When algorithms set the roster: algorithmic scheduling, work-time control, and work-related burnout among hotel employees.
- 1School of Business, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
- 2Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
Abstract
Hotels increasingly use algorithms to align staffing with fluctuating demand, yet little is known about how algorithmic scheduling is associated with employees' work-family strain. This study applies the work-home resources model to examine how algorithmic scheduling exposure is associated with hotel employees' work-related burnout through low work-time control and work-family conflict and whether family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) attenuate this resource-loss sequence. A cross-sectional, self-report survey was conducted among frontline hotel employees in Shandong Province, China, from May to June 2026. Data from respondents were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling with 10,000 bootstrap subsamples. Algorithmic scheduling exposure was positively associated with low work-time control and work-family conflict. Low work-time control partly mediated the scheduling-conflict association; work-family conflict was positively associated with burnout; and the serial indirect association was significant. FSSB weakened both the scheduling-control association and the serial indirect association with burnout, although the former remained significant at high FSSB. These associations remained significant, but several were attenuated after controlling for measured working time and family circumstances. The findings distinguish an algorithmic management practice from the temporal resource employees experience under it and show how the associated resource loss crosses the work-family boundary. By locating FSSB at the algorithm-employee interface, the study conceptualizes hotel scheduling as hybrid temporal governance: algorithms allocate working time, while supportive supervision is associated with a weaker exposure-control relationship. Hotels should therefore evaluate scheduling systems by the stability, advance notice, and negotiability of the working time they produce, rather than by operational efficiency alone.
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BibTeX
@article{wang2026when,
title = {{When algorithms set the roster: algorithmic scheduling, work-time control, and work-related burnout among hotel employees.}},
author = {Mingzhuo Wang and Puvaneswaran Kunasekaran},
journal = {Frontiers in psychology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1958975},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42908829},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - When algorithms set the roster: algorithmic scheduling, work-time control, and work-related burnout among hotel employees.
AU - Mingzhuo Wang
AU - Puvaneswaran Kunasekaran
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Frontiers in psychology
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1958975
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42908829
AB - Hotels increasingly use algorithms to align staffing with fluctuating demand, yet little is known about how algorithmic scheduling is associated with employees' work-family strain. This study applies the work-home resources model to examine how algorithmic scheduling exposure is associated with hotel employees' work-related burnout through low work-time control and work-family conflict and whether family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) attenuate this resource-loss sequence. A cross-sectional, self-report survey was conducted among frontline hotel employees in Shandong Province, China, from May to June 2026. Data from respondents were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling with 10,000 bootstrap subsamples. Algorithmic scheduling exposure was positively associated with low work-time control and work-family conflict. Low work-time control partly mediated the scheduling-conflict association; work-family conflict was positively associated with burnout; and the serial indirect association was significant. FSSB weakened both the scheduling-control association and the serial indirect association with burnout, although the former remained significant at high FSSB. These associations remained significant, but several were attenuated after controlling for measured working time and family circumstances. The findings distinguish an algorithmic management practice from the temporal resource employees experience under it and show how the associated resource loss crosses the work-family boundary. By locating FSSB at the algorithm-employee interface, the study conceptualizes hotel scheduling as hybrid temporal governance: algorithms allocate working time, while supportive supervision is associated with a weaker exposure-control relationship. Hotels should therefore evaluate scheduling systems by the stability, advance notice, and negotiability of the working time they produce, rather than by operational efficiency alone.
SN - 1664-1078
ER -