Psychosocial safety climate for building restaurant employees’ meaning of work and resilience

Abstract

This study aimed to provide a better understanding of why a psychosocial safety climate is important for a conducive work environment for hospitality employees. Employees’ meaning of work and resilience were the focus as the consequences of the climate with gratitude as an affective state. Psychosocial safety climate was directly related to employees’ meaning of work. The significant relationship between psychosocial safety climate and gratitude was found as well as the association between gratitude and the meaning of work. Although the psychosocial safety climate did not directly impact employees’ resilience, it still exerted influence through the effect on gratitude.

Keywords:

• Gratitude
• meaning of work
• psychosocial safety climate
• resilience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Conclusion

While hospitality organizations have been dealing with the new normal since the COVID-19 outbreak, employees have experienced safety concerns and stress. Thus, it is urgent and critical for hospitality organizations to seek long-term strategies to provide employees a better work experience so that they can maintain their workforce in the long term. This study aimed to present a sustainable strategy to build a conducive work environment for employees in the hospitality industry. PSC, especially, was focused on as a significant environmental stimulus impacting employees’ experience and perception at work. Three specific objectives of this study were developing to explore the critical relationships among PSC, MOW, resilience, and gratitude. The objectives were accomplished by presenting not only the positive effects of PSC on MOW and gratitude but also the positive influence of gratitude on MOW and resilience. The findings of this study advanced the theoretical and practical understanding of how and why PSC is fundamental for a conducive work environment.