Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Role of Employee Service Orientation in Turnover in the U.S. Hotel Industry

2014; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

1939-4691

G. Dusek, Cynthia P. Ruppell, Yuliya V. Yurova, Ruth Clarke,

Hospitality and Tourism Education

ABSTRACTHigh turnover in the hotel industry is an ongoing and important issue for the hotel industry. Turnover costs accrue to hotels from a variety of sources. Loss of experienced employees lowers the level of organizational knowledge among the staff thereby increasing the risk of not providing a consistent and high quality customer experience. This may result in decreasing brand image and brand loyalty. Thus, an understanding of the antecedents of turnover, both individual and organizational, in the hotel industry is important to reduce turnover with respect to the organization as well the intent to leave the hospitality industry.This exploratory study investigates an individual antecedent of turnover intention, service orientation, to empirically test a model linking service orientation to the traditional constructs commonly studied in relation to turnover intention including the job satisfaction, commitment to the organization and intention to leave the organization or leave the hotel industry. Partial Least Squares analysis was performed on a turnover model using responses from 63 hotel employees located in the United States. Service orientation was shown to ultimately explain up to 30% of the variability in employee's intention to turnover either their position in a hotel or to leave the hotel industry. Service orientation level was also directly related to intent to leave the hospitality industry but not intent to leave the organization. We discuss the implications of these findings for the hotel industry as well as hotel managers.INTRODUCTIONHotel turnover is a well-documented problem in the hospitality industry with reported turnover rates ranging from 31 percent (Deloitte, 2010) to 43 percent (Employee Turnover: The Challenge, 2013) to 58.8 percent (Hinkin, Holtom & Liu, 2012) in the U.S. Turnover in the hospitality industry is reported to be nearly twice the average rate for all other sectors (Deloitte, 2010, p. 35). To further complicate concerns over the high rate of turnover, the economic downturn has temporarily dampened this high turnover rate, but is expected to rapidly rise once the downturn improves (Deloitte, 2010; Davis, 2013). Depending upon the level of the employee's job responsibilities, turnover costs can range 100 and 200 percent of the total remuneration of that employee (Deloitte, 2010, p. 36). In addition to financial costs is the loss of consistency of service that a long-term provides to customers, particularly returning customers who are very important to developing brand loyalty.A high level of guest satisfaction is a key performance indicator which has been found to increase competitiveness and brand consistency in the hospitality industry. The staff needed to achieve and maintain service levels costs, on average, 45 percent of operating expenses and consumes 33 percent of revenues depending on hotel size, with larger hotels spending more (Deloitte, 2010). Thus, the turnover rate must be controlled in order to improve consistency of service, to improve and retain customer satisfaction, and to gain the economic benefits associated with increased competitiveness, which is driven in part by brand consistency and the resulting loyalty.The literature, both practitioner and academic, cites many reasons for this high turnover rate in the hospitality industry. Low salaries are often cited as the most common reason to leave organizations in the hospitality industry (Deloitte, 2010; Davis, 2013). The majority of the reported reasons for leaving tend to be external to the rather than internal and are specific to the who is quitting. However, the issue may also be internal to the leaving due to the nature of the hospitality industry and the relation between maintaining a high level of customer service and the personality of the worker (Davis, 2013). An may be less likely to share details or may not even be fully aware of personal reasons for leaving as reported in exit interviews and surveys. …