IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v15y2022i8p340-d879136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do You Feel Safe Here? The Role of Psychological Safety in the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Turnover Intention Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih

    (Management Department, College of Business Administration, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
    Hotel Management Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Helwan University, Cairo 12612, Egypt)

  • Hassane Gharbi

    (Management Department, College of Business Administration, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
    Management Department, School of Business, University of Sfax, Sfax 3018, Tunisia)

  • Ahmed E. Abu Elnasr

    (Higher Institute for Specific Studies, Future Academy, Cairo 11771, Egypt)

Abstract

Despite their significant role in the performance of hotel industry, hotel workers are suffering from high rates of turnover, due to several reasons, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has had numerous negative consequences on hotel workers, including their intention to leave the job or/and career. This study is an attempt to investigate the impact of transformational leadership on turnover intention amid COVID-19 and how psychological safety can intermediate this relationship. The study used a quantitative research approach via a pre-test instrument, self-distributed and collected from hotel workers at different regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Valid responses from 1228 workers, analyzed through a structural equation modeling (SEM) of AMOS version 23, showed that transformational leadership has a significant negative impact on turnover intention as hypothesized. Nevertheless, it has a significant positive impact on psychological safety, whereas psychological safety has a significant negative impact on turnover intention. The most important finding of this study was the perfect mediating effect of psychological safety in the link between transformational leadership and workers’ turnover intention. This finding confirms that psychological safety has the ability to change the above-mentioned link. In other words, the presence of psychological safety ensures negative turnover intention, even if transformational leadership practices do not exist. The findings have implications for scholars and practitioners, especially in tourism and hotel context, in relation to the role of psychological safety and transformational leadership in creating a sustainable working environment to maintain a lower turnover intention.

Suggested Citation

  • Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih & Hassane Gharbi & Ahmed E. Abu Elnasr, 2022. "Do You Feel Safe Here? The Role of Psychological Safety in the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Turnover Intention Amid COVID-19 Pandemic," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-16, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:15:y:2022:i:8:p:340-:d:879136
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/15/8/340/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/15/8/340/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hugo Zagoršek & Vlado Dimovski & Miha Škerlavaj, 2009. "Transactional and transformational leadership impacts on organizational learning," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 14(2), pages 145-165.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anna Florek-Paszkowska & Carlos Arturo Hoyos-Vallejo, 2023. "Going green to keep talent: Exploring the relationship between sustainable business practices and turnover intention," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 19(3), pages 87-128.
    2. Anna Lewandowska & Zia Ullah & Fatima Saleh AlDhaen & Esra AlDhaen & Alina Yakymchuk, 2023. "Enhancing Organizational Social Sustainability: Exploring the Effect of Sustainable Leadership and the Moderating Role of Micro-Level CSR," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Magdy Sayed Ahmed Abolnasser & Ahmed Hassan Abdou & Thowayeb H. Hassan & Amany E. Salem, 2023. "Transformational Leadership, Employee Engagement, Job Satisfaction, and Psychological Well-Being among Hotel Employees after the Height of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Serial Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-27, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Menike Atapattu & Gayani Ranawake, 2017. "Transformational and Transactional Leadership Behaviours and their Effect on Knowledge Workers' Propensity for Knowledge Management Processes," Journal of Information & Knowledge Management (JIKM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(03), pages 1-23, September.
    2. Skerlavaj, Miha & Su, Chunke & Huang, Meikuan, 2013. "The moderating effects of national culture on the development of organisational learning culture: A multilevel study across seven countries," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 18(1), pages 97-134.
    3. Francis Donkor, 2023. "Linking Leadership Styles to Employee Performance in the Public Sector Organizations in Ghana: The Role of Organizational Commitment," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 16(5), pages 1-43, February.
    4. Ali Osman Uymaz, 2015. "Transformational Leadership Influence on Follower Performance through Upward Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 5(6), pages 12-22, June.
    5. Michael Odei Erdiaw‐Kwasie & Matthew Abunyewah, 2024. "Determinants of social innovation in hybrid organisations: The moderating role of technology readiness," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 1099-1112, February.
    6. Novak Andrej & Kristijan Breznik & Srečko Natek, 2023. "Managing Knowledge to Improve Performance: the Impact of Leadership Style and Knowledge Management on Organizational Performance with Moderation Effects via PLS-SEM," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(2), pages 1672-1701, June.
    7. Eduard Gabriel Ceptureanu & Sebastian Ion Ceptureanu & Doina I. Popescu & Liviu Bogdan Vlad, 2017. "Two Stage Analysis of Successful Change Implementation of Knowledge Management Strategies in Energy Companies from Romania," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, November.
    8. Ali Osman Uymaz, 2016. "The Influence of Transformational Leadership on Personal Branding through the Learning Organization and Consideration of Future Consequences," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 6(3), pages 1-16, March.
    9. Ojha, Divesh & Acharya, Chandan & Cooper, Danielle, 2018. "Transformational leadership and supply chain ambidexterity: Mediating role of supply chain organizational learning and moderating role of uncertainty," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 215-231.
    10. Esin Akay & Ayse Demirel, 2017. "Transformational Leadership and Innovation: An Empirical Study of Direct and Indirect Effects in HR Consulting Companies," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(1), pages 131-131, December.
    11. Maha Ahmed Zaki Dajani & Mohamad Saad Mohamad, 2016. "Leadership Styles, Organisational Culture and Learning Organisational Capability in Education Industry: Evidence from Egypt," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 6(11), pages 42-57, November.
    12. Ali Osman Uymaz, 2015. "Transformational Leadership Influence on Follower Performance through Upward Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 5(6), pages 12-22, June.
    13. Syed Muhammad Javed Iqbal, Muhammad Shahid Nawaz, Sulaman Hafeez Siddiqui, Muhammad Kashif Imran, 2019. "Does Project Teamwork Matter? Investigating the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Project Success," Journal of Management Sciences, Geist Science, Iqra University, Faculty of Business Administration, vol. 6(1), pages 79-95, March.
    14. Shoukat Iqbal Khattak & Muhammad Anwar Khan & Muhammad Iftikhar Ali & Hafiz Ghufran Ali Khan & Imran Saeed, 2023. "Relationship Between Servant Leadership, Leader-Member-Exchange, Organization Learning and Innovative Work Behavior: Evidence From High-Tech Firms," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    15. Azharuddin Hashim, 2013. "A Conceptual Framework for Antecedents and Consequence of Organizational Learning Capability," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 5(12), pages 577-583.
    16. Maha Ahmed Zaki Dajani & Mohamad Saad Mohamad, 2016. "Leadership Styles, Organisational Culture and Learning Organisational Capability in Education Industry: Evidence from Egypt," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 6(11), pages 42-57, November.
    17. Riaz, Adnan & Haider, Mubarak Hussain, 2010. "Role of transformational and transactional leadership on job satisfaction and career satisfaction," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center (PRADEC), vol. 1(1), pages 1-10, April.
    18. Niyi Israel Akeke, 2016. "Factor of Strategic Leadership: Antidote to Firm Performance," International Journal of Management Sciences, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 7(1), pages 7-13.
    19. Tomac Cater & Danijel Pucko, 2010. "Factors of effective strategy implementation: Empirical evidence from Slovenian business practice," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 15(3), pages 207-236.
    20. Bikrant Kesari & Bhupendra Kumar Verma, 2018. "Does the Leadership Style Impacts on Employee Outcomes? A Study of Indian Steel Industry," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(6), pages 1602-1621, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:15:y:2022:i:8:p:340-:d:879136. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.