Polychronicity, work engagement, and turnover intention: The moderating role of perceived organizational support in the hotel industry

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.09.004Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Human resource management challenges of the hospitality industry are analysed.

  • Po-fit theory is applied to gauge the job performance of polychronic employees.

  • Perceived organizational support (POS) enhances the work engagement.

  • Work engagement plays a mediating role in improving employee traits.

  • Work engagement increases job performance and reduces turnover intention.

Abstracts

This study illuminates one of the critical concerns in organizational research to the extent of polychronicity affecting employees' engagement, job performance (JP), and turnover intention (TI) in the hospitality industry. Based on person-organization fit (Po-Fit theory), the study examines the buffering effects of perceived organizational support (POS) on employees’ work engagement, job performance, and turnover intention. Survey data is collected from 283 respondents of Pakistan three-star and four-star hotels employees and partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is used to assess the proposed hypotheses. The results highlight the mediating role of work engagement that increases the polychronic employees' performance level and decreases their turnover rate. Moreover, the results show that polychronic employees with a high level of POS can handle multitasking and task switching to cope TI. Finally, this study confirms that POS plays a vital role in the hotel industry. Therefore, the management of the hotel should make the right strategy to decrease the employees' turnover intention. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research, are defined.

Introduction

Increased globalization has brought several changes in the current business world, including the hospitality industry (Cheng & Chen, 2017). Nowadays, the hospitality business has become more demanding, where employees are required to perform their tasks perfectly (Wang, 2017). However, engaging and retaining the pool of talented employees in the hotels is a critical task (Afsar, Shahjehan, & Shah, 2018; Kong, Jiang, Chan, & Zhou, 2018). These Days, several roles in the hospitality business require employees to be flexible and accomplish multiple duties simultaneously; i.e. employees have to involve in multitasking (Afsar et al., 2018; Z. Li, Duverger, & Yu, 2018). For this, individuals must have been selected depending on their personality traits, competence, and capacity to meet the demands of service employment (J.-Cheng & Yi, 2018).

Polychronicity involves performing multiple activities simultaneously or switching between different tasks (Allen C Bluedorn, Kaufman, & Lane, 1992; Kaufman-Scarborough, 2017). It is based on the idea that people multitask with task-switching behavior in a particular amount of time (Osman M et al., 2013; Huang, van der Veen, & Song, 2018). Polychronic individuals are able to withstand interruptions and adapt to unexpected situations by changing planned activities’ schedules (Guchait et al, 2018). Such a person may attempt to absorb additional alternatives in real-time while executing many activities (Arici, 2019). Within the time-use preferences at a specified period, he would go backwards and forwards among tasks (Wu, Gao, Wang, & Yuan, 2020). This type of polychronic person has a low turnover rate, excellent performance, and higher stress tolerance (Chinchanachokchai, Duff, & Sar, 2015).

A number of pertinent research have established a link between polychronicity, job satisfaction, and turnover in the hospitality business (Osman M et al., 2013; Kaufman-Scarborough, 2017; Huang et al., 2018; Grobelna, 2019b; Muhammad Asghar, Gull, Tayyab, Zhijie, & Tao, 2020). Within this context, several studies have found the fundamental relationship between polychronicity and different job outcomes based on person-organization fit theory (Kaufman-Scarborough, 2017; Korabik, Rhijn, Ayman, Lero, & Hammer, 2017). As a result, it is predicted that if there is a person-o-fit between high multitasking job demands and an individual with high levels of polychronicity (Afsar & Badir, 2017), this individual will have low turnover and show high performance (Grobelna, 2019b; Muhammad Asghar et al., 2020). However, the mediating and moderating mechanism related to polychronicity to job performance and turnover intention through work engagement and perceived organizational support (POS) in three-star and four-star hotel contexts has not been explored yet. (Three-star hotels are frequently affiliated with larger, more upscale hotel brands like Marriott, Radisson, and DoubleTree, etc. These hotels are typically more fashionable and comfortable than one- and two-star establishments, and they provide a broader selection of services and amenities (Pacheco, L. 2017; Hu, F. 2020). Also referred to as outstanding hotels, four-star hotels are large, affluent businesses that are professionally staffed and equipped with an abundance of amenities. The spacious rooms feature luxury furnishings and exquisite details such as plush bedding and high-end bath amenities. A four-star hotel provides exceptional services and experiences to its most discerning guests. It entails a more expansive scope of facilities and architecture. These hotels are typically located in good locations and have dining areas and unique amenities such as in-house gyms and swimming pools (Pacheco, L. 2017; Hu, F. 2020; AlKahtani et al., 2021).

