Transformative Tourism Labor: The Wellness Healer’s Quest for Well-Being

Abstract

While facilitating tourists’ personal transformation, wellness healers simultaneously navigate their own quest for well-being in delivering wellness tourism services. However, existing research predominantly focuses on tourists’ psychological transformation, while the well-being of wellness healers who provide socioemotional labor often remains understudied. Grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory, this study aims to examine how social job characteristics influence wellness healers’ well-being within wellness tourism workplaces. A quantitative design and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) approach were implemented, with data collected from 312 wellness healers across tourism destinations. Results demonstrate that social job characteristics have substantial positive impacts on wellness healers’ mental health, social skills, and well-being. Social skills not only directly improve mental health but also serve as mediating factors connecting social job characteristics to well-being. The fsQCA results reveal three configurations that lead to high well-being. These findings advance tourism theory by clarifying the psychological mechanisms underlying sustainable service delivery in experience-based tourism. For practice, they offer destination managers evidence-based strategies for designing supportive tourism workplaces that enhance both healer well-being and tourism experience quality, ultimately contributing to destination competitiveness through sustainable human resource practices.

1. Introduction

The rapid growth of the wellness tourism industry is reshaping holistic health paradigms, yet it also introduces distinct well-being challenges for its workforce. Wellness healers operate in high-touch, emotionally demanding environments that require sustained interpersonal engagement [1]. They must maintain a therapeutic presence while navigating pressures from personalized service delivery, emotional risk management, and intensive client interactions [2]. The well-being dilemmas faced by wellness healers have sparked a polarized academic debate. Proponents highlight healers’ sense of achievement from facilitating tourist transformations (e.g., designing personalized healing programs), potentially enhancing their sense of meaning in life [3]. Conversely, critics emphasize psychological exhaustion from high-emotional demands, including prolonged empathy expenditure and performative caring [4]. This theoretical gap has led organizations to neglect developing emotional support systems and overlook healer well-being. However, existing literature remains disproportionately focused on tourist experiences [5], leaving the well-being of the healers themselves underexplored. In response, this study defines wellness healers as professionals working in organized settings including wellness resorts and health retreats, who provide high-interaction, emotionally invested services aimed at fostering tourist transformation [1,2]. To systematically address this research void, the present study investigates the following question: How do social job characteristics influence wellness healers’ well-being in wellness tourism workplaces, and what roles do mental health and social skills play in transmitting these effects?

The antecedents of worker well-being have garnered significant academic interest [6]. However, tourism research has predominantly focused on task-related factors shaping well-being, such as physical working conditions and organizational policies [7], often overlooking the buffering role of social factors in emotionally demanding environments. This oversight is particularly pronounced in wellness tourism research, which emphasizes highly protocol-dependent service delivery that can paradoxically lead to professional isolation among healers [4]. In many global contexts, rigid professional hierarchies, commercial performance pressures, and a culture of self-reliance can collectively constrain peer support and limit meaningful collegial interaction. Several tourism studies have emphasized the importance of social job characteristics in promoting worker well-being [7].

Well-being, as a fundamental dimension of professional fulfillment, is intrinsically linked to mental health [8]. However, current research in wellness tourism has predominantly focused on the psychological transformation of clients, while studies addressing the mental health of healers who facilitate these experiences remain underdeveloped. The association between worker mental health and organizational social support [7] gains particular significance in the context of wellness enterprises, where emotional authenticity is both a core service offering and a potential source of practitioner vulnerability. Existing tourism literature has extensively documented mental health challenges arising from emotional labor [9], sustained client-facing interactions [10], and precarious employment conditions [11]. In contrast, mental health challenges for wellness healers often stem from the psychological demands of continuous empathetic engagement, with compassion fatigue and emotional drain representing distinct occupational hazards [12]. For these practitioners, sound mental health is not merely an individual concern but a prerequisite for therapeutic efficacy and sustainable practice. Nevertheless, the psychological well-being of those responsible for delivering transformative tourism experiences has not received proportionate scholarly attention.

Although the importance of social skills has been extensively explored in tourism research [13], a significant knowledge gap remains regarding their critical function within the distinctive context of wellness tourism. The profoundly interpersonal and emotionally charged nature of healing services [14] presents unique demands for healers. Within the growing well-being economy, scholars emphasize that the rapid professionalization of wellness tourism necessitates a careful examination of its socio-psychological implications [15]. Wellness healers therefore require advanced social competencies. This need is driven by several critical factors: the highly personalized nature of their services, the acute emotional sensitivity demanded in client interactions, and the field’s continuously evolving professional standards [14]. It is therefore imperative to deepen our understanding of the specific suite of social skills essential for effective and sustainable practice in this interpersonally complex field.

Given the aforementioned research gap, this study employs the SOR framework to examine how social job characteristics influence the well-being of healers in the wellness tourism industry. Specifically, we adopt a quantitative research approach integrated with fsQCA to address two main objectives: (1) to investigate the effects of social job characteristics on healers’ mental health, social competencies, and overall well-being; and (2) to validate the sequential mediating role of social skills in the relationship between job characteristics and practitioner well-being. This research contributes to the emerging discourse on transformative service work in wellness tourism. By demonstrating how social interaction mechanisms and enhanced relational capacities affect healers’ psychological well-being, this study elucidates the psychosocial processes that underpin sustainable practice. The findings offer theoretical advancements in understanding the well-being of care providers, along with practical implications for developing supportive work environments that benefit industry stakeholders, organizational leaders, and healing professionals worldwide.

