Quitting the hotel job: empirical observation from the Eastern Region of Ghana

Abstract

The voluntary quitting of a job, especially when it involves valued employees, has dire consequences for the affected organization and the industry as a whole. Consequently, identifying the factors that trigger quitting intentions should be the first step towards devising strategies to minimise employees’ attrition rate. The current study explored the rate of quitting and factors that determine or influence employee’s intention to quit hotel jobs in the Eastern Region of Ghana as well as the perceived consequences and strategies put in place by management to minimise the problem. Owing to the small numbers of hotels (37), quantitative survey used a census involving all, star-rated hotels in the study area. Afterwards, 310 hotel staff were selected through random sampling. Additionally, eight employees and nine key informants, including managers and proprietors were purposively sampled and interviewed. Quantitative data were analysed using chi-square tests, binary logistic regression and factor analysis, while qualitative data were recoded, processed and analysed thematically. Intention to quit was found to be high. Overall, 71% of the employees intended to quit. Unequal treatment, training, professional comitment of staff, lack significant role in employee intention to quit. Unmarried employees and those who had attained secondary and technical/vocational education had a higher propensity to quit. Employees in the human resource and food and beverage departments, those in the higher star-rated or large hotels were the most likely to quit. Strategic measures put in place included reward system and compensation packages. Frequent collaboration between the hotel sector and educational institutions is recommended to alleviate the threats of quitting jobs.