Stress-Buffering Effects of Social Support on Tourism Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

Since the beginning of 2020, China’s tourism industry has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and domestic tourism revenues have plummeted. Tourism employees have faced reduced working hours, job instability, shut down, and unemployment. In the context of the normalization of epidemic prevention, the tourism industry is recovering slowly and uncertainly, and many tourism employees face increasing employment stress. To investigate the relationship between social support and employment stress among tourism employees, 308 tourism employees were surveyed, and the mediating role of positive coping styles and the moderating role of psychological resilience were examined using structural equation modeling. The results revealed three key findings: social support significantly and negatively influenced the employment stress of tourism employees; positive coping styles significantly mediated the relationship between social support and employment stress among tourism employees; and psychological resilience moderated the relationship between social support and employment stress among tourism employees, as well as moderating the relationship between social support and positive coping style. The current findings help to deepen the understanding of the relationship between social support and employment stress, and they have important implications for alleviating the employment stress of tourism employees in the context of the pandemic.