Learn from the past and prepare for the future: A critical assessment of crisis management research in hospitality

Given the substantial impact of crisis on the hospitality industry, crisis and crisis management have drawn attention from scholars. While each study makes a significant contribution to the existing knowledge of crisis management in hospitality, the fragmented perspective of each study makes it difficult to identify the key findings and unsolved problems. This paper presents a synthesis and critical assessment of state-of-the-art crisis management research in hospitality. It categorizes articles based on a three-stage framework covering pre-crisis planning, mid-crisis management, and post-crisis recovery. Two main perspectives in the literature are identified: one from hospitality service providers and one from stakeholders. Core research topics and concepts in each stage and perspective are reviewed. In addition, this paper proposes four major directions for future research: crisis management from stakeholders’ perspectives, integrative research, causal and behavioral research, and theoretical enhancement. It discusses the theoretical and practical implications of this study.     

Crisis leadership in economic recession: A three-barrier approach to offset external constraints

An economic recession is a type of crisis originated from external factors that may imperil an organization’s survival depending on the intensity and duration of the crisis. In peripheral European countries, such as Portugal, the recent financial crisis had devastating effects on various business activities. As a result, Portugal represents an important case study in examining how some corporate leaders have handled the economic recession successfully. I interviewed 20 corporate managers to capture their perceptions of the leadership traits and behaviors exhibited by their CEOs in guiding their companies through the recession. In economic recessions, negative constraints do not affect the most effective leaders, who instead erect barriers against the high-pressure conditions to create a supportive, positive work environment. In order to achieve maximum effectiveness, leaders must act as blocking agents against the negative social impacts of the economic crisis, including the fragility of trust in organizational life (i.e., a barrier against distrust), uncertainty of the future (i.e., a barrier against uncertainty), and toxic emotions (i.e., a barrier against toxic emotions).     

Do not say a word! Conceptualizing employee silence in a long-term crisis context

Abstract

Although research has emphasized the organizational and individual factors that influence employee voice and silence at work, it is less known how employee voice/silence is affected by the economic context, particularly when this context is one of intensive and long-term economic crisis in a country with weak institutional bases. In this study, we explore how employee silence is formulated in long-term turbulent economic environments and in more vulnerable organizational settings like those of small enterprises. The study draws on qualitative data gathered from 63 interviews with employees in a total of 48 small enterprises in Greece in two periods of time (2009 and 2015). This study suggests a new type of employee silence, social empathy silence, and offers a conceptual framework for understanding the development of silence over time in particular contexts of long-term turbulence and crisis.     

欧债危机救助的经验与反思

本文基于欧债危机救助经验,总结出应对债务危机的三大类十条教训。第一类是可以被吸取而且正在被实施的教训,包括资产负债表、监管和灵活汇率的重要性。第二类是一度被吸取,但随着经济周期和资产价格的改善又很快被忘却的教训,包括杠杆的顺周期性、监管自身的周期性和市场的自满情绪。第三类是一直在尝试吸取但始终是挑战的教训,包括和民众沟通,打破利益集团阻挠,推动结构性改革和预防下一个危机。这十条教训也为中国预防和应对危机提供借鉴。     

Job reallocation in Korean manufacturing: 1984–2014

This paper investigates the patterns of job reallocation in Korean manufacturing during the period 1984–2014. Utilizing establishment-level data from the Mining and Manufacturing Survey, we construct job flow measures and document the trend of job reallocation and test its efficiency. We first find that the pace of job reallocation has diminished since the Asian Financial Crisis. Although jobs were reallocated from less productive to more productive establishments overall, we find that the productivity-enhancing effect has also diminished over time. Although recessions are known to be periods of intense reallocation and restructuring, job reallocation was not particularly more efficient during recessions in Korea. It even decreased during the Great Recession of 2008 because the exit probability of low-TFP establishments was reduced.     

