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

Hospitality Work as Social Reproduction: Embodied and Emotional Labour during COVID-19

This article focuses on how the imaginary of a 'safe' environment was visualised and conveyed within the hospitality sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on diaries and interviews with 21 workers in the UK. Our findings show increased workloads for hospitality staff, compounded by anxieties of risk and individualised COVID-19 regulation work. This includes workers' negotiations of corporeal boundaries and distancing from customers, the visible cleaning of communal areas and recuperation and care work for their own bodies and others in shared living spaces. We draw on conceptualisations of embodied and emotional labour to understand these experiences, reflecting on the importance of the actions performed by workers in maintaining community spaces and creating customer confidence in safely enjoying a 'hospitable' environment. This article contributes to social science scholarship of embodied and emotional labour, hospitality and social reproduction.

Individual and Organizational Factors Associated With Intent to Leave the Job and Public Child Welfare Field Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

The public child welfare system is plagued with high turnover, which is consistently associated with job-related stress. However, the COVID-19 pandemic introduced challenges that impact both the work and caseworkers' decision to stay in their job. To better understand stressors and intention to stay amid the COVID-19 pandemic, one state-level agency implemented a survey, completed by forty-eight percent of public child welfare caseworkers in the state. The current analysis employs multinomial logistic regression to predict intention to stay in the job and in the field and narrative analysis to describe caseworker experiences. Expanding on prior research, findings suggest that caseworker perception of an organization's response to COVID-19 challenges is associated with a caseworker's intent to leave. Further, this study highlights the distinction in commitment to the field compared to commitment to one's job, introduces challenges associated with work during the COVID-19 pandemic, and describes worker-identified benefits of those work changes.

Fear of COVID-19, workplace phobia, workplace deviance and perceived organizational support: A moderated mediation model

This paper aims to test a moderated-mediation model examining therelationships between Fear of COVID-19, workplace phobia, work deviance behaviourand perceived organizational support among hotel employees. An online questionnaire was administered to collect data, to which 481 responded. Data was collected from full-time frontline employees working in the Maldivian hospitality industry. The moderated-mediation model explained 44% of the variance in workplace deviance behaviourscan be predicted bythe fear of COVID-19, perceived organisational support and workplace phobia. The findingsshowthat perceived organizational support reduces the negative impact of COVID-19 fear on workplace phobia and deviance. Results suggest that to reduce the negative effect of the pandemic, organisations should adopt support measures across different managerial levels at different scales rather than providing one-size-fits-all solutions.

Stress at Work and Well-being Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A 1-Year Longitudinal Study in Switzerland

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study is to analyze the development of conditions at work and health-related variables (notably exhaustion) in Switzerland longitudinally before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

Questionnaire data were collected from a population-based sample of 1,553 employees in February 2020 and 1 year later. Health and well-being associated with ( a ) working conditions in general and ( b ) COVID-19-specific predictors such as worries about being infected and conditions for working at home were analyzed using analysis of (co)variance and multiple regression.

RESULTS

Conditions at work and well-being were stable overall, even indicating slight improvements, notably for men compared with women. Both an index representing stressors and resources at work in general (Job Stress Index) and a COVID-19-related demand index showed consistent effects on health and the effect of COVID-19-related demands was stronger if the Job Stress Index deteriorated than when it improved.

Impact of customer incivility on restaurant employee stress spread and turnover: COVID-19 vaccination mandate

In response to the unprecedented pandemic in recent history, COVID-19 vaccination mandates in the U.S. caused significant changes and disruption in hospitality operations and customer experiences. The primary goal of this study is to examine whether and how customer incivility induced by the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the U.S. affects employees' behavioral outcomes (i.e., stress spread between employees and turnover intention) via psychological mechanisms (i.e., stress and negative emotion) and when the relationship is moderated by personal (employee prosocial motivation) and organizational (supervisor support) characteristics. Findings show that customer incivility increases employee turnover intention as well as interpersonal conflicts at work via increased stress and negative emotions. These relationships are weakened when prosocial motivation of employees and the level of supervisor support is high. Findings expand the occupational stress model by specifically incorporating the context of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and further provide implications for restaurant managers and policy makers.

Perceived occupational stress and associated factors among primary school teachers in the second wave of COVID-19 in Ethiopia: a multicenter cross-sectional survey

Background

Occupational stress (OS) is a psychological state that results from people's perceptions of an imbalance between job demands and their abilities to cope with those demands. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the teaching and learning process and compounded the stress level among teachers due to fear of transmission of the virus and school closures or the difficulty with adherence to the COVOD-19 prevention protocol. This survey study therefore aimed to investigate the prevalence of occupational stress and its associated factors among primary school teachers during the second wave of COVID-19 in western Ethiopia.

