FOSTERING EMPLOYEES’ INTENTION TO STAY IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA: THE IMPACT OF WORK MOTIVATION, ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT, AND HAPPINESS AT WORK
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.9744/jmk.27.2.116-126Keywords:
Extrinsic motivation, Happiness at work, Intrinsic motivation, Organizational support, Work motivation, HotelsAbstract
The hotel industry in Nigeria is experiencing a low employee retention rate, which may be exacerbated by rising competition from both established and new entrants to the industry, resulting in a struggle for available talent. The study examined how employees’ intention to stay (ITS) in hotel employment is fostered, focusing on the direct effect of work motivation and the indirect effects of organizational support and happiness at work. The study obtained cross-sectional data through a structured questionnaire administered to 178 customer-contact staff in hotels located in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria. The partial least squares method was used for data analysis. The study found that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation positively influenced ITS, with extrinsic motivation having a more pronounced effect on the outcome variable. Furthermore, organizational support and happiness at work partially mediated these positive influences, acting both separately and in sequence. The study concluded that while enhancing both work motivation dimensions directly improves ITS in Nigerian hotels, fostering a supportive and happy workplace can provide a reinforcing context to complement this improvement. The study discussed the practical implications for promoting ITS within the hotel industry.
References
Ahmad, A. (2018). The relationship among job charac-teristics organizational commitment and employee turnover intentions. Journal of Work-Applied Management, 10(1), 74–92. https://doi.org/10.1108/jwam-09-2017-0027
Akgunduz, Y., Bardakoglu, O., & Kizilcalioglu, G. (2022). Happiness, job stress, job dedication, and perceived organizational support: a mediating model. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism In-sights, 6(2), 654–673. https://doi.org/10.1108/jhti-07-2021-0189
Ajmal, A., Bashir, M., Abrar, M., Khan, M. M., & Saqib, S. (2015). The effects of intrinsic and ex-trinsic rewards on employee attitudes; Mediating role of perceived organizational support. Journal of Service Science and Management, 08(04), 461–470. https://doi.org/10.4236/jssm.2015.84047
Atan, A., Ozgit, H., & Silman, F. (2021). Happiness at Work and Motivation for a Sustainable Work-force: Evidence from Female Hotel Employees. Sustainability, 13(14), 7778. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147778
Alfes, K., Shantz, A. D., Bailey, C., Conway, E., Monks, K., & Fu, N. (2019). Perceived human resource system strength and employee reactions toward change: Revisiting human resource’s remit as change agent. Human Resource Management, 58(3), 239–252. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21948
Azmy, A., & Mauludi, S. (2024). The role of authentic leadership and organizational commitment to re-duce turnover intention in digital company. Binus Business Review, 15(2), 119–131. https://doi.org/10.21512/bbr.v15i2.10502
Bellamkonda, N., & Pattusamy, M. (2022). Intention to stay and happiness: a moderated mediation model of work engagement and hope. South Asian Journal of Business Studies, 13(1), 74–89. https://doi.org/10.1108/sajbs-05-2021-0174
Bello, M. B., & Bello, Y. O. (2021). Job satisfaction and employees’ turnover in hotel industry: Evi-dence from Lagos state Nigeria. Journal of Tour-ism Theory and Research, 7(1), 32–43. https://doi.org/10.24288/jttr.844747
Caringal-Go, J. F., & Hechanova, M. R. M. (2018). Motivational needs and intent to stay of social en-terprise workers. Journal of Social Entrepreneur-ship, 9(3), 200–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/19420676.2018.1468352
Chaiprasit, K., & Santidhiraku, O. (2011). Happiness at work of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises, Thailand. Procedia - Social and Be-havioral Sciences, 25, 189–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011. 10.540
Chang, Y., Yeh, T., Lai, I., & Yang, C. (2021). Job Competency and Intention to Stay among Nurs-ing Assistants: The Mediating Effects of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Job Satisfaction. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(12), 6436. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126436
Codling, S., Pinnock, J., Barrett, E., Gayle, S., Stephen-son, N., Sibblies, N., & Sinclair-Maragh, G. (2022). Factors contributing to staff turnover in the hotel industry: A literature review. IntechOpen eBooks. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107025
Darolia, C. R., Kumari, P., & Darolia, S. (2009). Per-ceived organizational support, work motivation, and organizational commitment as determinants of job performance [Dataset]. In PsycEXTRA Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e635812009-001
De Sousa Sabbagha, M., Ledimo, O., & Martins, N. (2018). Predicting staff retention from employee motivation and job satisfaction. Journal of Psy-chology in Africa, 28(2), 136–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2018.1454578
Delaney, M. L., & Royal, M. A. (2017). Breaking En-gagement Apart: The role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in engagement strategies. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 10(1), 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2017.2
Eisenberger, R., Shanock, L. R., & Wen, X. (2019). Perceived organizational support: Why caring about employees counts. Annual Review of Or-ganizational Psychology and Organizational Be-havior, 7(1), 101–124. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012119-044917
Fisher, C. D. (2002). Antecedents and consequences of real-time affective reactions at work. Motivation and Emotion, 26(1), 3–30. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015190007468