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Construction

2.1. Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) Framework

Rooted in the SOR framework, this approach conceptualizes human behavior through a sequential process where external stimuli influence internal organism states, which subsequently drive behavioral responses [16]. The SOR model has proven applicable for analyzing social job characteristics and validating psychological processes in professional settings [17]. Within the wellness tourism context, “stimuli” are defined as social job characteristics that shape healers’ perceptions in this interpersonally intensive and emotionally demanding environment [14]. These stimuli are processed by the “organism,” which comprises internal psychological mechanisms and individual traits serving as key mediators between workplace environment and behavioral outcomes [18]. Building on prior research that validates the SOR framework’s utility in service settings, this study positions social job characteristics as critical stimuli to investigate their impact on healers’ psychological and behavioral outcomes, thereby extending the model to advance well-being research in the global wellness tourism industry.

2.2. Wellness Healers in Wellness Tourism

Within the broader wellness tourism ecosystem, a variety of practitioners contribute to tourist well-being, yet their roles, training, and client relationships differ significantly. Wellness healers are professionals who facilitate transformative experiences for tourists through sustained, empathetic, and often personalized interventions [2]. Their work is characterized by high-degree emotional labor, the application of specialized well-being modalities (e.g., yoga, meditation, massage, mindfulness coaching), and a focus on holistic health outcomes [19].

A key distinction between wellness healers and other practitioners lies in their context and objectives. Unlike clinical therapists (e.g., psychologists, physical therapists), who operate within a medical framework aimed at diagnosing and treating pathologies [20], wellness healers function primarily in commercial, hospitality-oriented settings [21]. Their focus is on enhancement, prevention, and personal transformation for generally healthy individuals, rather than clinical remediation. Furthermore, while both wellness healers and general hospitality employees (e.g., hotel receptionists, waitstaff) operate within the tourism sector, the nature of their service delivery differs significantly. Hospitality roles tend to involve transactional and standardized interactions, whereas wellness healers provide experiential and deeply relational services that require profound interpersonal engagement, emotional authenticity, and frequently, physical touch [9,22]. These intense relational demands also render wellness healers more susceptible to compassion fatigue and emotional exhaustion.

It is also important to note that this study focuses specifically on healers working within organizational settings, such as wellness resorts or spas. As such, their social job characteristics are shaped by interactions with colleagues, supervisors, and the broader organizational culture, distinguishing them from solo or independent practitioners.

2.3. Wellness Tourism Context: Social Job Characteristics and Wellness Healers’ Well-Being

Since job characteristics were categorized into three primary types (e.g., motivating, social, and contextual) [23], these attributes have been widely acknowledged as important antecedents of employee well-being [24]. Among them, social job characteristics such as support and collaboration have demonstrated inconsistent effects on well-being compared to motivating and contextual factors. For instance, whereas ref. [25] identified multiple job characteristics as crucial to well-being enhancement, ref. [26] reported non-significant impacts of social job features. Such discrepancies have been partly clarified by subsequent studies focusing on specific occupational groups. For example, research involving crisis counselors and trauma support teams revealed that social job characteristics (e.g., emotional support) significantly predict well-being particularly under conditions of high emotional demand and psychological strain [27].

These findings are highly pertinent to wellness tourism. In this industry, wellness healers operate in emotionally intensive environments that demand considerable psychological resilience and interpersonal attunement [28]. In such settings, social job characteristics are likely to play a more critical role in sustaining well-being. This contrasts with conventional service roles, where organizational structures predominantly shape employee well-being [29]. Wellness healers, by comparison, depend heavily on dynamic relational environments for psychological replenishment and professional effectiveness [28]. These environments encompass peer support networks, interdisciplinary collaboration with other wellness professionals, and ongoing therapeutic alliances with tourists. Reference [20] further emphasizes that wellness healers are typically embedded within larger wellness organizations or holistic centers, relying on empathy and communication to foster tourist transformation. The following hypothesis is proposed:

H1. 

Social job characteristics are positively related to wellness healers’ well-being in the wellness tourism industry.

2.4. Wellness Healers’ Mental Health

The positive influence of social job characteristics on mental health is well-documented in conventional occupational settings [30]. However, how this relationship functions within the interpersonally intensive, emotionally demanding context of wellness tourism has not yet been adequately examined, revealing a critical research gap. Existing helping-profession research primarily focuses on clinical practitioners or therapists, whose organizational contexts and client boundaries differ considerably from the commercial, experience-oriented nature of wellness tourism [31]. Wellness healers face a distinctive set of challenges, including sustained empathetic engagement, emotional resonance with client narratives, performative authenticity, and the management of transference dynamics [4]. These compound stressors pose unique threats to healers’ psychological well-being. In the absence of empirical evidence specific to this industry, organizations lack the insights needed to develop targeted mental health supports. This gap not only jeopardizes practitioner welfare but may also compromise the quality and safety of tourist experiences due to wellness healer burnout, ultimately impeding the sustainable development of the wellness tourism industry [32]. Therefore, examining the influence of social job characteristics on mental health in wellness tourism constitutes both a theoretical necessity and a practical imperative for ensuring ethical service delivery and human sustainability in this growing field. The following hypothesis is proposed:

H2. 

Social job characteristics are positively related to wellness healers’ mental health in the wellness tourism industry.

