Depletion of psychological, financial, and social resources in the hospitality sector during the pandemic

Post COVID-19 workplace ostracism and counterproductive behaviors: Moral leadership

BACKGROUND

The wide proliferation of Covid-19 has impacted billions of people all over the world. This catastrophic pandemic outbreak and ostracism at work have posed challenges for all healthcare professionals, especially for nurses, and have led to a significant increase in the workload, several physical and mental problems, and a change in behavior that is more negative and counterproductive. Therefore, leadership behaviors that are moral in nature serve as a trigger and lessen the adverse workplace effects on nurses' conduct.

AIM

this research is directed to explore the impact of post-COVID-19 workplace ostracism on nurses' counterproductive behavior and examine the role of moral leadership as a mediating factor in post-COVID-19 workplace ostracism and nurses' counterproductive behavior.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

Ethical review and approval Was received from Ethical Committee at the Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt.

METHODS

A cross-sectional and correlation study was implemented in all units of medical, surgical, critical and intensive care units by using three tools; moral leadership questionnaire, Workplace Ostracism Instrument (WOS), and Counterproductive Work Behaviors Questionnaire (CWBs). A convenient sample of 340 from 699 bedside nurses was granted.

RESULTS

This study revealed that nurses' perceived moderate mean percent (55.49 ± 3.46) of overall workplace ostracism and counterproductive behavior (74.69 ± 6.15). However, they perceived a low mean percentage of moral leadership. There was a significant positive correlation between workplace ostracism and counterproductive behavior. Otherwise, a significant negative correlation was found between moral leadership, workplace ostracism and counterproductive behavior. Also, this study proved the mediating effect of moral leadership in decreasing workplace ostracism by 79.3% and counterproductive behavior by 36.7%.

CONCLUSION

Hospital administrators need to be aware of the significance of moral leadership and apply integrity in the clinical setting to reduce the drawback of isolation on nurses' conduct and increase value for the organization as a whole and nurses in particular.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, working, and life situation of employees in the Swedish hospitality industry

Introduction

Previous studies reported that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively affected the mental health of employees in the hospitality industry internationally, however, its effect in Sweden has not been studied. Unlike several other countries, Sweden never enforced a lockdown. Restaurants, bars, and hotels could remain open and host a limited number of guests but had to abide by certain restrictions.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was distributed among hospitality industry employees containing questions regarding the perceived effects of the pandemic on the respondents' working and life situations and their physical and psychological health. The sample consisted of 699 individuals, with a response rate of 47.9%.

Results

Although several respondents had been laid off or furloughed, the majority of the sample remained at the same employer. However, more than half of the respondents reported that their economic situation had deteriorated. Compared to before the pandemic, 38.1% experienced elevated levels of stress, 48.3% experienced elevated levels of worry, and 31.4% reported worsened mood. A deteriorating personal economy and difficulty in following COVID-19-related restrictions at work were associated with the worsening of these three mental health aspects. While the fear of becoming infected with COVID-19 was related to higher levels of stress, the fear of infecting others was related to higher levels of worry.

Conclusion

Although Sweden imposed less strict measures than most other countries, the personal economy and mental health of hospitality workers were negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

mHealth and eHealth Applications for a Medicalized Quarantine Hotel during the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND

In Taiwan, the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has risen significantly in May 2021. The second wave of the epidemic occurred in May 2022. mHealth (mobile health, social media communities) and eHealth (electronic health, Hospital Information System) can play an important role in this pandemic by minimizing the spread of the virus, leveraging health care providers' time, and alleviating the challenges of medical education.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to describe the process of using mHealth and eHealth to build a medicalized quarantine hotel (MQH) and understand the physical and mental impact of COVID-19 on patients admitted to the MQH.

METHODS

In this retrospective observational study, data from 357 patients who stayed at the MQH were collected and their psychological symptoms were assessed using an online Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS). Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, univariate analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression analysis were performed.

RESULTS

The patients' mean age was 35.5  ±   17.6 years, and 52.1% (n  =  186) of them were males. Altogether, 25.2% (n  =  90) of the patients had virtual visits. The average duration of the hotel stay was 6.8  ±   1.4 days, and five patients (0.01%) were transferred to the hospital. The three most common symptoms reported were cough (39%), followed by the sore throat (22.8%), and stuffy/runny nose (18.9%). Most patients achieved a total BSRS score of 0 to 5 points (3,569/91.0%), with trouble falling asleep (0.65  ±   0.65), feeling tense or high-strung (0.31  ±   0.66), and feeling down or depressed (0.27  ±   0.62) scoring highest. The BSRS score was the highest on the first day. The sex of the patients was significantly related to the BSRS score (p  <  0.001).

