Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Related Literature

A. Human Resource Management Practices

Human Resource Management, an integral part of an organization, often

ensures the success of the shared relationship between employees and an

organization by identifying and satisfying the needs of the employees beginning

with recruitment and continuing throughout their career. (Bagri and Kukrete,

2017)

However, the majority of studies on HRM practices in the hospitality

industry mainly focus on developed economies such as USA (Davidson, Timo&

Wang, 2010) and in the hospitality literature, prior studies (Kalargyrou& Woods,

2011) mostly focus on three aspects of HRD: i) the identification of core

competencies required to meet present and future needs of the organization; ii)

selection of the best delivery systems to enhance HR competencies; and iii) the

management and delivery of training activities.The broad literature on HRM

evaluates the linkagesbetween national contexts and predominant modesof

people management and seeks to compare thesebetween themselves (Brewster,

Mayrhofer& Morley,2004; Dibben et al., 2016).

In contrast,several authors (e.g. Gomes Sahadev, Glaister, &Demirbag,

2014) consider the HRM of European firms to be a homogenousfunction, which

has policies and practices influencedby a relatively long-term approach to

business,resulting in long-term relations with employeesmoderated by trust and

8
loyalty. Finally, Gomes etal. (2014) also show that the African-style HRM

practicesfavour collectivist and paternalistic practices overindividualist and

instrumentalist practices characteristic of from more developed countries

(Horwitz,2012, 2013;Newenham-Kahindi, 2013).

Similar to developed countries, island destinations and developing

countries invest in staff training (formal and informal) and development as part of

their HRD initiatives (Fortanier& van Wijk, 2010; Davidson, McPhail& Barry,

2011).For hoteliers willing to invest in HRD, the main benefits are employee

loyalty, organizational competitiveness, better service quality and improved

industry competitiveness (Davidson, McPhail& Barry, 2011).

Human resource management practices because they are vital in the

tourism industry,which is characterized by low skill levels amongemployees and

a high turnover rate (Chang, Gong, &Shum, 2011).On the other hand, it also

appears that there is a connection between organizations developing HRD

policies and increased service quality through committed and satisfied staff

(Davidson, McPhail& Barry, 2011).

B. Job Satisfaction

It is believed that the concept of job satisfaction was first introduced by

Landsberger (1958, cited by Khuong&Tien, 2013).The antecedents of job

satisfaction can be divided into two groups: the ones intrinsic to the job

environment and related to the job itself, and the ones arising from the

individual’s characteristics and traits (Spector, 1997, cited by Al-Ababneh&

Lockwood, 2010).

9
 Hotel employees’ job satisfaction is very important to their performance. In

a systematic review of the previous literature on hotel employees, it was found

that the most studied variable was job satisfaction; there were no other

systematic reviews on the topic. (Social Sciences Index Expanded, 2014)

Job satisfaction is central to the work lives of employees and for effective

use of personnel within organization. Employees’ job satisfaction can be

predicted by employees’ evaluation of the work climate, levels of organizational

support and the employment situation (Patah, Zain, Abdullah and Radzi, 2010).

When an employee is satisfied at work, he or she is likely to be more stable,

productive and accomplished towards organizational goals (Jessen, 2011). Job

satisfaction is defined as an overall affective orientation on the part of individuals

toward work roles which they are presently occupying (Kalleberg 1977). Locke

(Khan and Lashari, 2010) defined job satisfaction as a function of the range of

specific satisfactions and dissatisfactions resulting from the appraisal of various

dimensions of work that he or she experiences.

Accordingly, job satisfaction implies a subjective and emotional reaction

towards different aspects of the job, perceived as an emotional state resulting

from the appraisal of one’s situation, linked with the characteristics and demands

of one’s work (Jessen, 2011).Employees who fully satisfied with their pay will

result in a higher level of satisfaction, and employees who get recognized tend to

have higher self-esteem, more confidence and more willingness to take new

challenges. (Pratheepkanth, 2011)

10
 As referred to by Nickson(2013), organizations and managers in the

tourismand hospitality industry face real challenges in recruiting,developing and

maintaining a committed, competent,well-managed and well-motivated

workforcethat is focused on offering a high-quality ‘product’to the increasingly

demanding and discerning customer.