The repercussions and challenges of COVID-19 in the hotel industry: Potential strategies from a case study of Indonesia

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the tourism and hospitality sector hard. Hotel managers face uncertainty in this environment in order to survive. This study explores the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry, particularly hotels in Indonesia, one of the largest developing countries. It examines the challenges faced by hotel managers and the strategies used to survive. Through the lens of complexity theory, we discuss whether the strategies being deployed are beneficial, redundant, or detrimental for hospitality businesses. Based on semi-structured interviews with 13 hotel managers in Jakarta, Bandung, and Bali, the findings shed light on the various challenges to hotels. We also highlight which challenges could turn into opportunities. The findings show that the strategies that managers are deploying could be detrimental in the future. Potential future research directions are also discussed.     

Application of social media analytics in tourism crisis communication

Given the newly established communication environment of social media and highly unpredictable crisis situations, this study questioned how tourists facing an unexpected crisis situation use social media to communicate and search for information. To this end, this study developed a multi-phased social media analytic framework (data crawling, data processing and text mining, social network analysis, semantic network analysis, and network visualization) to assess the structure of information exchanges between the members of a tourism organization’s social network community and identified influential actors and information content within the social network. This study’s findings suggest genuine ways of relating with and utilizing opinion leaders and influencers in social media marketing communication as well as crisis communication. The authors expect this proposed methodological framework of social media analytics to help other scholars scientifically identify and implement the proper methodologies for utilizing social media data.     

The rationality of irrationality in times of financial crises

Whilst there are many models discussing the mechanics of financial crises, the notion of predation seems to be insufficiently taken into consideration as one of the explanatory behavioral factors, although it would enrich the understanding of dysfunctional financial markets. This paper provides a stylized model for disruptive and toxic economic behaviors in the context of predatory markets like the subprime crisis of 2007–2009. In this context, we investigate why consumers and sellers buy products they know to be toxic. Conventional economic models contain classical tenets that assume that consumers are rational and search for utility maximization; however, these models cannot straightforwardly explain the behaviors consumers and sellers adopted during times of financial crises, known as “exuberantly irrational”. Hence, we use and expand on a predator-prey perspective that endeavors to capture such behaviors more effectively while showing that four market variables must be considered together over time – consumers, suppliers, toxic products and regulations. Our analysis shows that during the GFC, consumers and lenders as well as regulators embraced whole-heartedly, and contrary to common economic sense, the development and marketing of toxic products. Their behaviors were actually quite rational in the context of a poisoned market. Such observation could assist in drafting regulations.     

Bank business models and liquidity creation

Using a large panel of US bank holding companies from 2001 to 2015, this study investigates the association between functional diversification and bank liquidity creation. I document evidence of lower liquidity creation for higher diversification. The effect of moving into nontraditional activities on liquidity creation is more apparent with large banks and less pronounced with small banks. The impact of diversification on liquidity creation is less significant during the late stage of crisis and is more clearly observed in small and medium-sized banks. Low liquidity creation banks, leveraged by a higher share of non-interest income, are more likely to further decrease their liquidity creation. The study is of interest to regulators and policymakers who are concerned about bank business models.     

重大公共危机中科研协同团队识别研究——以诊断试剂为例

遴选合适的科研机构以整合成科研协同力量对于应对重大公共危机，尤其是对于防治和遏制新型冠状病毒肺炎等重大紧急疫情至关重要。首先，构建科研力量协同整合潜在对象识别理论模型，并在此基础上构建识别方法。以突发重大公共危机中的诊断试剂科研攻关为研究对象，以诊断试剂领域科研力量协同整合作为案例进行实证研究。最终识别出7个协同合作群组及29个关键核心机构，而且可将其整合为针对不同科研攻关需求的科研力量。结果还表明，在整合诊断试剂领域科研力量时，高校是与其它机构衔接的主要核心纽带，来自国家层面的科研院所及军队系统机构可以提供有力支持，而高新技术企业也是不可忽视的重要力量。