Building resilience and sustainable HRM in the visitor economy: An uneasy relationship

This paper draws on small and medium enterprises' (SMEs') experiences of the 2019/2020 Victorian (Australia) bushfires and COVID-19 to explore organizations' capacity to achieve Sustainable Human Resource Management (S-HRM) and organizational resilience outcomes within crisis contexts. The study adopts a qualitative research design. Virtual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 stakeholders across two, contextually different tourism destinations (Bright and Echuca-Moama located in Victoria, Australia). Thematic analysis was undertaken. Findings present a mixed picture. Macro, meso and micro-level factors such as business type, location and workforce management; owner-managers’ skill sets and networks; prior experience of crises; individual wellbeing; government crisis management processes; and housing shortages were found to influence SMEs' sustainability and resilience outcomes. Tensions faced by SMEs, such as dilemmas between financial versus social sustainability, and employee versus business owner wellbeing, were revealed. Inspired by the UN's Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 8), the paper brings together literature from sustainable HRM and resilience to discuss how SMEs in the tourism and hospitality sector can nurture social outcomes and organizational resilience. This is a timely conversation given COVID-induced workplace disruptions, and the likelihood of future shocks.