However, the tourism and hospitality industry has been growing on a

larger scale and has increasing contribution to the global economy directly and

indirectly. Service quality is a major element in the sustainability of the hospitality

business. It has been argued that the human factor is the major element that

links all models of quality management. This means that positive employee

attitude is vital for customer satisfaction and organizational success. (Magablih&

Al Shiab, 2010)

On the other hand, Comparing with other industries, the hotel industry has

no routine holiday, and employees are required to work 7 days a week and 24

hours a day (Yih and Htaik, 2011). In addition, unattractive working atmosphere

of the industry such as low pay, rigid job traits (Ahmand, and Zainol, 2011), long

working hours, seasonal employment, low job status (Alan, Radzi and Hemdi,

2010), over workloads, low job security, and limited training and development

opportunities contribute to job dissatisfaction, thus leading to a high level of

turnover (Yih and Htaik, 2011). In view to this, tourism and hospitality managers

need to seek effective ways to enhance the performance of their frontline

employees and to keep them satisfied (Abdullah and Bustamam, 2011).

11
 Also, many researchers have found that employees’ job satisfaction is

affected by both financial and non-financial rewards (Rehman, Khan, Ziauddin

and Lashari, 2010). An ineffective reward management will affect employees’

satisfaction and de-motivate them, hence affecting their performance outcome.

In other point of view, the factors influencing the job satisfaction can be

summarized along the following dimensions: the work itself, pay, promotions,

supervision, work group and working conditions (Luthans, 2011). Thus, the

interesting and challenging content of work, career development opportunities,

and family-friendly job environment can positively influence the job satisfaction.

Fair and competitive wages and salaries are highly contributing to the job

satisfaction of an employee, also because the employees perceive pay as an

indicator of how valuable they are for the organization (Luthans, 2011).

C. Employee’s Turnover

Turnover intention is defined as an employee’s intention to leave a job.

Such intention may appear when employees speak negatively about their

positions, when they limit their participation in the organization, or when they

actually leave their jobs (Jang & George, 2012; Karatepe, 2013)

Lockyer (2010) opined that in a voluntary turnover the employee leaves

due to his own free will. He may leave due to a better job offer, a conflict with the

staff or the higher authorities or lack of opportunities in advancement in the

present job.

12
 Phillips and Connell (2010) commented that involuntary turnover is when

the existing employee is fired by the authorities and the employee unwillingly

leaves his job. This can be caused due to poor performance or conflict with the

staff or authorities.

Conversely, employee’s retention is a vital issue and challenge to all

organization currently, it remains a crucial issues for the organization because of

the costs associated with recruiting, selecting and training new employees (Allen,

Bryant and Vardaman, 2010).

However, turnover intention is one of areas that are so popular researched

in organizational analysis (Özbağ, Ceyhun&Çekmecelioğlu, 2014) and have

expensive cost to recover it in terms of induction and training, developing,

maintaining and retaining (Ongori, 2007; Tnay, Othman, Siong& Lim,

2013).Brotherton (2010) believed that existing employees leave a certain

company due to various reasons like resignation, death, transfers and

retirements.

In this continuously changing environment that is not only affecting the

organization but also the employees working in it, Human Resources

Management has a vital role to play in managing the organization resources and

how employees are treated in the organization (Hassan, Hassan, Khan and

Naseem, 2011).

Employee retention is the “effort by an employer to keep desirable workers

in order to meet the business objectives” by keeping the right people on the right

13
jobs (Frank, Finnegan and Taylor 2004: Hassan et al., 2011). A successful

company often has a high employee retention rate.

The hospitality industry however, is more associated with poor work-life

balance (WLB) than other industries. Bloome, Rheede, and Tromp (2010)

reported that work-life conflict contributed significantly to turnover intentions for

employees within the hospitality industry. Their study cited lack of organizational

support and dissatisfaction with the flexibility at the workplace as the main

causes of the work-life conflict.

Anderson (2015) stated that across the world there are many people who

want to work in the hospitality industry, but the problems facing them are more or

less the same and that is the working hours are too long and the pay is not

adequate enough.

Related Studies

Foreign

For Albattat’s and Som’s (2013) study, improving the work environment

and increased wages, by analyzing the internal and external factors, could

decrease the turnover crisis, An intention to stay within the hospitality

organization amongst, unacceptable working conditions, poor training and low

salaries could lead to higher employee turnover.

As turnover intentions are strongly and negatively correlated with the

employee loyalty (Bhatnagar, 2012; Mohsin et al., 2015), it can be expected that

employee loyalty will also have negative relationship with workrelated stress. The

14
current research is therefore also aiming to examine these abovementioned

relations with respect to the two case study hotels.

In a comparative analysis of multinational Europeanand Indian firms

located in SouthernAfricanDevelopmentCommunity countries, Gomes,

Sahadev,Glaister, and Demirbag (2014) found that the Indian HRM function was

shifting from an emphasis on personnel towards a more strategic HR role but

with a greater emphasis on HR development (Budhwar&Varma, 2010).

