Job Insecurity and Intention to Quit: The Role of Psychological Distress and Resistance to Change in the UAE Hotel Industry

Hotel organizations today are in a state of constant change due to high competition, the emergence of pandemics, and cyclical economic crises. Hospitality employees are currently affected by job insecurity. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of job insecurity on intention to quit among hospitality workers, integrating the mediating effect of psychological distress and resistance to change and their mutual relationship. A total of 312 surveys were completed in four four- and five-star hotels in the UAE (Dubai and Sharjah). The SmartPLS 4 software was used to test the hypotheses in a mediation model with the bootstrapping method. The results showed that all of the direct links were positive and significant, and mediating relationships were confirmed. This study found that job insecurity predicts intention to quit through psychological distress and resistance to change acting as mediators, and these factors themselves also impact significantly on intention to quit. Resistance to change is impacted significantly by job insecurity and psychological distress, which suggests that a deeper approach to employees’ resistance to change should be taken, especially when conducting performance appraisals in the hotel industry, by searching for its roots and aiming to minimize employees’ intention to quit.