Building Resilient Hotel Workforce in the Era of Uncertainties: A Literature Approach

The global tourism sector faces an array of challenges that can significantly impact its stability. Within this sector, the hospitality subsector stands out due to its inherent vulnerabilities, largely stemming from its structural characteristics. Hotel business concepts suffer overreliance on external industries and favorable environmental factors. This heightened vulnerability underscores the importance of formulating practical strategies within the industry to not only predict and manage disturbances but also to effectively adapt to them. The realm of tourism literature has witnessed the introduction of various theories and empirical studies aiming to bolster the concept of resilience. Central to most of these theories is the contribution of the employees who work in those organizations. Workforce resilience has been considered to be a developable and trainable skill. However, there has not been a consensus on to what extent individual resilience contributes to overall organizational resilience. The problem was made clearer by the recent disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. To delve into this matter, the paper employs a systematic literature review, to dissect various theories and interrogate the place of the workforce in the whole resilience construct. The paper's conclusions emphasize the need for further exploration, proposing the execution of empirical studies. Particularly, there is a pressing need for research in Africa, where data on tourism resilience, specifically within the hotel subsector, is lacking. By conducting such studies, the paper envisions shedding light on the intricate dynamics between employee resilience and the overall resilience of organizations within the tourism sector.