Fear of COVID-19, hotel employee outcomes and workplace health and safety management practices: Evidence from Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of fear of COVID-19 on employee turnover intention and depression, hypothesizing the mediating effect of psychological well-being and the moderating effect of workplace health and safety management practices. Data was gathered from 687 employees of five-star hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh using a structured survey instrument with time-lag approach. A partial least-square-based path modeling (PLS-PM) was applied to analyze the dataset. The findings reveal the partial mediation of psychological well-being in the relationships of fear of COVID-19 with both turnover intention and depression. While workplace safety and management practices significantly moderate the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and both turnover intentions, depression also mediates the relationship. The findings add to the existing literature on the effects of COVID-19 through the dual lenses of protection motivation theory and attribution theory. We can employ these findings to overcome issues of employee well-being in the hotel setting.