Author Identifier
Songshan (Sam) Huang: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4990-2788
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Tourism Management
Volume
110
Publisher
Elsevier
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
78490
Funders
National Social Science Foundation of China (23CGL030)
Abstract
Drawing on generativity theory and terror management theory, this study investigates how mortality salience influences proactive service behavior and helping behavior through anxiety and reflection as two death awareness dimensions. Additionally, it examines the moderating role of temporal distance. Three experiments, employing different mortality salience manipulations across various contexts (e.g., fire and pandemic), were conducted. The findings reveal that: (1) mortality salience positively influences proactive service behavior and helping behavior among hotel employees; (2) mortality salience suppresses these behaviors through death anxiety but enhances them through death reflection; and (3) the direct and indirect effects of mortality salience on proactive service and helping behaviors are moderated by temporal distance. This research provides practical insights for hotels on managing internal and external mortality threats, fostering positive employee behavioral responses.
DOI
10.1016/j.tourman.2025.105193
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
This is an Authors Accepted Manuscript version of an article published by Elsevier in Tourism Management. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2025.105193
Zhang, J., Xie, C., Li, W., & Huang, S. S. (2025). Does mortality salience produce positive effects on hotel employee behaviors? A temporal distance perspective. Tourism Management, 110, 105193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2025.105193