Method

An institution-based cross-sectional survey was employed from April to May 2021. The survey was conducted in Gimbi town among all 672 primary school teachers in western Ethiopia. The standardized Teacher Occupational Stress Scale was used to measure occupational stress in the past 4 months. The data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. The collected data were entered into EpiData version 4.6 and analyzed using Stata version 14 software. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with occupational stress. The statistical significance was considered at a value of p of < 0.05 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) with an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) to evaluate the strength of associations.

Results

The response rate was 96.8% (N = 651). The majority, 389 (59.8%) of the study participants were males. The mean (±SD) age was 35.8 (±9.3) years. The prevalence of occupational stress in the second wave of COVID-19 in the past 4 months was 50.1% (n = 326) [95% CI (46.1, 53.9)]. Job dissatisfaction [AOR: 2.06, 95% CI (1.43-2.97)] and high-risk perception of COVID-19 infection [AOR: 2.20; 95% CI (1.46-3.31)] were significantly associated with occupational stress.

Conclusion

This survey disclosed a high prevalence of occupational stress among primary school teachers during the second wave of COVID-19. Job dissatisfaction and a high-risk perception of COVID-19 infection were significant predictors of the occurrence of occupational stress in school teachers. Enhancing stress management skills and focusing on primary prevention of identified risk factors were advised to curtail the condition.

The trinomial health, safety and happiness promote rural tourism

BACKGROUND

Health and safety protocols have become a requirement to promote rural tourism (PRT). From this perspective, this paper empirically analyses how the health and safety dimensions influence the happiness of hotel managers and rural tourists in the post-Covid 19 era.

METHODS

A theory-based structural equation model will be carried out of activation of norms, that measure variables: sanitary, socioeconomic, and safety. Precisely, we will measure how those three attributes affect the managers-guests' health in rural areas and their search for happiness at the rural destination. Based on the above, a field of study has been 215 rural tourist accommodations in the Extremadura region (Spain) and a sample population of 443 guests. Data were organised through the SEM-PLS path modelling.

RESULTS

The results achieved statistically show the need to undertake a new model of healthier and safer tourism consumption that values the tourist resources of rural areas, especially nearby and sustainable destinations, based on the guiding principles of safety, health, and happiness.

CONCLUSIONS

The first conclusion is that promoting tourist destinations under safe and healthy conditions has become a priority objective in the tourism industry. The second conclusion that follows from the first is that the variables safety and health and the pursuit of happiness are essential factors in promoting tourist destinations for rural hotel managers and rural tourists. The third conclusion related to the first two is that the opportunity that this study provides to develop strategies of an innovative, sustainable, and creative nature based on the relationships of the new trinomial of health, safety and happiness, from the perspective of happiness management.

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.

Firm value in the airline industry: perspectives on the impact of sustainability and Covid-19

To date, there has been limited research undertaken into firm value determinants in the air transport industry, one of the most essential sectors for global business. In view of this, in this study, we review and synthesise the literature that focuses on the value of firms in this sector and discuss conceptually and empirically the determinants influencing airlines' stock values. Our main objective is to widen our understanding of the current state of research on the firm value of air transport companies. Using the systematic literature review (SLR) approach, we classify 173 papers published from 1984 to 2021. We find considerable changes in academic interest in the topic over the time period analysed, especially as a consequence of crisis-induced market crashes. In addition, we classify the main research themes relating to airlines' market value, identify gaps, and introduce potential future research avenues in this area. Among the themes identified, the adjustment in the industry-level factors such as alliances, market structure and competition were the most common source of fluctuations in airlines' stock value. However, we find shifting to sustainability initiatives and its consequence for stakeholders' value as one of the most discussed topics in this context. The trend has gained attention since early 2020 due to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic as companies are looking for green and sustainable ways to protect the value in crisis time. Our findings assist transportation researchers and executives in addressing major value drivers of airline firms.

Exploring hospitality workers' career choices in the wake of COVID-19: Insights from a phenomenological inquiry

The COVID-19 pandemic severely hit the hospitality industry and caused employees concerns over health, finance, and well-being. These challenges may trigger their decisions to leave the profession, leading to major talent crises in the industry. Guided by the transactional model of stress and coping and the career construction theory, this study explored how their experiences with the pandemic affected their career choices moving on. A phenomenological approach was adopted, and 31 current and past hospitality employees were interviewed. The findings supported the conceptual model and addressed the connection between stress management and career decisions among the participants. It is also noted that, besides generational differences, most participants' career decisions at this critical moment were influenced by their personality traits, industry involvement, and employer-employee relationships. Thus, to create a sustainable, resilient, and engaged workforce, hospitality practitioners must commit to crafting positive relationships with their employees both in regular and crisis times.