Delivering transformative and therapeutic experiences in the wellness tourism industry demands a workforce capable of sustained empathetic engagement and authentic presence [33]. In this context, healers’ well-being becomes a direct foundation for service excellence, transcending mere quality-of-life concerns [34]. Given the deeply personal nature of healing work, where emotional missteps can compromise client outcomes and therapeutic trust [35], it is clear that psychological stability and mindful attunement are essential. Mental health serves as the foundational psychological substrate for practitioner well-being [36]. When compromised by industry-specific stressors such as empathy fatigue and emotional labor, it depletes the cognitive and emotional resources vital for intuitive listening, clinical judgment, and authentic client interactions [37]. This erosion of psychological capacity poses a tangible risk to therapeutic integrity and service quality. In wellness tourism, healer performance is directly linked to both client transformation and business sustainability [35]. This makes proactively fostering mental health a strategic imperative for the industry, not merely a secondary support function. It represents the foundational investment for cultivating the practitioner well-being necessary for achieving core therapeutic objectives and ensuring the long-term viability of wellness tourism enterprises [38]. This leads to the following hypothesis:

H3. 

Wellness healers’ mental health is positively related to their well-being in the wellness tourism industry.

2.5. Wellness Healers’ Social Skills

Social job characteristics function as significant environmental contexts [39] by providing regular interaction opportunities for workers to cultivate communication, emotional regulation, and relationship-building skills. Such purposeful social engagement facilitates not only the consolidation of existing social skills but also their continued refinement in authentic work contexts [40]. In other words, social skills are not static personal attributes but can be developed and reinforced through contextual interactions [41]. Furthermore, the interactive environment inherent in social job characteristics grants workers greater social competence as well as readier access to constructive feedback and support from colleagues, supervisors, and external partners [40]. Such social resources are particularly valuable for wellness healers, who routinely engage in high-intensity emotional labor and are vulnerable to empathy fatigue and emotional drain [4]. Given that healing roles require constant empathic engagement while maintaining therapeutic boundaries, practitioners are susceptible to both emotional contagion and psychological strain [31]. Therefore, leveraging the interaction mechanisms embedded in social job characteristics to enhance healers’ social skills carries both theoretical significance and practical relevance for sustainable practice in the wellness tourism industry. Hence, we propose the following hypothesis:

H4. 

Social job characteristics are positively related to wellness healers’ social skills in the wellness tourism industry.

Social skills enable individuals to build and maintain therapeutic relationships more effectively, constituting a core pillar of practitioner well-being [42]. In wellness tourism, this relational capability is fundamental to service delivery, directly contributing to healers’ professional fulfillment and psychological resilience. Within wellness organizations, healers routinely collaborate across disciplines and specialties to develop integrated client care plans [4]. In such contexts, sophisticated social skills minimize miscommunication and foster mutual understanding among healing professionals, thereby enhancing their collective well-being [43]. Externally, practitioners balance therapeutic responsibilities with nuanced interactions involving clients, wellness tourists, and community stakeholders [4]. The capacity to establish emotional rapport and build trust enables healers to receive validating feedback that reinforces their professional efficacy [44]. In summary, within the wellness tourism industry, social competencies represent capabilities equally critical as technical therapeutic skills. Understanding the relationship between social skills and practitioner well-being transcends human resource management to emerge as a strategic imperative for sustainable service excellence in this growing field. The following hypothesis is proposed:

H5. 

Wellness healers’ social skills are positively related to their well-being in the wellness tourism industry.

The quality of therapeutic connections in healing work depends on a progressive shift from transactional communication to authentic emotional engagement [45]. Healers with strong social skills can rapidly establish therapeutic alliance and reduce the psychological burden of continuous tourist-facing interactions [46]. Furthermore, well-developed social competencies shape healers’ core psychological experiences by helping them maintain relational presence while preserving professional boundaries and autonomy in emotionally complex sessions [47]. When practitioners skillfully employ social-emotional capacities, they can transform therapeutic encounters from potential sources of burnout into resources for mutual growth, thereby reducing anxiety and enhancing psychological well-being [48]. Wellness healers typically operate in intimate settings while managing highly personalized tourist expectations and vulnerable self-disclosure [49]. This results in professional interactions that are simultaneously technically demanding and emotionally intensive [5]. In such relationally saturated environments, the mechanism through which social skills influence mental health may differ substantially from conventional workplaces. For instance, it remains empirically uncertain whether social skills consistently protect against empathy fatigue or may sometimes increase vulnerability through over-identification in wellness contexts [19]. This leads to the following hypothesis:

H6. 

Wellness healers’ social skills are positively related to their mental health in the wellness tourism industry.

Figure 1 illustrates the hypothesized research model.

3. Methodology

3.1. Research Approach and Design

This study employs a quantitative research design that integrates Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to examine the professional practice of wellness healers in the global wellness tourism industry. The research aims to empirically test the dual-pathway mechanism through which socially embedded job characteristics promote well-being via enhanced social skills and mental health.

Specifically, this study analyzed the data using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in Mplus 8.3 software, complemented by a fsQCA 3.0 software (www.fsqca.com, accessed on 20 June 2025) between 29 June and 2 July 2025. Mplus was selected for its ability to handle complex data structures and support advanced estimators (e.g., robust maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods), which effectively manage missing data and enhance estimation stability. While SEM is effective for testing the average net effects between variables, its reliance on linear and symmetric assumptions limits its ability to capture causal complexity. Specifically, SEM cannot fully account for phenomena such as equifinality (i.e., the presence of multiple distinct pathways to the same outcome) or causal asymmetry (i.e., the possibility that the conditions leading to high well-being differ from those preventing low well-being) [50]. FsQCA overcomes these constraints by analyzing how combinations of conditions jointly influence outcomes [51]. This research integrates SEM and fsQCA to provide a more comprehensive understanding: SEM reveals the average effects of key predictors, while fsQCA identifies specific configurations of these predictors that are sufficient for high well-being. This quantitative research design offers both generalizable correlations and context-sensitive, actionable insights for managers [52].

