a personal resource that can have a protective effect in situations of stress and burnout is scarce but growing. Considering the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, the present study aims to address the above gaps by exploring the moderating role of harmonious passion at work in the relationship between burnout (physical fatigue, cognitive weariness, and emotional exhaustion) and intrinsic job satisfaction. The study sample consisted of 748 workers from service organizations (front-line employees) in southern Spain (Mage = 35.51, SD = 10.06, 52% women). Using statistical program R (R Core Team, 2022), the results of the regression models showed the moderating role of harmonious passion on the negative relationships between physical fatigue and intrinsic job satisfaction. In particular, at high levels of physical fatigue, employees with high scores on harmonious passion at work presented higher levels of intrinsic satisfaction compared with employees with low passion at work. That is, although service employees have high levels of physical fatigue, when they are passionate, they still possess satisfaction with their work. Therefore, our findings extend the JD-R theory by considering harmonious passion as a motivational resource that reduce feelings of burnout in service employees. Hence, it shows the importance of promoting the autonomous internalization of work, (through, i.e., job enrichment), which allows the development of harmonious passion at work and, therefore, increasing intrinsic job satisfaction.