The Effect of Nepotism/ Favoritism on Flight Attendant’s Emotional Exhaustion and Job Performance: The Moderating Role of Psychological Capital

This study proposes and examines a conceptual model that is supported by the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. The model tests the effect of nepotism/favoritism on flight attendant’s emotional exhaustion and job performance. And it tests emotional exhaustion as a mediator in the relationship between nepotism/favoritism and job performance. Likewise, the model investigates the moderating role of psychological capital between emotional exhaustion and job performance. Data obtained from arriving and departing flight attendants at Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) in Jordan, to measure the mentioned relationships by using SPSS version 22. The outcomes from the correlation and regression analysis suggest that all relationships were significant. The outcomes also present that nepotism/favoritism has positive effect to emotional exhaustion and negative effect to job performance. The outcomes further suggest that the mediation role of emotional exhaustion is rejected. Interestingly, the outcomes propose that psychological capital is fully moderating the relationship between emotional exhaustion and job performance. The results were discussed, and the recommendations were given to the management to enhance the level of psychological capital and to follow the true human resource practices in recruitment and selection. Limitations and future studies were discussed. Keywords: Nepotism/Favoritism, Emotional Exhaustion, Job Performance, Psychological Capital, Flight Attendants, Jordan.