Business

Mediation

Moderated mediation

Safety culture

Service (business)

Mathematics

Confirmatory factor analysis

Psychotherapist

Moderation

Hospitality

Statistics

Machine learning

Marketing

Political science

Management

Tourism

Psychology

Economics

Coaching

Computer science

Applied psychology

Hospitality industry

Multilevel model

Structural equation modeling

Social psychology

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of hotel safety leadership on employee safety behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the mediation role of belief restoration and the moderation role of perceived risk between safety leadership and behavior were also investigated. Design/methodology/approach The COVID-19 outbreak served as the background for a questionnaire survey of 23 hotels in China with 1,594 valid responses being received. The statistical analysis techniques used were exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression. Findings The results showed that: hotel safety leadership positively affected employee safety behavior (compliance, participation and adaptation); belief restoration partially mediated the influence of safety leadership on safety behavior; and perceived risk negatively moderated the direct effect and the mediation effect of “safety leadership – belief restoration – safety behavior.” Research limitations/implications The main limitation was that the questionnaires were collected with the same measurement system within a certain period of time (cross-sectional design). Then, future research should test and expand this conceptual model in different crises, business fields, theoretical orientation and cultural backgrounds. Practical implications Hotels should develop management strategies based on safety leadership and motivate and promote employee safety behavior from the four aspects of safety coaching, care, motivation and control. Originality/value This investigation expanded the research on the effectiveness of safety leadership and especially with respect to safety in the hospitality industry during a major global crisis. Also, the research conceptual model and variables contained therein are original contributions to the hospitality research literature.

Responding to a major global crisis: the effects of hotel safety leadership on employee safety behavior during COVID-19