On the other hand, as pointed out by Dawson et al. (2011), companies are

aware of the importance of satisfaction in hotel workers.Considering that job

quality is related to pay, job security,career opportunities, job variety, job

autonomy,stress, physical effort, co-worker relationships (Green, Kler, &Leeves,

2010; Knox,Warhurst, Nickson, & Dutton, 2014), thehrm function has an

important role in hotel unitindustry because there are low paying, low-skilled,and

poor training and career opportunities (Knox, 2010; Vanselow, Warhurst,

Bernhardt, &Dresser, 2010).

Further, an ethical framework was a significant predictor of satisfaction

and intention to leave. Work values and perceived organizational support

moderated and mediated the relationship between the ethical context and the

working answers.(Cheng, P., Yang, J., Wang, C., & Chu, M., 2013)

As such, a positive climate of innovation positively influenced satisfaction.

The organizational level positively influenced both the innovation climate and

satisfaction. (Lee, C.-S., Chen, Y.- C., Tsui, P.-L., & Yu, T.-H., 2014)

15
 Job satisfaction, in turn, has a strong positive relationship with employee

loyalty (Jawahar, 2006; Wan, 2012). Moreover, Wan (2012) argues that

employee loyalty actually arises from the job satisfaction.

In addition, many researchers say that job quality affectsemployees’ job

satisfaction and well-being and,consequently, affects organizational

performance.Considering that job quality is related to pay, job security,career

opportunities, job variety, job autonomy,stress, physical effort, co-worker

relationships (Green, Kler, &Leeves, 2010;Knox,Warhurst, Nickson, & Dutton,

2014), the HRM function has an important role in hotel unitindustry because

there are low paying, low-skilled,and poor training and career opportunities

(Knox, 2010; Vanselow, Warhurst, Bernhardt, &Dresser, 2010).

In India, for instance, a study of the Indian hotel industry linked the

abnormal and ever changing working hours, quality of health, and the pressure

culminating from multiple roles as the main factors that contribute to poor WLB in

the hotel industry (Mohanty and Mohanty, 2014). Other studies have also cited

WLB as an influential factor in the decision of employees within the hospitality

industry to change career (McGinley, O’Neill, Damaske, and Mattila, 2014).

Local

In a separate study, when respondents were asked what will make them

happier in the next six months, 33% said a salary increase will make them

happier, while 23% wished to resign or get a new job.Meanwhile, those who said

they were happy in their current job cited colleagues, work location, and

16
company reputation as the top three drivers of workplace satisfaction. (Staffing

Industry Analyst, 2018)

In another study, it was revealed that the hotel staffs in Cebu Business

Hotel were highly satisfied with their jobs. The researchers recommend that

further training and seminar are needed to enhance the efficiency of the hotel

staff. Also, the management should provide decent benefits for their personnel.

(Amadaora, 2011)

The employees are satisfied the way they are being handled by the

management all throughout the company’s operation. As for the manager, he

gave the employees a good rating in accordance to their job performance

referring to their respective positions. However, the station manager must hire

more helpers to avoid having overload of the task given to them. (Angles,

Saludo, Virtus& Tum, 2015)

Furthermore, levels of satisfaction also see a marked decrease as

employees stay longer in their jobs. Those who have stayed in their companies

for less than a year are most satisfied at 75 percent, followed by those who have

stayed from one to three years at 72 percent, while only 65 percent of those with

longer period of tenure at three to five years are happy and only 62 percent of

those who have stayed with the company for more than five years consider

themselves happy. (Jobstreet Philippines, 2015)

A research finds that job satisfaction increases with higher family

dependence on employee wages, and that permanent contracts or greater length

17
of service do not increase job satisfaction levels, but working part time does.

(Gonzales, et.al, 2013)

Meanwhile, Beriales, Permocillo, Bartizo&Porras (2017) revealed that the

respondents were satisfied with their job when taken as a whole group. In the

same way, when they are grouped according to age, gender, and employment

status and employment position.

Also, specifically, a significant relationship between teacher respondents

personal profile in terms of age, length of service, educational attainment and job

satisfaction and others A total of 200 teachers teaching in elementary public

schools were selected and descriptive correlational design was used in order to

see relationships of the variables included in the study. Survey questionnaires

were distributed to the teacher respondents in twelve sample elementary schools

in Cotabato City Philippines. The study yielded that most of the teacher

respondents are female, married, earned a college degree with master's unit, 11

to 15 years in service and belongs to 31-40 years age bracket. Regarding work

performance rating it was rated very satisfactorily.The age, highest educational

attainments and length of service were significant to the job satisfaction while sex

and civil status were noted having significant difference to job satisfaction. (Usop,

Annierah&Kadtong, Maeda& Amir, Datu& O Usop, Sajid, 2013)

18