The research team, drawing on interdisciplinary expertise in tourism studies and wellness practices, acknowledges certain inherent methodological considerations. While the global nature of wellness tourism presents diverse practice environments, this study focused specifically on establishing robust measurement of core practitioner-centric constructs critical to human sustainability in this industry. The study strategically prioritized in-depth operationalization and validation of key constructs including social job characteristics, social skill adaptations, and multidimensional well-being indicators. Through rigorous psychometric validation, we secured methodologically sound insights into the central phenomena of interest. This focused construct development ensures theoretical coherence while pragmatically addressing the challenges of cross-cultural research in wellness contexts, thereby achieving the primary research objective of establishing foundational frameworks for sustainable practitioner development in wellness tourism.

3.2. Measurement Instrument

The survey instrument comprised 28 items across five thematic sections, preceded by a screening question verifying all respondents’ work experience within wellness tourism organizations (

Table A1. Measurement items.

Construct		Items	Sources
Social job characteristics	Social support	1. I have the chance to know other wellness healers in my job.	[23,53]
		2. My supervisor cares about the well-being of the wellness healers.
		3. My colleagues show a personal interest in me and my work.
		4. The people I work with are friendly.
	Interdependence	1. The success of the wellness tourism organization relies on my ability to perform accurate work.
		2. The profitability of the wellness tourism organizations is directly influenced by the efficiency of my work.
		3. The wellness tourism organizations’ earnings are significantly affected by my contributions as a wellness healer.
	Interaction outside the organization	1. The job requires significant time engaging with individuals outside my wellness tourism organization.
		2. The job involves interaction with people who are not part of my wellness tourism organization.
		3. In my job, I frequently communicate with individuals from other tourism organizations.
		4. The job involves extensive interaction with external stakeholders outside my wellness tourism organization.
	Feedback from others	1. I receive substantial feedback from my manager and coworkers regarding my job performance in wellness tourism engineering.
		2. My managers and coworkers provided meaningful insights into the effectiveness of my job performance in wellness tourism engineering.
		3. I regularly receive performance feedback from my managers or coworkers in the wellness tourism organization.
Mental health		1. I felt very nervous during the last month.	[54]
		2. I felt so low that nothing could lift my spirits during the last month.
		3. I felt sadness during the last month.
		4. I felt happy during the last month.
		5. I felt calm and peace during the last month.
Social skills		1. I am highly skilled at maintaining a calm appearance.	[55]
		2. I usually take the initiative to introduce myself to new people.
		3. I have been told that I have expressive eyes.
		4. I find it easy to play different roles depending on the situation.
		5. People frequently describe me as a sensitive and understanding person.
Well-being in the wellness tourism industry		1. I am optimistic about my future.	[56,57]
		2. I am satisfied with the responsibilities of my current role.
		3. I consistently find ways to make my work enriching.
		4. I feel fairly satisfied with my current job.

). The first four sections included items scored on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) and were intended to measure the four social job characteristics, mental health, social skills, and well-being. The four dimensions of the social job characteristics scale are derived from Morgeson & Humphrey’s [23] Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ), and have been adapted by combination with the research of [53]. The mental health assessment instrument was adapted from [54], and items 1–3 were reverse-scored. Social skills scale was from [55], and well-being scale was drawn from [56,57]. The fifth section collected the demographic characteristics of the participants within the wellness tourism organization, including gender, age, educational level, and annual income.

3.3. Data Collection and Sampling

Purposive sampling was employed to recruit wellness healers representing core roles within the wellness tourism industry. The sampling criteria targeted individuals who (1) were aged 18 or above, (2) had accrued at least one year of practical experience within a wellness service organization (e.g., resort, spa, or retreat center) and (3) were actively providing tourist-facing services. Data were collected between 2 March and 28 June 2025. Wellness healers were recruited through professional associations of wellness tourism and collaborating wellness resorts across major tourism destinations in China, including Guangdong, Hainan, and Yunnan provinces. Through close collaboration with organizational leads to facilitate survey distribution and validation, 312 valid responses were obtained, representing an 89.1% response rate. Invalid submissions were excluded based on two criteria: (1) completion time under two minutes, or (2) failure to pass an embedded attention-check item (e.g., “Select ‘strongly disagree’ if you are reading this statement”). The 28-item measurement model indicated a required sample size between 140 and 280 participants, consistent with Hair et al.’s [58] recommendation of a 5:1 to 10:1 ratio of observations to variables.

Table A2. Participant demographics (N = 312).

Demographic	Item	Frequency	Percent (%)
Gender	Male	97	31.1
	Female	215	68.9
Age	18–29	98	31.4
	30–39	168	53.9
	40–49	39	12.5
	50–59	5	1.6
	≥60	2	0.6
Education	Professional certificate	126	40.4
	Advanced Diploma	164	52.6
	Bachelor’s degree	20	6.4
	Master’s degree or above	2	0.6
Annual income (RMB)	≤50,000	5	1.6
	50,001–65,000	180	57.7
	65,001–85,000	90	28.8
	85,001–105,000	28	9.0
	≥105,000	9	2.9

provides full demographic details of the respondent cohort. Based on the survey data, the sample comprised 312 wellness healers. The majority of participants were female (68.9%), with an average age concentrated in the early-to-mid career stage, as 53.9% were aged 30–39. In terms of educational attainment, the profile reflected the vocation’s emphasis on professional credentials over formal academic degrees: over 90% held a professional certificate or an advanced diploma, while only 7.0% had obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher. Regarding annual income, most participants (86.5%) reported earnings between RMB 50,001 and RMB 85,000, indicating a moderately compensated occupational group within the wellness tourism industry.

