Predicting hospitality employees' safety performance behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic

Seontaik Kim; Peter Beomcheol Kim; Gyumin Lee

doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102797

Predicting hospitality employees' safety performance behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic

Int J Hosp Manag. 2021 Feb:93:102797. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102797. Epub 2020 Dec 1.

Authors

Seontaik Kim¹, Peter Beomcheol Kim^{2

3}, Gyumin Lee³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Business Administration, Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, 21251, USA.
² School of Hospitality and Tourism, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Auckland, New Zealand.
³ School of Hospitality Management, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

This study develops and tests a research model to explain and predict how and when organizational safety climate influences hospitality employees' safety performance behaviors by proposing two boundary conditions: communication transparency and safety-related stigma based on expectancy-valence theory. Specifically, we examined if communication transparency intensifies the impact of perceived safety climate on employees' safety motivation that drives safety performance behaviors through prevention work focus and if safety-related stigma attenuates the links between safety motivation and safety performance behaviors. Based on two national samples of 214 South Korean and 240 U.S. foodservice employees, this research found that safety climate was positively associated with safety motivation, prompting safety behaviors with the key mediating mechanism of prevention focus work. However, there were different patterns observed for the moderating roles of communication transparency and stigma for the foodservice employees between South Korea and the United States. Implications of the findings are discussed for hospitality researchers and practitioners.

Keywords: Communication transparency; Prevention work focus; Safety climate; Safety motivation; Safety performance behavior; Safety-related stigma.