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Committed employees form the backbone of corporate resilience.
Hotel entrepreneurs showed surprisingly positive future prospects despite the crisis.
Resilience is fed by internal and external factors on three levels.
Open communication and local networks promote crisis management.
Summary of the study
This study deals with owners of family-owned hotel businesses, which are considered essential pillars of the tourism industry. It examines how they perceive the crisis and which factors influence their organizational resilience, also shedding light on the role of their human resources. Internal and external resilience factors as well as different levels of resilience measures are analyzed.
After the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic on 11 March 2020, the tourism industry in Tyrol was particularly hard hit. Tourism companies found themselves in the challenging phase of returning to normal business, which corresponds to the fourth phase of Faulkner's (2001) framework for tourism disaster management. A qualitative, exploratory approach using semi-structured interviews was chosen to answer the research question.
A holistic, exploratory approach enabled the identification of several methods used by entrepreneurs in dealing with a pandemic crisis to increase business resilience in a specific phase. Internal and external resilience factors were identified at three levels of resilience measures - personal, regional and governmental. Particularly surprising was the predominantly positive attitude of the entrepreneurs, which was revealed in the semi-structured in-depth interviews.
Overall, this study contributes to developing a deeper understanding of how tourism businesses are coping with global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, with family business owners serving as an exemplary group of actors. It fills a gap in the literature by applying a holistic, exploratory approach in the early phase of an unprecedented global crisis and comprehensively sheds light on organizational resilience. The identified three levels of resilience measures - governmental, regional and individual - offer new insights into how the initial phase of a pandemic crisis is managed and perceived by hotel family entrepreneurs.
Key findings of this study
- Optimistic outlook of owners: Family hotel business owners showed a surprisingly positive attitude despite the severity of the crisis. This optimism enabled them to react quickly and develop sensible contingency plans.
- Central role of employees: Employees are a key pillar of successful crisis management and organizational resilience. Open, honest and respectful communication with staff is of crucial importance.
- Combination of internal and external factors: Organizational resilience results from the interaction of internal factors such as personal characteristics and communication behavior as well as external factors such as employees, finances and networks. The personality of the owners, which is characterized by intensive problem-solving, contributes significantly to resilience.
- Three levels of resilience action: The study identified personal/individual, regional and national levels of resilience action. These illustrate the different areas of control and influence that company owners have.
- Financial provision and networks: Sufficient equity and liquidity are highly advisable for the stability of the business during a crisis. Cooperation and exchange with other business owners in the network are also seen as valuable for creative solutions.