The effect of hotel employee resilience during COVID-19: The moderation role of perceived risk and challenge stressors

The effect of hotel employee resilience during major crises lacks sufficient empirical investigation. This research aimed to develop a conceptual model of hotel employee resilience effects on turnover intentions and service quality with belief restoration as mediation and challenge stressors and perceived risk as moderation variables. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 28 star-rated hotels (including two 3-star, fifteen 4-star, and eleven 5-star hotels) in southeastern, northeastern, central, and western China against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with operational (e.g., front office, food and beverage, housekeeping) and administrative (e.g., human resource, sales, finance) departments. A total of 1318 valid questionnaires were collected. The results showed that: (1) employee resilience predicted employee service quality positively and turnover intentions negatively; (2) belief restoration partially mediated the impact of employee resilience on service quality and turnover intentions; and (3) perceived risk and challenge stressors had diverse moderation effects (e.g., U-shaped, linear) in the impacts of resilience, and they were important external and internal situational factors that influenced the impact of employee resilience. This research revealed the effects and situational conditions of hotel employee resilience during a major crisis, which provides a theoretical basis for establishing hotel crisis response strategies.

The Effect of Servant Leadership on Work Resilience: Evidence from the Hospitality Industry during the COVID-19 Period

The COVID-19 pandemic is a tremendous crisis for public health, which also has a profound impact on business and social activities because many countries restrict travel and social gatherings to avoid the spread of COVID-19. Workers suffer from mental health problems including depression and anxiety due to the uncertain work environment. Hence, psychological resilience, a positive psychological response to these challenges, is essential to the success of employees and companies. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory (COR), this paper investigates how the leadership style (i.e., servant leadership) enhances the work resilience of hospitality employees through two time-lagged empirical studies. Specifically, study 1 demonstrates a positive relationship between servant leadership and employees' work resilience. Study 2 replicates study 1's result and further demonstrates that emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between servant leadership and employees' work resilience. Furthermore, study 2 finds a significant moderating effect of job complexity. The findings of this paper provide empirical evidence for practitioners to manage employees' resilience and psychological resources.

COVID-19 Anxiety and Wellbeing at Work in Finland during 2020-2022: A 5-Wave Longitudinal Survey Study

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted workers globally during 2020-2022 and it has had major psychological implications for workers' wellbeing. This longitudinal study analyzed risk and protective factors predicting COVID-19 anxiety among workers in Finland. Longitudinal national sample of Finnish workers (n = 685) participated in a five-wave study conducted in 2020-2022, covering multiple waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. Our outcome measure was COVID-19 anxiety. Predictors were psychological distress, work exhaustion, technostress, and loneliness. Models also controlled for self-regulation; social support at work and remote working; and socio-demographic background factors. Both within-person and between-person effects were analyzed using multilevel hybrid regression models. COVID-19 anxiety varied between time points which is explained by changes in circumstances during the pandemic. Highest anxiety was expressed in the middle of the Delta variant surge and lockdown in spring 2021. Within-person changes in psychological distress, work exhaustion, technostress, self-regulation, and perceived loneliness were all associated with COVID-19 anxiety. Between-person results showed that distressed, exhausted, technostressed, and lonely workers expressed more anxiety than others. Remote workers reported higher anxiety over time than others. Those who had reported high self-regulation reported lower anxiety than others. Female gender and younger age were associated with higher anxiety. COVID-19 anxiety continues to be an important phenomenon with a magnitude of consequences on people and numerous industries. This study showed that general mental health and work stressors predict COVID-19 anxiety. Promoting social support and workers' self-regulation skills can be beneficial for overcoming anxiety during and after the pandemic.

