Quarantine hotel employees’ protection motivation, pandemic fear, resilience and behavioural intention

Abstract

Quarantine hotels have been established by governments to accommodate COVID-19 infected or potentially infectious guests. The employees of these hotels, despite the high-risk environment, must provide services to guests. However, limited research is conducted on the impacts of the pandemic on their psychological well-being and health. This study investigates the protection motivation of quarantine hotel employees, fear of infection, coping strategies and behavioural intentions towards guests. A sample of 242 respondents in designated quarantine hotels in Iran revealed that fear of infection significantly affects employees’ protection motivation intention. Employee psychological resilience is greatly affected by different coping strategies. The findings indicate that untact hospitality can significantly be increased by the protection intentions of hotel employees. Cautious contact with guests is also significantly increased by protection motivation intention and employees’ psychological resilience. The results offer both theoretical and practical implications.