The hospitality industry is particularly vulnerable to crisis situations, ranging from natural disasters to pandemics. During such times, effective leadership is crucial in guiding organizations through the crisis and minimizing the negative impacts.
This study aims to explore the role of leaders’ sensemaking and sensegiving in crisis management from an organization’s perspective in the context of hospitality. It will focus on the role leaders play in successfully managing a crisis situation. An inductive approach is adopted and semi-structured interviews will be utilized to investigate hotel multilevel leaders’ sensemaking and sensegiving processes. The empirical findings of this study are expected to contribute to the crisis management literature by shedding light on the importance of leadership and leaders’ role in crisis management. Moreover, this study will provide practical recommendations for hospitality and tourism leaders to enhance their sensemaking and sensegiving skills during crises.