Purpose The purpose of this paper is to apply conservation of resource (COR) theory and the buffering hypothesis of social support to explore occupational stress and its negative outcomes such as job engagement and turnover intentions for front-line hospitality industry employees in the People’s Republic of China. Design/methodology/approach Primary data were collected in two waves from 318 front-line employees in a chain of restaurants located in the eastern region of the People’s Republic of China. Findings Integrating COR theory and the buffering hypothesis of social support, job satisfaction is found to be a mediating mechanism in the relationships between occupational stress and job engagement and occupational stress and employee turnover intentions for front-line hospitality industry workers. Moreover, the authors found the boundary condition role of work-social support. The relationships between stress and its negative outcomes are weak for the employees receiving high social support at work. Originality/value This study calls for researchers’ attention towards the issues of occupational stress focussing on the implications of work-social support for front-line hospitality industry employees.
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