3.4. Data Analysis Procedure

The initial phase of data analysis involved organizing and cleaning the collected survey data. This was followed by descriptive analyses conducted in SPSS 29.0 to profile the sample. Frequencies and percentages for key demographic variables, such as gender, age, educational level, and annual income, were calculated to delineate the composition of the respondent pool.

The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to validate the measurement model by examining the structural validity, internal consistency, and discriminant validity of the constructs [59]. The analysis was performed using the Maximum Likelihood Estimation with Robust standard errors (MLR) to account for potential deviations from normality. Model fit was evaluated against a comprehensive set of established goodness-of-fit indices and their corresponding thresholds: χ²/df (<3.0), Comparative Fit Index (CFI > 0.90), Tucker–Lewis Index (TLI > 0.90), Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA < 0.08), and Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR < 0.08). All indices met or exceeded these criteria, confirming that the hypothesized factor structure fits the observed data adequately.

Table 1. Goodness-of-Fit Index.

Fit Index	χ2/df	SRMR	RMSEA	CFI	TLI
Measuring standard	<3	<0.05	<0.05	>0.9	>0.9

presents the goodness-of-fit indices for the confirmatory factor analysis measurement model, demonstrating satisfactory model fit according to established thresholds. The potential for common method bias was assessed using Harman’s single-factor test, with a variance explanation threshold set below 50% [60]. Additionally, multicollinearity was examined through Variance Inflation Factors (VIF), applying a cutoff value of 5.0 [61].

Furthermore, the reliability of the measurement scale was assessed by calculating Cronbach’s alpha (α), a widely used internal consistency measure introduced by Cronbach [62]. In accordance with commonly accepted psychometric thresholds, a Cronbach’s α value of 0.7 or above is generally considered acceptable, while a value above 0.8 indicates good reliability [63,64]. In addition, the convergent validity assessment was based on three established criteria. First, all indicator factor loadings should be statistically significant and ideally exceed 0.70 [65,66]. Second, the average variance extracted (AVE) for each construct, which measures the amount of variance captured by the construct relative to measurement error, should be greater than 0.50. Finally, composite reliability (CR), which assesses the internal consistency of the indicators for a construct, should exceed 0.70 [67].

In this study, the discriminant validity assessment employed two established criteria. First, the Fornell-Larcker criterion was applied, which requires that the square root of the average variance extracted (AVE) for each construct should be greater than its highest correlation with any other construct in the model [68]. This indicates that a construct shares more variance with its own indicators than with other constructs. Second, the heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) ratio of correlations was calculated. The HTMT is considered a more sensitive and powerful criterion for detecting a lack of discriminant validity [69]. A value below the conservative threshold of 0.85 provides evidence that the two constructs are empirically distinct.

To test the hypothesized relationships and mediation effects, we employed a bootstrapping procedure with 5000 resamples and 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals within the structural equation modeling (SEM) framework. Additionally, the model’s explanatory power was gauged by inspecting the R² values for the latent endogenous variables [61]. Finally, the fsQCA procedure involved calibrating fuzzy sets through the direct method with percentile anchors (5th, 50th, 95th) and evaluating solution configurations against a consistency threshold of 0.90 [70].

4. Findings and Discussion

4.1. Measurement Model Assessment

As shown in

Table 2. Mean, Standard deviation (S.D.), and factor loadings.

Construct/Items		Mean	S.D.	Factor Loadings
Social job characteristics (SJC)	Social support (SOC)
	SOC 1	4.679	1.85	0.827
	SOC 2	4.548	1.83	0.800
	SOC 3	4.564	1.828	0.833
	SOC 4	4.631	1.766	0.833
	Interdependence (INT)
	IN 1	4.657	1.78	0.808
	IN 2	4.734	1.755	0.807
	IN 3	4.715	1.759	0.833
	Interaction outside the organization (IOO)
	IOO 1	4.619	1.7	0.824
	IOO 2	4.628	1.777	0.826
	IOO 3	4.561	1.83	0.834
	IOO 4	4.647	1.753	0.785
	Feedback from others (FFO)
	FFO 1	4.516	1.796	0.828
	FFO 2	4.471	1.822	0.840
	FFO 3	4.545	1.816	0.816
Mental health (MH)
MH 1		4.362	1.695	0.769
MH 2		4.394	1.716	0.840
MH 3		4.324	1.742	0.807
MH 4		4.558	1.636	0.784
MH 5		4.535	1.734	0.771
Social skills (SS)
SS 1		4.298	1.707	0.782
SS 2		4.269	1.564	0.778
SS 3		4.288	1.723	0.802
SS 4		4.208	1.688	0.753
SS 5		4.279	1.703	0.798
Well-being in the wellness tourism industry (WB)
WB 1		4.196	1.78	0.785
WB 2		4.308	1.816	0.821
WB 3		4.333	1.844	0.811
WB 4		4.327	1.807	0.833

, all factor loadings exceeded 0.7. The average variance extracted (AVE) values ranged from 0.613 to 0.686, consistently surpassing the 0.50 threshold [58]; both Cronbach’s α and composite reliability (CR) fell between 0.857 and 0.895, exceeding the recommended threshold of 0.7 for internal consistency and convergent validity (

Table 3. Reliability and validity test results.

