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This study aims to examine the conceptual and empirical operations of hospitality at its intersections with health care, which includes medical and senior care.

This study conducts a systematic review of literature on hospitality in health care published in hospitality, tourism and leisure journals spanning from 1990 to 2023. A total of 50 studies meeting the inclusion criteria are reviewed, providing insights into how hospitality is conceptualized, its practical implementation and the proposed outcomes in health-care settings.

Hospitality in health care is conceptualized by hospitality scholars in three main ways: as service functions, as a service exchange and as an organizational culture. There is a significant overlap between the notion of hospitality and the concept of person-centered care in gerontology and health-care literature. Also, hospitality contributes positively to patient/resident experiences, organizational performance and societal impacts.

The study is limited by its focus solely on the theoretical and practical aspects of hospitality in health care within hospitality, tourism and leisure journals, excluding relevant literature from gerontological and health-care journals.

Interdisciplinary research requires scholars from different disciplines to develop a common language and understanding of key concepts. This study presents the conceptual and practical domains of hospitality and its relevancy to health-care research and offers future directions to strengthen the interdisciplinary research between hospitality, health care and gerontology.

This study aims to investigate the work experience of women in hospitality with the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory. By focusing on job resources, job demands (emotional and physical), work engagement, emotional exhaustion and turnover intention, this study examines (1) female workers’ perceptions of these variables; (2) how race, age and job positions affect perceptions and (3) structural relationships among these variables.

The study collected 412 responses from American female hospitality workers via an online survey. Descriptive statistics and independent T-tests were conducted using SPSS to analyze professional experiences and differences based on individual characteristics. Path analysis was conducted using Amos 28 to assess the structural relationships among variables.

Female hospitality workers generally feel engaged, experience low emotional exhaustion and have low turnover intention. Younger or front-line women reported higher emotional exhaustion, lower engagement and greater likelihood to quit. Unexpectedly, emotional resources do not significantly affect work engagement, but physical resources increase it.

The study provides directions to establish specific well-being and organizational support initiatives to retain female hospitality workers.

This study offers fresh insights into the JD-R theory by examining the experiences of American female hospitality employees using a non-comparative lens. Although existing literature highlights women’s unfavorable positions relative to male counterparts, this study reveals rather positive perspectives. Additionally, it presents a dual psychological process of how job resources and demands affect women’s work experience and the varying impacts of job demands on work engagement.