The fear of being infected and fired: Examining the dual job stressors of hospitality employees during COVID-19

Chun-Chu Chen; Suiwen Sharon Zou; Ming-Hsiang Chen

doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.103131

The fear of being infected and fired: Examining the dual job stressors of hospitality employees during COVID-19

Int J Hosp Manag. 2022 Apr:102:103131. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.103131. Epub 2021 Dec 23.

Authors

Chun-Chu Chen¹, Suiwen Sharon Zou², Ming-Hsiang Chen^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Hospitality Business Management, Carson College of Business, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA 98686, USA.
² Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Huff Hall, IL 61820, USA.
³ Tourism and Social Administration College, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing 211171, China.
⁴ School of Hospitality Business Management, Carson College of Business, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4742, USA.

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic has posed grave threats to the financial and physical health of hospitality employees, this research unveils details of the dilemma experienced by hospitality employees during the pandemic, namely, their fear of becoming infected and fired. The research data were derived from a sample of 622 hospitality employees in the U.S. and analyzed using PLS-SEM as a new model of COVID-19 stressors are proposed and tested. The findings show that hospitality employees perceive the pandemic as a traumatic event that elevates their perceived job insecurity and infectious risk. It was also found that both job insecurity and infectious risk lead to increased job stress and turnover intentions, while job insecurity alone is a stronger predictor of turnover intentions. This study is among the first to examine the antecedents and consequences of the dual stressors encountered by public-facing occupations, including hospitality, during the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; Infectious risk; Job insecurity; Job stress; Turnover intention.