The Myth of Emotion-Focused Employee Crisis Communication? How Information-Focused Employee Crisis Communication during COVID-19 Pandemic Job Disruption Drives Post-Pandemic Intent-to-Perform and Intent-to-Return in Hospitality Employees

Abstract

This chapter explores how employee crisis communication during the first lockdown brought on by COVID-19 contributed to work intentions among U.S. hospitality employees. Drawing from the theoretical perspective of conservation of resources for exploring post-pandemic work intentions, this case study aims to explore how employee communication that focuses on addressing employees' informational and emotional needs for maintaining their wellbeing may contribute to their post-job disruption work intentions. In simulated time-lagged research, 393 U.S. employees in the hospitality sector were surveyed. Two factors emerged in the data regarding the types of crisis communication that employees felt the organization focused on during the pandemic lockdown: information-focused (IF) employee crisis communication and emotion-focused (EF) employee crisis communication. Hierarchical regression analysis results demonstrated that IF employee crisis communication during the lockdown significantly predicted post-lock work intentions. On the contrary, EF employee crisis communication did not significantly influence post-lockdown intentions. These findings suggest the importance of employee communication during a significant organizational disturbance on employees' work intentions that address unique and sometimes unexpected communication needs due to stress associated with resource losses that may negatively impact employee job engagement and loyalty.