IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaitra/v124y2025ics0969699725000249.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are we ready for the unexpected disruption? Job embeddedness, calling, and turnover intentions

Author

Listed:
  • Chang, Yu-Yu
  • Chen, Yueh-Duo

Abstract

Drawing on Event System Theory, this paper examines how organizational responsiveness to the pandemic, COVID-19 disruption, and job embeddedness influence airline personnel's turnover intention and investigates the moderating role of career calling. Through a longitudinal survey, we collected 372 observations from 186 full-time aviation employees in Taiwan, including cabin crew and ground staff. During the three-week interval, COVID-19 cases in Taiwan sharply increased for the first time, evolving from localized transmission (1390 daily confirmed cases) to the peak of a nationwide pandemic (35,205 daily confirmed cases). Results show that organizational responsiveness and COVID-19 disruption affect turnover intention through the mediating effect of job embeddedness. Moreover, we found that the negative indirect effects of organizational responsiveness and COVID-19 disruption on turnover intention are amplified when aviation personnel's career calling is high. By leveraging data from the pandemic's natural progression, this paper empirically contributes to the existing discourse on Event System Theory and offers practical implications for managing human resource loss during profound and unexpected events.

Suggested Citation

  • Chang, Yu-Yu & Chen, Yueh-Duo, 2025. "Are we ready for the unexpected disruption? Job embeddedness, calling, and turnover intentions," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:124:y:2025:i:c:s0969699725000249
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2025.102762
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699725000249
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2025.102762?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rubinstein, Saul & Martin-Rios, Carlos & Erhardt, Niclas & Hoffer Gittell, Jody & George, Varghese P., 2016. "Organizational responses to uncertainty in the airline industry: Changes in patterns of communication networks," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 217-227.
    2. Dobrow, Shoshana R. & Weisman, Hannah & Heller, Daniel & Tosti-Kharas, Jennifer, 2023. "Calling and the good life: a meta-analysis and theoretical extension," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118139, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Sun, Xiaoqian & Wandelt, Sebastian & Zheng, Changhong & Zhang, Anming, 2021. "COVID-19 pandemic and air transportation: Successfully navigating the paper hurricane," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    4. Justin M. Berg & Adam M. Grant & Victoria Johnson, 2010. "When Callings Are Calling: Crafting Work and Leisure in Pursuit of Unanswered Occupational Callings," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(5), pages 973-994, October.
    5. Garaus, Marion & Hudáková, Melánia, 2022. "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourists’ air travel intentions: The role of perceived health risk and trust in the airline," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    6. Brougham, David & Haar, Jarrod, 2020. "Technological disruption and employment: The influence on job insecurity and turnover intentions: A multi-country study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    7. Tuchen, Stefan & Nazemi, Mohsen & Ghelfi-Waechter, Signe Maria & Kim, Euiyoung & Hofer, Franziska & Chen, Ching-Fu & Arora, Mohit & Santema, Sicco & Blessing, Lucienne, 2023. "Experiences from the international frontlines: An exploration of the perceptions of airport employees during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    8. Alan Coetzer & Chutarat Inma & Paul Poisat & Janice Redmond & Craig Standing, 2019. "Does job embeddedness predict turnover intentions in SMEs?," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 68(2), pages 340-361, January.
    9. Rita, Paulo & Moro, Sérgio & Cavalcanti, Gabriel, 2022. "The impact of COVID-19 on tourism: Analysis of online reviews in the airlines sector," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    10. Maneenop, Sakkakom & Kotcharin, Suntichai, 2020. "The impacts of COVID-19 on the global airline industry: An event study approach," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    11. Lee, Jae Woon & Yoon, Seung Young, 2024. "Growing stakeholderism in the airline industry after the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    12. Suau-Sanchez, Pere & Voltes-Dorta, Augusto & Cugueró-Escofet, Natàlia, 2020. "An early assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on air transport: Just another crisis or the end of aviation as we know it?