Exploring the Relationship between the Fear of Covid-19, Job Insecurity, Employee Well-Being, and Job Involvement in Flight Personnel

Abstract

The aviation industry has recently experienced several difficulties due to Covid-19. Especially flight personnel (pilots and cabin crews), who worked under the health-threatening effects of Covid-19, either lost their jobs or were faced with a dramatic decrease in their incomes. The aim of this research is to understand the impact of the fear of Covid-19 on the well-being of flight personnel, to reveal the mediating role of job insecurity on this relationship, and to observe the moderating role of job involvement on the relationship between job insecurity and well-being. The study was conducted with pilots (N=111) and cabin crew members (N=45) who worked for different airlines in Turkey. The total sample size was 154 participants. The results showed that job insecurity played a mediating role as fear of Covid-19 began to have a less significant impact on employee well-being. In addition, the analysis of the moderating role of job involvement showed that high job involvement exacerbates the negative effect of job insecurity on flight personnel's well-being. The results are discussed in relation to the organizational and human resources management practices in airline companies.