HOMSM / The developing theory

Hospitality Occupational
Mental Health Systems Model

HOMSM understands mental health as an emergent property of a dynamic adaptive system—not as a collection of isolated symptoms.

Central proposition

Employees continuously adapt to changing occupational conditions. Adaptive capacity, protective resources, and adaptive processes shape what happens next.

Burnout, distress, recovery, resilience, and well-being emerge from these interactions.

01 / The architecture

A system that
moves.

The model is organized into distinct levels so that each question can be asked clearly: what exists, how it behaves, how it changes, what emerges, and how it can be tested.

01

Occupational conditions

The demands, events, environments, and expectations that continuously enter the system.

02

Adaptive capacity

The current potential to adapt, cope, regulate, recover, and maintain functioning.

03

Adaptive processes

The cognitive, emotional, behavioral, social, and recovery processes through which adaptation occurs.

04

Protective resources

Organizational, personal, and social supports that strengthen, preserve, or restore capacity.

05

Emergent states & outcomes

Psychological and occupational patterns that emerge from the system over time.

06

Feedback loops

Outcomes reorganize future conditions, resources, capacity, and demands.

Figure 2.1

Adaptation
at the center.

All components interact reciprocally. The model is dynamic, with multiple feedback loops operating over time.

Read the source documents↗

Figure showing the HOMSM adaptive system and its feedback processes — Figure 2.1 · The HOMSM adaptive system

02 / Theory development

Six workstreams
make the model legible.

Foundations

The foundational conceptual architecture of the model.

Ontology

The entities, relationships, principles, and assumptions that define the system.

Construct taxonomy

A disciplined organization of validated constructs.

System dynamics

Causal pathways, adaptive cycles, feedback, and emergence.

Organizational intervention

Ways theory can inform organizational action.

Theoretical propositions

Formal propositions and hypotheses for empirical testing.

A working claim

The goal is not the largest theory. It is the smallest theory capable of explaining the adaptive reality.

See how it is developed↗