COVID-19: The effects of job insecurity on the job engagement and turnover intent of deluxe hotel employees and the moderating role of generational characteristics

Hyo Sun Jung; Yoon Sik Jung; Hye Hyun Yoon

doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102703

COVID-19: The effects of job insecurity on the job engagement and turnover intent of deluxe hotel employees and the moderating role of generational characteristics

Int J Hosp Manag. 2021 Jan:92:102703. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102703. Epub 2020 Oct 7.

Authors

Hyo Sun Jung¹, Yoon Sik Jung², Hye Hyun Yoon³

Affiliations

¹ Center for Converging Humanities, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Culinary Science and Foodservice Management, Graduate School of Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, Republic of Korea.
³ College of Hotel & Tourism Management, Kyung Hee University, 26, Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented crisis in all industries around the world. This study sought to verify that job insecurity, as perceived by deluxe hotel employees, significantly affects their job engagement and turnover intent and to determine the moderating effect of generational characteristics. The finding showed that perceptions of job insecurity had negative effects on the engagement of deluxe hotel employees. Also, employees' job engagement can decrease turnover intent. The engagement of employees fully mediated the relationship between perceptions of job insecurity and turnover intent, and job insecurity caused by COVID-19 had a greater influence on Generation Y than Generation X in reducing job engagement, indicating that the negative impact of job insecurity is higher in Generation Y.

Keywords: COVID-19; Deluxe hotel employee; Generational characteristics; Job engagement; Job insecurity; Turnover intent.