Construct	Cronbach’s Alpha	CR	AVE	Fornell–Larcker Criterion/HTMT
				SOC	INT	IOO	FFO	MH	SS	WB
SOC	0.893	0.894	0.678	0.823	0.564	0.595	0.628	0.344	0.287	0.317
INT	0.857	0.857	0.666	0.565	0.816	0.500	0.627	0.291	0.236	0.255
IOO	0.889	0.890	0.668	0.594	0.500	0.817	0.644	0.327	0.243	0.345
FFO	0.868	0.867	0.686	0.629	0.628	0.647	0.828	0.364	0.276	0.345
MH	0.895	0.895	0.631	0.334	0.288	0.322	0.364	0.794	0.294	0.375
SS	0.887	0.888	0.613	0.288	0.237	0.242	0.279	0.293	0.783	0.345
WB	0.886	0.886	0.660	0.321	0.259	0.350	0.349	0.371	0.349	0.812

Notes: (1) Fornell and Larcker: the diagonal elements (in bold) represent the square root of the AVE, while the off-diagonal elements below the diagonal are the inter-construct correlations. (2) Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio (HTMT) values are displayed above the diagonal.

). Inter-construct correlations were lower than the square root of the corresponding AVE values [61], and all heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) ratios remained below 0.90 [69], thereby discriminant validity was supported. Harman’s single-factor test indicated no significant common method bias (variance = 32.251%), well below Fuller et al.’s [60] 50% benchmark. All Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) remained below 5, indicating no multicollinearity.

4.2. Structural Model Assessment and Hypothesis Testing

Model fit indices met standards: SRMR = 0.036 (<0.08), CFI = 0.989, TLI = 0.988 (>0.9), RMSEA = 0.023 (<0.06), χ²/df = 1.16 (<3) [59]. Figure 2 shows R² values of mental health (0.206), social skills (0.115), and well-being (0.254), classified per [71] as moderate-to-strong.

Figure 2 presents the direct path estimates. Wellness healers’ well-being was positively influenced by social job characteristics in the wellness tourism industry (β = 0.264, p < 0.001), mental health (β = 0.199, p < 0.01), and social skills (β = 0.201, p < 0.01), supporting H1, H3, and H5. Furthermore, social job characteristics demonstrated a positive effect on both mental health (β = 0.369, p < 0.001) and social skills (β = 0.339, p < 0.001), supporting H2 and H4. Finally, social skills were found to positively impact mental health (β = 0.169, p < 0.01), confirming H6.

Mediation hypotheses were tested using 5000 bootstrapped samples with 95% bias-corrected Confidence Intervals (CI) following complex path modeling guidelines [72]. All mediating paths demonstrated statistical significance as their confidence intervals excluded zero [73].

Table 4. Mediation analysis results.

Effect Types	β (p-Value)	95% CI	Results
SJC → MH →WB (Indirect effect 1)	0.087 (0.010 **)	[0.033, 0.169]	Partial mediation
SJC → SS →WB (Indirect effect 2)	0.081 (0.008 **)	[0.033, 0.157]	Partial mediation
SJC → SS → MH → WB (Indirect effect 3)	0.014 (0.078 ns)	[0.003, 0.038]	Not supported
Total indirect effect	0.182 (0.000 ***)	[0.106, 0.297]
Direct effect	0.313 (0.001 **)	[0.130, 0.492]
Total effect	0.495 (0.000 ***)	[0.351, 0.671]

Notes: (1) Bootstrap sample size: 5000; ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, ns = non-significant. CI = confidence interval. (2) SJC = Social job characteristic, MH = Mental health, WB = Well-being in the wellness tourism industry, SS = Social skills.

details the serial pathway results, revealing a robust total effect of social job characteristics on wellness healer well-being in the wellness tourism industry (β = 0.495, 95% CI [0.351, 0.671], p < 0.001). Analysis identified significant indirect effects through the proposed mediators. Specifically, the path via mental health (β = 0.087, 95% CI [0.033, 0.169], p < 0.01) provided support. Similarly, a significant indirect effect emerged through social skills (β = 0.081, 95% CI [0.033, 0.157], p < 0.01). The sequential pathway via both social skills and then mental health was marginally significant (β = 0.014, 95% CI [0.003, 0.038], p = 0.078), thus lending no support. The collective indirect effect across all mediators was statistically significant (β = 0.182, 95% CI [0.106, 0.297], p < 0.001), accounting for 36.77% (0.182/0.495) of the total effect. After accounting for mediation, the direct effect of social job characteristics on wellness healer well-being remained significant (β = 0.313, 95% CI [0.130, 0.492], p < 0.01).

4.3. Discussion of SEM Results

The consistently positive effects of social job characteristics highlight their centrality as psychological resources within emotionally demanding, interpersonally intensive healing contexts. The significant paths to mental health and well-being support the SOR framework, indicating that social job characteristics function as critical stimuli that shape internal psychological states and, consequently, well-being outcomes. These findings align with prior tourism and organizational research suggesting that social job characteristics act as protective resources in high-stress environments [24,25]. Similarly to existing studies on hospitality employees [7] and healthcare providers in high-burnout settings [74], social support and interdependence demonstrate heightened importance in roles characterized by sustained emotional labor and relational complexity. However, the study diverges from research suggesting limited effects of social job characteristics in conventional occupations [26], indicating that the relational and vulnerable nature of healing work amplifies the influence of social stimuli.

Moreover, this research extends wellness tourism scholarship, which has predominantly focused on tourist transformation and experience design [20,35], by redirecting scholarly attention toward the psychological mechanisms and well-being of the practitioners who deliver these transformative services. The mediation results further indicate that social skills can be cultivated through social job characteristic. The significant mediating role of mental health supports its function as a foundational psychological substrate for broader well-being outcomes. Although the sequential mediation pathway was not supported, social skills and mental health each operate as meaningful and largely independent mediators.

4.4. Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

4.4.1. Data Calibration

Prior to conducting the fsQCA, data calibration is necessary [70]. This calibration process transforms raw data into fuzzy-set membership scores ranging from 0.0 to 1.0, where 0 indicates full non-membership, 1 indicates full membership, and 0.5 represents the crossover point of maximum ambiguity in set membership [75]. The calibration was performed using fsQCA 3.0 software, following established methodological practices [52,76]. The quartile approach was adopted to define the thresholds, using the 75th percentile, mean, and 25th percentile as anchors for full membership, the crossover point, and full non-membership, respectively.