Ghani, B., Zada, M., Memon, K. R., Ullah, R., Khattak, A., Han, H., Ariza-Montes, A., & Araya-Castillo, L. (2022). Challenges and Strategies for Employee Retention in the Hospitality Industry: A review. Sustainability, 14(5), 2885. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052885
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2022). A Primer on Partial Least Squares Struc-tural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) (3rd ed.). Sage
Hamid, Z., & Kundi, Y. M. (2024). Discretionary HR practices and happiness at work (HAW): a se-quential mediation model of perceived organiza-tional support and meaning of work. Evidence-based HRM a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebhrm-05-2023-0111
Han, J. W. (2020). A review of antecedents of em-ployee turnover in the hospitality industry on in-dividual, team and organizational levels. Interna-tional Hospitality Review, 36(1), 156–173. https://doi.org/10.1108/ihr-09-2020-0050
Kamselem, K. M., Nuhu, M. S., Lawal, K. A., Liman, A. M., & Abdullahi, M. S. (2022). Testing the nexus between reward system, job condition and employee retention through intervening role of employee engagement among nursing staff. Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research, 40(1), 34–53. https://doi.org/10.1108/agjsr-05-2022-0061
Khan, W. I. & Iqbal, Y. (2013). An investigation of the relationship between work motivation and employee engagement. A study on Allied bank of Pakistan (Master thesis). http://umu.diva-por-tal.org/smash/get/diva2:709127/FULLTEXT03.pdf
Li, X., Zhang, Y., Yan, D., Wen, F., & Zhang, Y. (2020). Nurses’ intention to stay: The impact of perceived organizational support, job control and job satisfaction. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 76(5), 1141–1150. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14305
Mardanov, I. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, organizational context, employee contentment, job satisfaction, performance and intention to stay. Evidence-based HRM a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship, 9(3), 223–240. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebhrm-02-2020-0018
Margareth, L., & Nurdayadi, N. (2024). The role of perceived organisational support, work motiva-tion, and organizational learning toward employee performance. In Advances in economics, business and management research/Advances in Econom-ics, Business and Management Research (pp. 899–912). https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-585-0_61
Nancarrow, S., Bradbury, J., Pit, S. W., & Ariss, S. (2014). Intention to Stay and Intention to Leave: Are They Two Sides of the Same Coin? A Cross‐sectional Structural Equation Modelling Study among Health and Social Care Workers. Journal of Occupational Health, 56(4), 292–300. https://doi.org/10.1539/joh.14-0027-oa
O’Driscoll, M. P., & Randall, D. M. (1999). Perceived Organisational Support, Satisfaction with Re-wards, and Employee Job Involvement and Or-ganisational Commitment. Applied Psychology, 48(2), 197–209. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.1999.tb00058.x
Ohunakin, F., Adeniji, A. A., Ogunlusi, G., Igbadumhe, F., & Sodeinde, A. G. (2020). Talent retention strategies and employees’ behavioural outcomes: Empirical evidence from hospitality industry. Verslas Teorija Ir Praktika, 21(1), 192–199. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2020.11061
Ononye, U. (2023). Quality of work life, work motiva-tion, job satisfaction and ethical behaviour. Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Management Studies, 10(1), 37–42. https://doi.org/10.20448/ajssms.v10i1.4454
Ononye, U., Ndudi, F. E., & Memeh, J. (2023). The role of hope and trust in management in internal employment opportunity and turnover intention relationship in the banking industry in Delta State, Nigeria. Multidisciplinary Reviews, 6(2), 2023019. https://doi.org/10.31893/multirev.2023019
Pandey, V. K., & Sharma, M. (2025). Mapping the happiness research in business management: a bibliometric exploration. Cogent Business & Management, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2025.2474855
1inder, C. C. (2014). Work Motivation in Organiza-tional Behavior. Psychology Press: London, UK
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J., & Pod-sakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the litera-ture and recommended remedies. Journal of Ap-plied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
Qian, H., & Balwi, M. K. B. M. (2024). Understanding the complexity of intention to stay: Influencing factors and strategic insights for enhancing em-ployee retention. Advances in Economics Man-agement and Political Sciences, 93(1), 129–135. https://doi.org/10.54254/2754-1169/93/ 20241126
Salas-Vallina, A., & Alegre, J. (2018). Happiness at work: Developing a shorter measure. Journal of Management & Organization, 27(3), 460–480. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2018. 24
Shah, M., & Asad, M. (2018). Effect of motivation on employee retention: Mediating role of perceived organizational support. European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, 7(2), 511–520. https://european-science.com/eojnss/article/view/5280
Singh, R. (2016). The impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators on employee engagement in infor-mation organizations. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 57(2), 197–206. https://doi.org/10.12783/issn.2328-2967/57/2/11
Singh, S., & Aggarwal, Y. (2017). Happiness at Work Scale: Construction and psychometric validation of a measure using mixed method approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 19(5), 1439–1463. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-017-9882-x
Škerháková, V., Korba, P., Harničárová, M., & Taha, V. A. (2022). Talent Retention: Analysis of the antecedents of talented employees’ intention to stay in the organizations. European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 14(1), 56–67. https://doi.org/10.24818/ejis.2022.04
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Uzoma Heman Ononye
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish on this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