CONCLUSION

mHealth and eHealth can be used to further monitor an individual's physiological and psychological states. Early intervention measures are needed to improve health care quality.

Psychological Capital and Quality of life of Refugees in Uganda During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Serial Mediation Model

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has in the past two years caused and continues to cause enormous effects on lifestyle, mental health, and quality of life. With no known treatment and vaccination, behavioral control measures became central in controlling the pandemic. However, the intensity of the pandemic and the stringent control measures were immensely stressful. The control measures became an added psychological burden to people living in precarious situations such as refugees in low-income countries. Purpose: Given the benefits of psychological capital, the present study aimed at investigating the role of psychological capital in enhancing the quality of life among refugees in Uganda during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hypothesized that the effects of psychological capital on quality of life are serially mediated through coping strategies, adherence to COVID-19 control measures, and mental health. Methods: Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire in July and August 2020 after the first lockdown. Participants were 353 South Sudanese and Somali refugees living in Kampala city suburbs and Bidibidi refugee settlement. Findings: Psychological capital was positively associated with approach coping, mental health, and quality of life. However, psychological capital was negatively associated with adherence to COVID-19 control measures. Significant indirect effects of psychological capital on quality of life through approach coping, mental health, and adherence were found. However, serial mediation effects were only substantial via approach coping and mental health. Conclusion: Psychological capital is an important resource in coping with the challenges posed by COVID-19 and maintaining a good level of psychological functioning and quality of life. Preserving and boosting psychological capital is essential in responding to COVID-19 and other related disasters and crises, which are common in vulnerable populations such as refugee communities in low-income countries.

A Multigroup Analysis of Bidirectional Work-Family Enrichment on Family Satisfaction of Hospitality Employees during the Pandemic: Where Religiosity and Marital Status Matter

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives. As many industries face a complete stand-still, it also highlights the need to maintain family satisfaction (FS) during this challenging time, empirical research on achieving this remains scant. This study elucidates how marital status influences employees' religiosity, work-family enrichment (WFE) and FS. Data from 295 employees was examined using the analyzed using the partial least squares method structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) multigroup analysis. Results suggest that religiosity has a positive significant relationship on the bidirectionality of WFE. The multigroup analysis indicates a significant difference in how single and married employees interpret work-family experience. We extend family-work interfaces by incorporating both the construct of marital status and religiosity. It advances the body of knowledge in understanding work-family interfaces, especially in times of the pandemic.

Behavioural conflict on employee wellbeing: role of negative affect state and workplace fun

Purpose

The study attempts to understand the relationship between behavioural conflict and employee well-being and examines the intervening role of the negative affect state. Besides this, the study also analyses the moderating role of workplace fun.

Design/methodology/approach

Following affective events theory, the authors developed the conceptual model and postulated the study hypotheses. A questionnaire-based survey was used to collect data from frontline employees of selected hotels in India. Further, the authors tested the hypotheses following the process approach (Hayes, 2013, 2018).

Findings

The study findings reported that behavioural conflict has a negative relationship with employee well-being, and the negative affect state mediates the relationship between behavioural conflict and employee well-being. The results also established the moderating role of workplace fun in this relationship.

Research limitations/implications

The study's findings extend the current understanding of the effect of behavioural conflict on employee well-being and explain how it influences employee well-being. The study also provides guidelines to manage the detrimental effect of behavioural conflict.

Originality/value

The study established the association between behavioural conflict and employee well-being and highlighted the process through and condition under which behavioural conflict influences employee well-being. This could be the first study examining the relationship between behavioural conflict and employee well-being.

Present and prospective research themes for tourism and hospitality education post-COVID19: A bibliometric analysis

Academic research in tourism and hospitality sector adds value directly to the way the industry grows and develops. Scholars in this area struggle with the pressures to publish in high ranking journals. The present study attempts to help doctoral students and tourism educators in identifying emerging themes in the tourism and hospitality arising out after COVID-19 pandemic. Using bibliometric analysis, five broad areas of emerging research themes are identified. Such research would further help managers, tourism related state administrators, and firm owners to recover from the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the industry across the world.

