THE USE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION CHANNELS WITHIN 5-STAR HOTELS IN TURKEY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC CRISIS AND ITS EFFECTS ON EMPLOYEES ENGAGEMENT LEVELS

Abstract

Employee engagement (EE) has become a popular term in organisational management recently. In the relevant literature, the use of internal communication (IC) channels is claimed to be a significant factor in increasing employees’ engagement levels. However, the number of research conducted on this issue within the hotel context in the tourism sector is very limited. Therefore, this research aimed to examine the use of IC channels and their effects on employees’ satisfaction levels from their jobs, the meaningfulness of their work and their commitment levels to their organisations during the COVID-19 crisis. Questionnaire technique was used in the study for data collection and 389 employees from five-star hotels in different geographical regions of Turkey participated in the research. The results obtained with relevant statistical analysis indicate that there is a significant relationship between the use of IC channels and satisfaction levels of employees at Turkish hotel organisations.