Perceived Risks of COVID-19 Pandemic among Employees of International Airports in Tanzania: A Study on their Nature and Effect on Job Satisfaction Levels at Julius Nyerere International Airport

Abstract

This study examines whether employees’ perceived safety, health, and security risks affected job satisfaction levels during the COVID-19 pandemic at Tanzanian airports. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory was used to analyze and understand the dynamics of perceived risks and job satisfaction. The research adopted a case study approach with Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) as a case study because this airport is Tanzania’s busiest gateway and prominently exposed to international flights. Using a 10% rule of thumb, a target population of 130 employees and 25 employers was set as an adequate sample size from a total population of 1300 JNIA employees and all employers. The study utilized a non-probability sampling approach whereby a convenience sample was created in which the attending respondent identified the next respondent in a snowball sampling technique, although initial respondents were deliberately picked by the researcher. Questionnaires for employees and employers were developed and administered during the surveys and interviews, supplemented by a few focus group discussions. As interviews and discussions were being held, written documents and records were simultaneously collected. In the study, both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered and analyzed using basic statistical and narrative approaches, respectively. Research findings indicate that employees were affected by perceived risks and fears of highly contagious disease, which created anxiety among them, disrupted their social interactions, and generally decreased their work performance without significantly affecting their levels of job satisfaction. The main recommendation demands increased efforts by employers to mitigate perceived risks of pandemics on job satisfaction by introducing health programs, timely containment of pandemics, treating affected employees, improving employment salaries, benefits, and financial incentives, enhancing the security and safety of the work environment, and improving employees’ social cohesion. Study limitations included delayed research permissions, difficulties accessing busy and suspicious employees and employers, a lack of finances, and inadequate research time, which fortunately did not affect the quality of the work. The main delimitation of the study was the “security-sensitive” nature of the airport itself. This study has research and practical significance, with far-reaching implications for pandemic or public health and disaster management policies and labor and employment-related policies, and it is quite a resourceful tool among researchers and academicians in human resources management.