Determinants Of Job Involvement Of Frontline Employees In Classified Hotels In Kwara State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The hotel industry’s growth has been felt globally. Due to its immense growth, it has

therefore attracted both skilled and semi-skilled personnel to work in the labor

intensive industry. Being an industry that requires fast and efficient services, there is a

need for the hotel industry to establish the factors that may affect its frontline

employees’ job involvement. This is due to the fact that, hotels rely heavily on

workforce as an important component for service delivery. Thus the overall objective

of the study was to examine the determinants of frontline employees’ job involvement

in classified hotels in Kwara state Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to establish

the relationship between work design characteristics, employee empowerment,

perceived organizational support and job involvement of front line employees in

classified hotels of Kwara state. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional survey

design approach and targeted all classified hotels in the state. The study used stratified

and convenience sampling techniques in order to get the required number of

respondents. The former was used to put hotels into different categories (strata)

whereas the latter was used to select the required number of the study participants

from the hotels included in the sampling frame. Quantitative and qualitative data were

collected using self-completed semi-structured questionnaires using both closedended

and open ended questions. Questionnaires were issued to 384 participants that

were selected from the forty three classified hotels in Kwara state. Descriptive and

inferential statistics were used to analyze quantitative data. The former comprised of

means and respective standard deviations. The latter encompassed Pearson

Correlation coefficient (r) that was used to examine relationships between the study

variables. Multiple regression analysis was used to establish the relative importance of

the study independent variables (work design characteristics, employee

empowerment, and perceived organizational support) on the dependent variable (job

involvement). Content analysis technique was used to analyze qualitative data in order

to offer more meaning on the quantitative data. Correlation results revealed direct

moderate correlations between work design characteristics (r = .361, p < .001),

employee empowerment (r = .393, p < .001), and perceived organizational support (r

= .312, p < .001) and job involvement. Thus, all null hypotheses indicating no

relationships between work design characteristics, employee empowerment and

perceived organizational support and job involvement were not supported. Multiple

linear regression analysis indicated that all the independent variables were significant

and together would explain 63.4% of the total variance in job involvement.

Nonetheless, employee empowerment was found to be the most significant predictor

of job involvement when compared to perceived organizational support and work

design characteristics. As a result, managers should take this into account and develop

appropriate actions. To this end, they should predominantly develop strategies and put

procedures in place to ensure that frontline employees are given the necessary

training, allocate duties on the basis of the strength of the staff. Additionally, correct

procedures and infrastructure must be identified to build and sustain an enabling work

environment in the establishments. Frontline employee need to be assured that they

are important to the organization and most importantly, their welfare is well looked into.