Abstract
PurposeThe novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has completely changed the landscape of the hospitality industry. The World Health Organization does not officially recommend wearing face masks in the workplace. Wearing face masks is controversial worldwide, however it has been widely adopted in Hong Kong society. Hospitality practitioners have worn face masks to work and serve customers for almost a year long, matching the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper proposes a conceptual model of face mask effects and also discusses and evaluates the effects of wearing face masks during the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachA convenience sampling method is employed to investigate hospitality operators using in-depth and focus group interviews with managers, front-line staff and customers.FindingsThe perspectives of both hospitality practitioners and customers are included in this study. The concepts of (1) invisible care, (2) sense of safety and (3) service trust have been introduced in this study. These provide valuable insights for the service industry when facing a large-scale health crisis, now and in the future.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper analyzes interview data collected from 35 respondents – 14 managers, 6 practitioners and 15 customers – in order to understand the critical effects of wearing face masks during the pandemic and the perspectives of both hospitality practitioners and customers.Practical implicationsFor the hospitality industry, wearing face mask in service has already become a “new normal”, face mask effects might create an impact on service design, service delivery and service quality.Originality/valueThe findings show that wearing face masks turns hygiene and safety into a form of invisible care in the Asian hospitality industry. Practitioners' perspective regarding the necessity of a smile is less important to Asian customers, showing a discrepancy between the two parties. Customers do not believe that service quality has dropped due to the wearing of masks, but that the level of hygiene has risen. Unlike customers, practitioners are more concerned about not providing good quality service. However, the interview data show that respondents generally agree that mask wearing is a gesture and symbol for the hospitality industry to make tangible a new form of caring, professionalism, safety concern and communication.
Highlights
With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the tourism and hospitality industry has been one of the hardest-hit sectors internationally and locally due to the lockdown of public areas and social distancing (Jones and Comfort, 2020)
After the unexpected pandemic outbreak, hospitality industry practitioners began wearing face masks when serving their customers (Centre for Health Protection, 2020b) as one of the nonverbal communication methods to ensure safety that has become the new practice of hospitality and the new health code (Severson, 2020)
Hong Kong was chosen as the setting of the study because the city had widely adopted the wearing of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the tourism and hospitality industry has been one of the hardest-hit sectors internationally and locally due to the lockdown of public areas and social distancing (Jones and Comfort, 2020). As some hotels and businesses in the Hong Kong hospitality industry set the mask-wearing policy for both staff and customers, practitioners began to wear a face mask to work and serve customers since the outbreak of COVID-19. After the unexpected pandemic outbreak, hospitality industry practitioners began wearing face masks when serving their customers (Centre for Health Protection, 2020b) as one of the nonverbal communication methods to ensure safety that has become the new practice of hospitality and the new health code (Severson, 2020).
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