4.4.2. Necessary Analysis and Truth Table Construction

Following the calibration of data into fuzzy sets, a necessity analysis was subsequently conducted. The dependent variable, WB, from the structural equation model was treated as the outcome condition to evaluate whether any of the six antecedent conditions (SOC, INT, IOO, FFO, MH, and SS) could be considered necessary for WB. Both the presence and absence of each condition were examined. The extent to which cases conform to this relationship is quantified as “consistency,” which ranges from 0 to 1 [77]. A condition is deemed “necessary” when its consistency score exceeds 0.9 [70]. As presented in

Table 5. Analysis of necessary conditions for predicting WB.

Conditions	High WB		Low WB
	Consistency	Coverage	Consistency	Coverage
SOC	0.641	0.622	0.464	0.462
~SOC	0.445	0.447	0.620	0.639
INT	0.638	0.615	0.477	0.472
~INT	0.452	0.457	0.611	0.634
IOO	0.666	0.636	0.460	0.451
~IOO	0.425	0.435	0.628	0.659
FFO	0.643	0.626	0.459	0.459
~FFO	0.445	0.445	0.626	0.643
MH	0.665	0.637	0.453	0.445
~MH	0.421	0.428	0.631	0.659
SS	0.635	0.621	0.456	0.457
~SS	0.444	0.443	0.621	0.636

, the consistency values for the six antecedent conditions of consumers’ WB vary between 0.421 and 0.666, all falling below the threshold of 0.90. This indicates that none of the conditions are necessary for WB. Consequently, these antecedent conditions can be incorporated into further analyses to explore how their configurations jointly influence WB.

Following Ragin’s [70] framework, a truth table was constructed listing all possible combinations of the antecedent conditions. Configurations that did not meet a frequency threshold of 3 or a consistency benchmark of 0.75 were excluded from the analysis. Among the three solution types generated by fsQCA, the intermediate solution was selected for interpretation due to its optimal balance between explanatory completeness and analytical clarity.

Table 6. Main configurations for high WB.

Configuration	Solutions
	S1	S2	S3
Social support	⬤	⬤
Interdependence	●		⬤
Interaction outside the organization	⬤	⬤	⬤
Feedback from others		●	●
Mental health	⬤	⬤	⬤
Social skills	⬤	⬤	⬤
Raw coverage	0.313	0.313	0.308
Unique coverage	0.025	0.025	0.019
Consistency	0.856	0.853	0.837
Solution coverage	0.358
Solution consistency	0.847

Note: ● indicates the presence of a condition; large circles represent core conditions, while small circles represent peripheral conditions; blank spaces indicate the presence or absence of a condition.

shows that three configurations lead to high well-being. The overall solution coverage is 0.358, and the overall solution consistency is 0.847, indicating that these three configurations collectively have strong explanatory power and consistency. The first configuration (S1) demonstrates high consistency (0.856) and covers a large number of cases (coverage = 0.313), making it the best solution for high well-being. This suggests that well-being can be enhanced through social support, interdependence, interaction outside the organization, mental health, and social skills, even without feedback from others. The second configuration (S2) also shows high consistency (0.853) and covers a substantial number of cases (coverage = 0.313). This indicates that social support, interaction outside the organization, mental health, and social skills can improve healer well-being, regardless of interdependence. The third configuration (S3) demonstrates high consistency (0.837) and significant coverage (0.308), revealing that interdependence, interaction outside the organization, mental health, and social skills can positively affect wellness healer well-being, even in the absence of social support.

4.4.3. Discussion of fsQCA Results

Based on the analysis of causal complexity revealed by the fsQCA, it is reasonable to conclude that multiple configurations explain the relationships between social job characteristics, mental health, social skills, and professional well-being among wellness healers. These findings demonstrate that different combinations of conditions can effectively support practitioner well-being, accommodating diverse needs and organizational contexts. Notably, supportive workplace interactions, together with mental health and social skills, consistently emerge as essential components across all high well-being configurations.

The fsQCA results provide an important extension to the symmetric findings from the SEM analysis. While SEM confirmed the average positive effects of social job characteristics, mental health, and social skills on well-being (H1–H6), fsQCA reveals the underlying causal complexity of these relationships. It demonstrates equifinality by showing that three distinct configurations of conditions (S1, S2, S3) can lead to high well-being. This indicates that no single condition is universally necessary, a finding that lies beyond the detection capacity of conventional SEM.

The configurational nature of the fsQCA solutions also offers context-sensitive managerial implications. For example, Solution 3 (S3) suggests that high well-being can still be achieved even when social support is relatively limited, provided that interdependence, external interaction, mental health, and social skills are present. This nuanced insight helps destination managers develop tailored interventions based on organizational strengths and constraints, providing more specific guidance than the generalized recommendations typically derived from SEM results.

5. Conclusions and Implications

5.1. Conclusions

This study provides compelling evidence addressing its central research question regarding how social job characteristics influence wellness healers’ well-being in tourism workplaces, and the roles mental health and social skills play in transmitting these effects. The findings demonstrate that social job characteristics serve as fundamental organizational resources that significantly enhance wellness healers’ professional well-being through two primary pathways: indirectly through mental health, and social skills.

