Workplace Spirituality and Employee Wellbeing in the Hospitality Sector: Examining the Influence of Fear of COVID-19

The Psychology of Well-Being in the Margins: Voices from and Prospects for South Asia and Southeast Asia

“…In this special issue, we feature 11 empirical studies that inquire into some facet of well-being of different marginalized groups. Three studies explicitly focus on well-being among those who are economically marginalized in society (Aruta et al, 2022 ; Sulkers & Loos, 2022 ; Tee et al, 2022 ), a marginal status that intersects with the focus of three other studies involving individuals in low status occupations (Aboobaker, 2022 ; Bernardo et al, 2022 ; Mata & Tarroja, 2022 ). The latter set of studies do not explicit focus on the economic status of the participants in their study, but their social context indicates that the some of the jobs involved are taken by persons from lower socioeconomic groups.…”

“…For example, the tribal unmarried mothers had to deal with stigma associated with their unmarried motherhood status, and the stigma was stronger among those from lower socioeconomic groups (Thasleema & Rajan, 2022 ); the latter also must cope with the more difficult financial situation as they try to raise their children. The hospitality workers who must adapt to the challenges of their low status occupations (Aboobaker, 2002 ) also have to cope with how the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed their industry while also dealing with the very real fears of being infected. Thus, for individuals in the margins of society, the pursuit of well-being is typically a process that requires dealing and adapting with multiple-related difficult challenges.…”

“…In a couple of studies, spirituality seems to be a resource for these adaptive well-being processes. The study of workers in the hospitality industry in India highlights the role of workplace spirituality in well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among those who had strong levels of fear of COVID-19 (Aboobaker, 2022 ). The idea of meaningful work was one of the dimensions of workplace spirituality in that study, which echoes how spirituality was an important theme in the meaning-making process of unmarried women in the Philippines (Mendez, 2022 ).…”

“…However, some of the studies in the special issue show how the theories are adapted and modified to consider the specific life circumstances and contexts of the marginalized target participants. We see this approach in the adaptation of the “need-to-belong” theory (Baumeister & Leary, 1995 ) to study the deaf persons in Ipoh (Lee et al, 2022 ), the job-demands-resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007 ) to study workplace well-being among hospitality industry workers (Aboobakr, 2022 ), the system justification theory (Jost, 2019 ) in the study of tribal married mothers (Thasleema & Rajan, 2022 ), and in the use of a cultural adaptation of hope theory (Bernardo, 2010 ) in studying persons who experienced economic challenges in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic (Tee et al, 2022 ). We believe that such adaptations are positive steps forward as they introduce theoretical elaborations of the established models.…”

“…Understanding the influence of social processes on well-being processes is also an important theme to explore in further contextualizing psychology of well-being theories. Two studies in the special issue inquired into well-being processes during the COVID-19 pandemic (Aboobaker, 2022 ; Tee et al, 2022 ), and other Asian studies have focused on this global phenomenon, as well (e.g., Galanza et al, 2021 ; Singh & Quraishi, 2021 ). But aside from COVID-19, South Asian and Southeast Asian psychologists can also investigate the role of other powerful social changes in shaping people’s well-being.…”