This study aims to explore factors associated with the work intention of hospital workers in the early stages of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in South Korea.

An online self-reported survey was conducted in a tertiary hospital. Respondents were asked to report their perceived threat and perceived risk of infection, evaluation of hospital response, demographics, and job-related factors. Descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analyses were performed.

A total of 441 employees participated in this study. Of respondents, 60% were willing to accept their work during an infectious disease outbreak and 12.5% were unwilling to accept the work. In addition, 8% of respondents reported that they had considered quitting their job, 54.4% reported that their job was dangerous, and 50.1% of respondents perceived the severity of COVID-19 as high. Perceived threat and effectiveness of hospital response were associated with hospital employees’ intention to work.

Hospital workers are at the front line of the COVID-19 outbreak. This study highlighted hospital workers’ perceived effectiveness of organizational response to the outbreak, and perceived threats were found to be important factors for whether they continued to work or not in the fight against the outbreak.