The Intention of Retail Stores in Taiwan to Cooperate with the Government in the Establishment of IT Measures for Pandemic Prevention

This study focuses on the cooperative attitude and intention of retail stores in Taiwan to cooperate with the government's related pandemic prevention measures. The study is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The study includes factors such as perceived risk of infection, job stress, pandemic prevention IT (information technology) convenience, pandemic prevention attitude, and pandemic prevention intention. Pandemic prevention attitude is used as a mediating variable to establish the research framework. This study collected research data through a questionnaire survey. A total of 457 valid questionnaires were collected through an electronic questionnaire platform. The findings showed that perceived risk of infection and pandemic prevention IT convenience had a positive and significant effect on pandemic prevention attitude (β = 0.567; β = 0.422) and pandemic prevention intention (β = 0.424; β = 0.296). Job stress has a significant negative effect on attitude (β = -0.173). In addition, job stress influenced intention through attitudes. Finally, perceived risk, job stress, and IT convenience had high explanatory power (R² = 0.706) on attitudes. Perceived risk, IT convenience, and attitude also had moderate explanatory power (R² = 0.588) on prevention intention. The study also suggests practical recommendations to improve and cooperate with pandemic prevention intention.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Perception on Job Stress of Construction Workers

Construction has been regarded as one of the most stressful industries, and the COVID-19 pandemic has deteriorated this situation. This research developed and tested a model of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic perception on job stress of construction workers. Both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping were considered as mediators. Empirical data were collected using a detailed questionnaire from the Chinese construction industry. The results showed that pandemic perception was significantly related to psychological and physical stress. Emotion-focused coping was mainly triggered by pandemic fear and job insecurity, while problem-focused coping was mainly triggered by organizational pandemic response. Furthermore, the effects of pandemic fear and organizational pandemic response on job stress were mediated by problem-focused coping. Finally, the theoretical and practical significance, research limitations, and future research directions of this study are discussed.

Living with Infection Risk and Job Insecurity during COVID-19: The Relationship of Organizational Support, Organizational Commitment, and Turnover Intention

The COVID-19 outbreak caused a stressful process for hospitality employees in terms of both being infected and experiencing the risk of losing their jobs. Stressful working conditions increase employees’ turnover intentions (TI). This study aims to analyze the relationship among perceived organizational support (POS), organizational commitment (OC), and turnover intention (TI) within the context of employees’ infection status and perceived job insecurity (JI). In this context, the study tests a moderated mediation research model. Having adopted a quantitative research method, data were acquired from 490 respondents who work at five-star accommodation companies in Alanya, Turkey. Findings show that the impact of POS on OC and IT differ according to employees’ infection status during the COVID-19 outbreak and their perceived JI. The findings of the study reveal empirical results in understanding employee attitudes toward companies alongside perceived job insecurity for those who are infected as well as for those who are not. Moreover, the study presents theoretical and practical contributions to reduce the negative impact of job insecurity and risk of infection on turnover intentions, which have been considered to be main sources of stress throughout the pandemic.

The Paradoxical Effects of COVID-19 Event Strength on Employee Turnover Intention

As a global pandemic, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has brought enormous challenges to employees and organizations. Although numerous existing studies have highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic is a stressful event and empirically proved its detrimental effect on employee turnover intention, few scholars have noted that this pandemic can deteriorate the external economic and employment environment simultaneously, which may further complicate employees' intentions to leave or stay in the current organization. Drawing on event system theory and social cognitive theory, this study aims to uncover two potential cognitive mechanisms of the complex impact of COVID-19 event strength on employee turnover intention. To examine the proposed model, this study employed a three-wave and time-lagged research design and collected data from a sample of 432 employees of four Chinese companies from different industries. The findings indicated that COVID-19 event strength was negatively related to perceived external employability, and ultimately curbed employee turnover intention. Yet, COVID-19 event strength also negatively predicted perceived organizational growth, thus influencing employees to exhibit intentions to quit. Moreover, organizational identification not only attenuated the positive effect of perceived external employability on turnover intention but also amplified the negative impact of perceived organizational growth on turnover intention. Further, organizational identification moderated the indirect effects of COVID-19 event strength on turnover intention through perceived external employability and perceived organizational growth. This study provided a comprehensive insight into scholars' understanding of the COVID-19 downstream outcomes.

An Unethical Organizational Behavior for the Sake of the Family: Perceived Risk of Job Insecurity, Family Motivation and Financial Pressures

In organizations, unethical behaviors are pervasive and costly, and considerable recent research attention has been paid to various types of workplace unethical behavior. This study examines employees’ behaviors that are carried out for the benefit of one’s family but violate societal and organizational moral standards. Drawing upon the self-maintenance and bounded ethicality theories, this study examines the engagement of unethical organization behaviors (UOB) in the name of the family during the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines the influence of job instability and the mediating role of family financial pressure and family motivation. A total of 770 employees in hotels and travel agents in Egypt were targeted, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results posit that perceived risk of job insecurity predicts engagement in unethical organizational behaviors, while intentions of UOB increase by high family motivation and financial pressures. Toward the end of this paper, a discussion on the theoretical and practical implications and are presented.

