Antecedents of Employees’ Perception and Attitude to Risks: The Experience of Egyptian Tourism and Hospitality Industry

ABSTRACT Employees have different perceptions and attitudes toward risks linked to the industry of tourism and hospitality and tend to be risk-taking or risk-averse by putting themselves in risky situations or exposing others to harm. Therefore, this paper tries to identify the antecedents that form their perceptions and attitudes to risks in Egyptian hotels and travel agencies and examines the mediating role of risk perception as well. One of the study’s key advantages is the respondent-matching data, derived from 18 privately-owned hotels and 22 travel agencies. As a result, based on horizontal segregation, the study’s target sample was non-administrative responsibility occupations. Findings revealed that employees’ accumulated beliefs and knowledge were found to have a positive impact on risk perception and risk attitude. Importantly, risk perception plays a mediating role between the identified constructs and employees’ risk attitudes. The originality of this study lies in its attempt to analyze the perception and attitude of employees, not tourists or customers, and focus on two destination regions that witnessed human-made risks.