The analysis reveals that social job characteristics (i.e., social support, interdependence, interaction outside the organization, and feedback from others) collectively form an organizational environment that substantially contributes to healers’ well-being. More importantly, our results identify the psychological mechanisms through which these benefits are transmitted: social job characteristics significantly improve healers’ mental health, while simultaneously fostering the development of crucial social skills that enable more effective navigation of therapeutic relationships. Furthermore, the study establishes that social skills function as both an outcome of social job characteristics and a catalyst for well-being enhancement. Healers who developed stronger social skills through workplace interactions demonstrated significantly better mental health outcomes and overall professional fulfillment. The fsQCA results further illuminate that multiple configurations of conditions can lead to high well-being, with social skills and mental health consistently appearing as core elements across successful pathways, highlighting their fundamental importance in this professional context.

Additionally, the integration of SEM and fsQCA methodologies provides a comprehensive understanding of these relationships. While SEM identified the average net effects of social job characteristics on well-being outcomes, fsQCA revealed the complex interdependencies and alternative pathways through which healers achieve well-being, offering a more nuanced perspective that accounts for the diverse realities of wellness tourism workplaces. In conclusion, this research demonstrates that wellness healers’ well-being is not merely an individual concern but an organizational imperative that can be systematically fostered through thoughtfully designed social job characteristics. By investing in supportive work environments that simultaneously promote psychological health and develop social competencies, wellness tourism organizations can create sustainable conditions for both practitioner well-being and service excellence, ultimately contributing to the long-term viability of this growing industry.

5.2. Theoretical Implications

This study offers several theoretical contributions to the literature on tourism work, wellness tourism, and service work design. First, the findings deepen the application of the SOR framework within the context of high-contact, emotionally demanding service industry. While SOR theory has frequently been applied to consumer psychology [20,35], this study extends its utility to the workforce within wellness tourism by demonstrating how social job characteristics function as salient stimuli that shape healers’ internal psychological states, such as mental health and social competencies, and ultimately influence their well-being. By empirically validating these pathways, the research advances SOR theory’s relevance to occupational well-being in relational and emotionally intensive service environments.

Second, the study enriches the job design literature by highlighting the heightened salience of social job characteristics in emotionally intensive, relationally complex service contexts. Prior research has shown mixed findings regarding the influence of social job characteristics on well-being in conventional workplaces. The present results clarify this inconsistency by showing that in environments characterized by sustained empathy, ethical responsibility, and interdisciplinary collaboration, social job characteristics become pivotal psychological resources. This extends classic work design theories and positions social job characteristics [41] as central rather than peripheral determinants of well-being in transformative tourism industry.

Finally, this study provides a more nuanced understanding of the role of social skills in high-contact, emotionally demanding therapeutic services. While existing research often treats social skills as stable individual traits [37], the current findings demonstrate their dual function as both a moderator and a mediator. This conceptualization expands the theoretical understanding of social skills and highlights their dynamic role within the unique relational ecology of wellness tourism.

5.3. Practical Implications

This study also provides several actionable insights for organizations, policymakers, and practitioners operating within the wellness tourism industry. First, the robust positive effects of social job characteristics underscore the need for organizations to prioritize relational elements in work design, especially in environments where emotional labor, professional isolation, and interdisciplinary collaboration are prevalent. Strengthening mechanisms such as peer support networks, regular inter-professional consultation, and structured reflective supervision can help healers better navigate the psychological demands of their roles.

Second, the identification of practitioners with underdeveloped social skills as a vulnerable group carries important implications for targeted professional development. Given that these individuals do not experience proportional mental health benefits even within supportive social environments, organizations should implement specialized training programs to cultivate core relational competencies. Such initiatives may include workshops on therapeutic communication, boundaries management, empathy regulation, and facilitated peer dialogue groups. Tailored interventions can help mitigate interactional stress and foster more equitable well-being across diverse practitioner profiles.

Third, the demonstrated mediating role of social skills suggests that organizations should treat these competencies not only as hiring criteria but also as strategic developmental assets. Investing in continuous social-emotional skill enhancement supports practitioners’ adaptive capacity and service quality, which is critical as the industry emphasizes personalized and transformative experiences. This is particularly vital for maintaining therapeutic efficacy and professional sustainability in environments where emotional attunement, collaborative care, and clear communication are indispensable. Furthermore, the significant mediating function of mental health reinforces the need to view psychological well-being as a core component of professional competency. Initiatives such as access to confidential counseling and regular well-being check-ins transcend basic welfare to become essential safeguards for preserving the quality of care and practitioner longevity.

Finally, organizations can adapt different combinations of job design features to align with their specific structures, resources, and service models. However, consistently foundational across all high-well-being configurations are supportive professional networks, mental health, and social skills. Managers should consider these elements non-negotiable pillars for building sustainable and ethically responsible practice environments within the wellness tourism industry.

5.4. Limitations and Future Research Directions

This study acknowledges several limitations that inform the interpretation of its findings. First, the data were collected from wellness healers within specific tourism organizational and cultural service environments, which may affect the generalizability of the results to other wellness settings, such as solo practices or retreat centers in distinct cultural contexts. The inherent emphasis on client confidentiality and commercial sensitivity within parts of the wellness industry also constrained the granular examination of certain operational and interpersonal dynamics. Furthermore, mental health was assessed via self-report measures, which may be subject to social desirability bias despite the implementation of screening controls. Future research would benefit from longitudinal or experience-sampling designs, the integration of physiological stress indicators, and multi-source assessment methods to strengthen the validity and dynamic understanding of well-being among wellness healers in the tourism industry. Lastly, while this study confirms the mediating role of social skills within wellness tourism settings, their broader conceptual implications, such as their applicability to solo practitioners or cross-cultural healing environments, warrant further investigation. Future research could examine how social skills interact with cultural factors or technological interventions (e.g., digital wellness platforms), which would extend the generalizability of our findings.