Understanding the Connection between Sustainable Human Resource Management and the Hotel Business Outcomes: Evidence from the Green-Certified Hotels of Egypt

Sustainable human resource management (SHRM) practices are extensively believed to cause a strategic advantage for the hotel industry. However, while a growing body of evidence indicates that SHRM practices are related to superior organization-level outcomes, it is rather unclear as to how these practices could affect such outcomes and whether they result in desirable hotel outcomes. This paper aimed to examine the moderation effect of hotels’ environmental strategy (ES) on the relationship between SHRM practices and hotel business outcomes: operational performance (OP), competitive advantage (C), and corporate performance (CP). Following a positivism philosophy, a proposed hypothesised model was validated through a survey strategy. Data were obtained from 247 green-certified hotel managers based in Egypt’s top-two major cities involving green-certified hotels. Structural equation modelling was used to test the model relationships. The findings lent credence to the significant connectedness between SHRM practices and hotel business outcomes. The moderation effect of ES was positively confirmed by 83.4% of the SHRM practices, demonstrating that ES is a crucial driver of hotel business outcomes through the optimal usage of SHRM. Negatively, it was revealed that only sustainable promotion practice (16.6%) does not moderate its impact on the hotel business outcomes. This research is the first empirical study to examine the moderation effect of ES on the nexus between the SHRM and hotel business outcomes in the green-certified hotels of Egypt.

Leader crisis communication and salesperson resilience in face of the COVID-19: The roles of positive stress mindset, core beliefs challenge, and family strain

The resilience of B2B sales forces is crucial in face of severe wide-ranging challenges during a crisis. This study aims to investigate the role of leader communication of the crisis in promoting salesperson resilience during the COVID-19. The data were gathered from 418 salespersons from 36 manufacturing firms in times of the COVID-19. The data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated the positive relationship between leader crisis communication and salesperson resilience, mediated by salespersons' positive stress mindset. Family strain and core beliefs challenge were found to attenuate the positive linkage between leader crisis communication and salespersons' positive stress mindset. Theoretical and practical implications are presented. This study offers insights to help managers in B2B organizations better understand and implement mechanisms that can foster resilience among their B2B sales forces in the COVID-19 outbreak and other crises.

COVID-19 Pandemic Implications for Corporate Sustainability and Society: A Literature Review

The paper revises the ample empirical and theoretical literature on sustainable organizational growth and strategic leadership relating to the critical aspects of the ongoing pandemic, including poverty, social responsibility, public health, and organizational and managerial innovation. Drawing from available COVID-19, management, and sustainable leadership publications released from 2020 to 2021, this paper considers influential studies exploring core business concepts, principles, philosophies, and activities for accelerating, stimulating, and nurturing social and corporate sustainability. The study analyzed the characteristics and interrelation of 133 articles through bibliometric and literature systemization techniques. We shed light on the significant influence COVID-19 has had on financial, operational, and psychological solvency and organizational health to elucidate expectations and implications for businesses worldwide concerning the long-term financial and functional impact of COVID-19. An overview of the relevant studies on the individual, organizational, and external factors relating to novel disease’s relation to sustainability are provided. We emphasize the need for digital transformation following the COVID-19 upheaval and throughout the upcoming years. Some of the generally employed techniques in response to adversity entail portfolio diversification, service delivery innovation, product redesigning, new market development, partnering with competitors and/or complementary service providers, synergizing with other stakeholders, and open innovation.

Examining Factors Influencing COVID-19 Vaccine Tourism for International Tourists

Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on global tourism. Vaccine tourism is a novel health tourism concept, which provides an opportunity for countries with a vaccine surplus to offer medical tourism packages to entice international tourists from countries with vaccine shortages to visit for sightseeing and receive vaccine inoculations. Understanding the factors that influence people to adopt vaccine tourism is one of the strategies that could boost a country’s tourism sector and help to revive the local economy. This study aims to examine the factors influencing the intention to adopt and recommend COVID-19 vaccine tourism among young travelers. A total of 179 questionnaire surveys were collected from traveling-related social media outlets. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was performed to analyze the data. The results indicate that young tourists in Thailand are inclined to promote vaccine tourism to others. Price value appears to be the most significant influencing factor on intentions to both adopt and recommend vaccine tourism. Additionally, trust in the foreign healthcare system was positively associated with young travelers’ intention to recommend vaccine tourism to others. Theoretically, this research adds to the medical tourism literature, suggesting that, while trust is an important factor influencing the medical tourism decision, it appears to be insignificant in the context of vaccine tourism.

