Crisis-induced HR practices and employee resilience during COVID-19: evidence from hotels

ABSTRACT

One of the wretch effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was the laying off of millions of employees in the hotel industry due to travel restrictions and lockdowns. Such a scenario prompted star hotels to implement crisis-induced HR practices (CHRP) to run their hotels effectively. Our article exploits and investigates a model that recommends that psychological well-being (PWB) indirectly influences the CHRP-employee resilience (ER) relationship, the conditional indirect effect of servant leadership (SEL). Data were collected from 265 star-rated hotel employees in Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, who are the full-time frontline. The hypothesized linkages were assessed through PROCESS analysis. We find a significant indirect effect of CHRP on ER via PWB. Moreover, the conditional indirect effect of CHRP on ER via PWB is high at higher and mediums levels of SEL. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed further.

KEYWORDS:

• Human resource management
• crisis management
• employee resilience
• servant leadership
• psychological well-being

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Frank Asamoah Antwi

Frank Asamoah Antwi holds M.Phil. in Management and Human Resources Strategy from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. His research interests include human resource management, job embeddedness, employee resilience, work-life balance, life satisfaction, diversity management, and psychological well-being.

Henry Kofi Mensah

Henry Kofi Mensah is an Associate Professor and a full-time lecturer at the Department of Human Resources and Organizational Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.

Philip Opoku Mensah

Philip Opoku Mensah is a Ph.D. candidate at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Department of Human Resources and Organizational Development, Ghana.

Isaac Delali Darke

Isaac Delali Darke is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Human Resources and Organizational Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.