Intelligent Real-Time Face-Mask Detection System with Hardware Acceleration for COVID-19 Mitigation

This paper proposes and implements a dedicated hardware accelerated real-time face-mask detection system using deep learning (DL). The proposed face-mask detection model (MaskDetect) was benchmarked on three embedded platforms: Raspberry PI 4B with either Google Coral USB TPU or Intel Neural Compute Stick 2 VPU, and NVIDIA Jetson Nano. The MaskDetect was independently quantised and optimised for each hardware accelerated implementation. An ablation study was carried out on the proposed model and its quantised implementations on the embedded hardware configurations above as a comparison to other popular transfer-learning models, such as VGG16, ResNet-50V2, and InceptionV3, which are compatible with these acceleration hardware platforms. The ablation study revealed that MaskDetect achieved excellent average face-mask detection performance with accuracy above 94% across all embedded platforms except for Coral, which achieved an average accuracy of nearly 90%. With respect to detection performance (accuracy), inference speed (frames per second (FPS)), and product cost, the ablation study revealed that implementation on Jetson Nano is the best choice for real-time face-mask detection. It achieved 94.2% detection accuracy and twice greater FPS when compared to its desktop hardware counterpart.

Hotel building design, occupants' health and performance in response to COVID 19

In the COVID-19 pandemic, the employee realized the importance of a healthy workplace. A healthy workplace provides natural protection against respiratory disease and reduces exposure to viruses. Therefore, the current COVID-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call to understand the importance of building design and a dress rehearsal for future challenges because building-based prevention and control measures have become one of the most significant ways of fighting against the epidemic. This study investigates the role of hotel building design in employee health and performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study covered the LEED-certified hotel building in India. The formulated Hypothesis was tested empirically by the structural equation modeling (SEM) for determining the potential of the hotel building design. It was obtained from the study that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the hotel building design of the hospitality industry had a more significant influence on employee performance, followed by employee health.

Demographic Influences on Perceived Stressors of Construction Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Construction work is one of the most stressful occupations in the world, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this reality. This research conducted a detailed investigation on the perceived stressors of different demographic groups among construction workers. Empirical data were collected using a structured questionnaire in the Chinese construction industry. The empirical data were processed using both an independent sample t-test and an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The findings indicated that male workers reported greater workloads than did females. Married workers experienced more pandemic fear and job insecurity, and they were more sensitive to the poor working environment. Highly-educated workers were inclined to be more satisfied with organizational pandemic responses, and had lower job insecurity and role ambiguity, but they experienced heavier workloads. In addition, the differences in work experience and age were statistically significant with regards to job insecurity. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by giving a comprehensive understanding of demographic influences on perceived stressors among construction workers. It also provides valuable insights to identify sensitive demographic groups and promote their health and wellbeing during and after the pandemic.

The impact of nurses' sense of security on turnover intention during the normalization of COVID-19 epidemic: The mediating role of work engagement

BACKGROUND

COVID-19 pandemic has entered a normal stage in China. During this phase, nurses have an increased workload and mental health issues that threaten the sense of security. Poor sense of security may have a considerable impact on turnover intention through low work engagement. It was challenging to maintain the nurse workforce. Fewer studies have been conducted on the effect of nurses' sense of security on their turnover intention in that phase. This study aimed to investigate the interrelationship between nurses' sense of security, work engagement, and turnover intention during the normalization phase of the epidemic in China and to explore the impact of sense of security on turnover intention.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted from September 2020 to May 2021 in Guangdong Province, China. Data were collected online using Sense of Security Scale for Medical Staff (SSS-MS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), and Turnover Intention Scale. Pearson's correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation between sense of security, work engagement, and turnover intention. The hypothesis model used multiple linear regression models and the bootstrapping procedure to analyze the relationship between these variables.

RESULTS

Data were collected from 2,480 nurses who met the inclusion criteria. Over half(64.5%) of nurses had a high and very high turnover intention. After controlling the demographic and working variables, sense of security (β = 0.291, P < 0.001) had a direct positive effect on work engagement. Sense of security (β = -0.447, P < 0.001) and work engagement (β = -0.484, P < 0.001) had a direct negative effect on turnover intention. Sense of security and all of its components were associated with turnover intention through the partially mediating effects of work engagement.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses' turnover intention was at a high level during the normalization phase of the epidemic. Sense of security and its components act as positive resources to reduce turnover intention by improving work engagement. Policy makers and managers may pay attention to the needs of nurses' sense of security, which may be a new perspective to help managers reduce their turnover intention and stabilize the nurse team.