The primary objective of this study is to address the hospitality industry's workforce and management challenges. Five-star hotels are quite rare and hence account for a small fraction of our hotel industry jobs. Employees at five-star hotels are equipped with cutting-edge technology as a minimum prerequisite for task completion and are well-trained to do their duties (Osman M et al., 2013). Second, they are well compensated and receive ongoing training and development. On the other hand, three- and four-star hotels account for a sizable share of the broader hotel business, where managerial conflicts and a high employee turnover rate are prevalent. These types of hotels have disregarded mainly the development of strategies for employee retention and job satisfaction (J.-Cheng & Yi, 2018). These types of hotels do not provide personnel with technical assistance that would aid them in their daily tasks. Employee training and development are also not given attention, despite the fact that staff are forced to execute many duties concurrently. Additionally, their well-being and competitive compensation packages are lacking in this type of industry (Pacheco, L. 2017; Hu, F. 2020). On the basis of this rationale, we seek to examine the impact of polychronicity on job performance and turnover intention under the mediating and moderating effects of work engagement and perceived organizational support, respectively in the four- and five-star hotel industry.

An extensive research survey indicates a research gap in assessing how to work engagement and perceived organizational support improve polychronicity and job performance and decrease turnover intention in the three-star and four-star hotel industry. Thus, this study attempts to bridge this knowledge gap by establishing a relationship between the variables mentioned above for the hotel business. Through this research, we mainly attempt to address the following questions.

  • Does work engagement increase the job performance of polychronic employees?

  • Does work engagement decrease the turnover intention of polychronic employees?

  • Does perceived organizational support (POS) enhance the engagement and performance of polychronic employees and reduce their turnover intention?

Work engagement is a self-motivated behaviour that shows employees' dedication to their job (Tsaur, Hsu, & Lin, 2019). It reveals how well individuals execute their duties by psychologically, physically, and emotionally tying them to their jobs. However, recent studies (Jung & Yoon, 2016) and Lu, Lu, Gursoy, & Neale, 2016) have focused on psychological capital, job satisfaction, and job commitment as a moderator or mediator to decrease the negative effects of polychronicity on employees' turnover intention, no one has emphasized on perceived organizational support linking polychronicity and work engagement to employees’ job performance and TI (Grobelna, 2019a; S. Park, Johnson, & Chaudhuri, 2019). Primarily, the buffering role of perceived organizational support (POS) on the impacts of polychronicity on work engagement, job performance, and turnover intention has not yet been explored. POS is an essential aspect of the hospitality industry to improve efficiency across many organizations.

The hospitality industry, especially three-star and four-star hotels, have little consideration of how POS impacts polychronic employee behavioural and organizational outcomes (J.-Cheng & Yi, 2018). POS is defined as which level needs to support and motivate the employees to handle several tasks. Additional research has suggested that POS increase employee engagement and decrease turnover rate (J. J. Li, Bonn, & Ye, 2019). This study explores the buffering role of POS, contemplating its factors to reduce turnover intention and polychronicity impact on employee engagement, consequently their turnover intention (TI) and job performance (JP) (see Fig. 1).

Furthermore, this research contributes to both the theoretical and empirical literature of polychronicity, employees' work engagement, JP, and TI in two aspects (see Table 1). First, this research determines the impact of polychronicity on employees' turnover intention and job performance through employees' engagement; this process is essential for employees and the organizational level, especially in the hotel business. Obviously, the three-star and four-star hotel industry have a higher turnover rate than other businesses, where polychronic employees are required to perform in difficult work situations (J.-Cheng & Yi, 2018; J. J. Li et al., 2019). The second contribution of this study explores the buffering role of POS to enhance the relationship of polychronicity and employees' engagement, consequently increasing the employees' performance and decreasing turnover intention. In managerial terms, understanding the nature of polychronic employees and how it can affect job performance immensely facilitate the managers in making a strategy to reduce employee turnover intention and improve employee engagement. POS as a moderator in this study relates to polychronic individuals' and employees engagement. Finally, our study's findings provide insight into the polychronic behaviour of employees who undertake numerous jobs concurrently, where POS plays a crucial role in mitigating employee turnover intentions and enhancing employee performance.