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Morlotti, Chiara & Redondi, Renato, 2023. "The impact of COVID-19 on airlines’ price curves," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    2. Chen, Yuting & Fuellhart, Kurt & Grubesic, Tony H. & Zhang, Shengrun & Witlox, Frank, 2024. "An analysis of the context factors influencing the diverse response of airports to COVID-19 using panel and group regression," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    3. Kuo, Pei-Fen & Brawiswa Putra, I Gede & Setiawan, Faizal Azmi & Wen, Tzai-Hung & Chiu, Chui-Sheng & Sulistyah, Umroh Dian, 2022. "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on O-D flow and airport networks in the origin country and in Northeast Asia," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    4. Taoudi, Lamiae & Tajik, Nazanin & Ermagun, Alireza, 2025. "Crash landing: Flight price elasticity induced by pandemic across America," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    5. Borsati, Mattia & Fageda, Xavier, 2024. "Airline price responses in the face of demand shocks: European lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    6. Chen, Yuting & Fuellhart, Kurt & Grubesic, Tony H. & Zhang, Shengrun & Witlox, Frank, 2023. "Diverging spatiotemporal responses to COVID-19Â by airports: Evidence from China," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    7. Hong, Seock-Jin & Savoie, Michael & Joiner, Steve & Kincaid, Timothy, 2022. "Analysis of airline employees’ perceptions of corporate preparedness for COVID-19 disruptions to airline operations," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 45-55.
    8. Chandra, Aitichya & Choubey, Nipun & Verma, Ashish & Sooraj, K.P., 2024. "Quasi-stochastic optimization model for time-based arrival scheduling considering Standard Terminal Arrival (STAR) track time and a new delay-conflict relationship," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    9. Xiaoqian Sun & Sebastian Wandelt & Hartmut Fricke & Judith Rosenow, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Air Transportation Network in the United States, Europe, and China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-11, August.
    10. Pérez-Campuzano, Darío & Rubio Andrada, Luis & Morcillo Ortega, Patricio & López-Lázaro, Antonio, 2022. "Visualizing the historical COVID-19 shock in the US airline industry: A Data Mining approach for dynamic market surveillance," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    11. Sun, Xiaoqian & Wandelt, Sebastian & Zhang, Anming, 2022. "STARTUPS: Founding airlines during COVID-19 - A hopeless endeavor or an ample opportunity for a better aviation system?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 10-19.
    12. Larissa M. Batrancea & Anca Nichita & Andreas-Daniel Cocis, 2022. "Financial Performance and Sustainable Corporate Reputation: Empirical Evidence from the Airline Business," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.
    13. Sun, Xiaoqian & Wandelt, Sebastian & Zheng, Changhong & Zhang, Anming, 2021. "COVID-19 pandemic and air transportation: Successfully navigating the paper hurricane," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    14. Sugishita, Kashin & Mizutani, Hiroki & Hanaoka, Shinya, 2024. "Disruption and recovery of the US domestic airline networks during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    15. Zhu, Yipeng & Ng, Kam K.H., 2025. "Spatial temporal modelling of air traffic network evolution and resilience enhancement in response to the dynamic coupling of propagation outbreaks," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    16. Carrese, Stefano & Cipriani, Ernesto & Colombaroni, Chiara & Crisalli, Umberto & Fusco, Gaetano & Gemma, Andrea & Isaenko, Natalia & Mannini, Livia & Petrelli, Marco & Busillo, Vito & Saracchi, Stefan, 2021. "Analysis and monitoring of post-COVID mobility demand in Rome resulting from the adoption of sustainable mobility measures," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 197-215.
    17. Wu, Xiangru & Wang, Kun & Fu, Xiaowen & Dong, Kangyin & Sun, Xiaoqian & Hoon Oum, Tae, 2025. "How does COVID-19 pandemic affect airline’s route choice and market contact? − Full-service carriers vs. low-cost carriers in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    18. Sun, Xiaoqian & Wandelt, Sebastian & Zhang, Anming, 2021. "Technological and educational challenges towards pandemic-resilient aviation," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 104-115.
    19. Xue, Dabin & Liu, Zhizhao & Wang, Bing & Yang, Jian, 2021. "Impacts of COVID-19 on aircraft usage and fuel consumption: A case study on four Chinese international airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    20. Martins, António Miguel & Cró, Susana, 2022. "Airline stock markets reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak and vaccines: An event study," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:124:y:2025:i:c:s0969699725000249. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-air-transport-management/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.