The Stress Responses of Unemployment in Tourism Industry of China

Abstract

Due to the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, problems brought about by the resultant widespread unemployment have drawn great attention. The tourism industry is one of the bitter victims of this situation as, besides hardware facilities, the biggest asset of the tourism industry is its Human Resource. The major calamity for those who encounter a job loss is an unhealthy psychological state. This study examines the influence of unemployment on the psychological health of employees in the Tourism Industry of China after the COVID-19 outbreak. The findings of this study suggest that the unemployed not only suffers from the lingering adverse effects in economic and livelihood terms but also in terms of devastating physical and mental impact on their family and society. We adopt the stress theory to make a comparison in the intensity of stress due to unemployment in the presence and absence of mediators, namely financial status and marital status by Path analysis, aiming to provide inspirations for practitioners and policymakers. This study shows that the negative psychological effects of unemployment can be diluted if the original family is maintained in a stable and harmonious way as the over occupying job responsibilities and no job at all fosters the same potency of work-family conflict.