Resource loss and mental health during COVID-19: Psychosocial protective factors among U.S. older adults and those with chronic disease

Across the globe, COVID‐19 has disproportionately affected the physical and mental health of several vulnerable groups. In a series of two cross‐sectional studies conducted April to July 2020, we examined its acute mental health effects on two vulnerable U.S. community samples—home‐bound older adults who were at or below the poverty line (Study 1, N = 293, M_age = 76.94, SD = 8.64; 75.1% female, 67.9% Black) and adults with chronic disease (Study 2, N = 322, M_age = 62.20, SD = 12.22; 46.3% female, 28.3% racial/ethnic minorities). Based on the conservation of resources theory, we hypothesised that pandemic‐related resource loss would be associated with greater mental distress, but perceived social support and positive psychological characteristics (trait resilience and optimism) would buffer against this adverse effect. Across both samples of vulnerable adults, pandemic‐related resource loss was related to mental distress. Perceived social support was related to lower mental distress but did not consistently buffer the effect of resource loss on mental health. However, in Study 2, both trait resilience and optimism buffered this relationship. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the conservation of resources theory.

The Structural Relationship among Perceived Service Quality, Perceived Value, and Customer Satisfaction-Focused on Starbucks Reserve Coffee Shops in Shanghai, China

In today’s increasingly competitive coffee industry, the point of running a good coffee shop is no longer to run a coffee and beverage shop simply, but to focus on the quality of service and the value that customers feel as a result. Previous studies have mainly discussed the customer satisfaction and behavioral intention of restaurants, while few studies have explored the influencing factors of customer satisfaction and behavioral intention of chain coffee shops. Given that the perceived service quality theory and DINESERV model can effectively predict customer satisfaction and behavioral intention, this study took 385 consumers in the first Starbucks Reserve flagship store in China as survey objects. SmartPLS 3.0 software was used to explore the relationship among respondents’ perceived service quality, customer perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioral intention. The results show that service quality has a partially significant positive effect on perceived value. Perceived service quality and customers’ perceived value both have significant positive effects on satisfaction. Customers’ satisfaction has a significant positive effect on their behavioral intention. These results indicate that enterprises should strengthen the emotional bond between consumers and enterprises and improve the reliability, assurance, and empathy of perceived service quality to create a better emotional resonance between consumers and the Starbucks brand to improve customer satisfaction. At the same time, it should also promote the symbolic perceived value of Chinese consumers to Starbucks to realize the sustainable development of coffee-shop operation and consumer repurchase. This study expands the research on the service quality, perceived value, and behavioral intention of coffee chain enterprises in the context of non-habitual coffee-drinking countries. Moreover, it provides case support for the operation and research of regional cultural consumption habits of international catering chain enterprises.

Role of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions for COVID-19 in Cruise Tourists’ Decision-Making Process: An Extended Model of Goal-Directed Behavior

This study developed an extended model of goal-direct behavior (EMGB) to investigate the role of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in predicting latent cruise travelers’ decision-making process in the COVID-19 pandemic context to foster the growth of a sustainable cruise business. An online survey was conducted for Korean respondents with experience of being on a cruise, and a total of 288 valid data were collected. The proposed model was examined using SmartPLS 3.0. Results show that in general, antecedents of MGB affected the desire, which in turn influenced cruise travelers’ behavioral intentions. Desire was also found to affect NPIs, which influenced behavioral intentions. Results reveal that the perception of COVID-19 affected NPIs and behavioral intention during COVID-19. Findings provide academia with theoretical implications and cruise managers with practical implications.

Antecedents of Purchase Intention at Starbucks in the Context of Covid-19 Pandemic

The purpose of this research is to examine the determinants of coffee shop purchase intention. The research domain is Starbucks, which is the brand ranked first in the coffee shop market. This study selects healthiness, hygiene, quarantine, ease of app use, and environmental responsibility as candidates for the antecedents of purchase intention. For hypothesis testing, this research used a survey and recruited survey participants using Amazon Mechanical Turk, and carried out multiple linear regressions to test research hypotheses. The number of valid observations for the data analysis is 474. It was found that purchase intention is positively influenced by healthiness, hygiene, quarantine, and ease of app use. However, environmental responsibility was identified as a nonsignificant attribute to account for purchase intention. Practical implications are presented for coffee shop management. The outcomes contribute to the literature by scrutinizing café customers’ purchase intention with various attributes.