Section snippets

Literature review and hypotheses

This section provides comprehensive analysis of the current body of the research related to polychronicity, work engagement, perceived organizational support, turnover intention, and job performance.

Sample and procedure

We have used a cross-sectional research design in this study. This type of research design is more convenient and cost-effective for researchers as data can be collected in a single time frame. When hypothesis is based on a well-developed and tested theory, this design is beneficial and supportive. The purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from 23 (15 three-star and 8 four-star) hotels situated in the major cities of the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The rationale for selecting

Result and data analysis

Complexity in analysing the relationship among constructs require a more comprehensive data analysis approach (A. Hair, 1998). To do this, we employ the partial least squares and structural equation modelling techniques in Smart-PLS (v 3.2.7) to evaluate the study variables included in our proposed model, as described in Ali, Rasoolimanesh, Sarstedt, Ringle, and Ryu (2018). We can use the PLS-SEM technique to examine the complexity of reflective and formative models (Joe F Hair, Ringle, &

Discussion and conclusion

The objectives of this research are twofold: a) to determine the role of work engagement in mediating the relationship between polychronicity, task switching behavior, job performance (JP), and turnover intention (TI); and b) to develop a buffering role of POS in the relationship between polychronicity and employee engagement, with the goal of increasing JP and decreasing TI which is a key contribution of this study where POS serves as a moderator among polychronicity, work engagement, JP, and

Acknowledgement

This research work was Funded by the General Research Project of Humanities and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education, China (18YJAZH079).

References (91)

  • E. Mattarelli et al.

    The interplay between organizational polychronicity, multitasking behaviors and organizational identification: A mixed-methods study in knowledge intensive organizations

    International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

    (2015)
  • I.-J. Park et al.

    Relax from job, Don't feel stress! the detrimental effects of job stress and buffering effects of coworker trust on burnout and turnover intention

    Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management

    (2020)
  • R. Schlittgen et al.

    Segmentation of PLS path models by iterative reweighted regressions

    Journal of Business Research

    (2016)
  • S.-H. Tsaur et al.

    Workplace fun and work engagement in tourism and hospitality: The role of psychological capital

    International Journal of Hospitality Management

    (2019)
  • J. Wen et al.

    Emotional intelligence, emotional labor, perceived organizational support, and job satisfaction: A moderated mediation model

    International Journal of Hospitality Management

    (2019)
  • B. Afsar et al.

    Person–organization fit, perceived organizational support, and organizational citizenship behavior: The role of job embeddedness

    Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism

    (2016)
  • B. Afsar et al.

    Workplace spirituality, perceived organizational support and innovative work behavior: The mediating effects of person-organization fit

    Journal of Workplace Learning

    (2017)
  • B. Afsar et al.

    Frontline employees' high-performance work practices, trust in supervisor, job-embeddedness and turnover intentions in hospitality industry

    International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

    (2018)
  • U. Ahmed et al.

    Modelling the link between developmental human resource practices and work engagement: The moderation role of service climate

    Global Business Review

    (2019)
  • A.S. Albalawi et al.

    Perceived organizational support, alternative job opportunity, organizational commitment, job satisfaction and turnover intention: A moderated-mediated model

    Organizacija

    (2019)
  • F. Ali et al.

    An assessment of the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in hospitality research

    International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

    (2018)
  • N. AlKahtani et al.

    Impact of employee empowerment on organizational commitment through job satisfaction in four and five stars hotel industry

    Management Science Letters

    (2021)
  • N.Ç. Arici

    Does job satisfaction mediate the effect of role stressors on employee turnover intention in hotel businesses?

    İşletme Araştırmaları Dergisi

    (2019)
  • M. Asghar et al.

    The impact of work-family conflict on turnover intentions: The moderating role of perceived family supportive supervisor behavior

    J Hotel Bus Manage

    (2018)
  • R.P. Bagozzi

    Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error: A comment

    (1981)
  • C. Balducci et al.

    Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the utrecht work engagement scale (UWES-9): A cross-cultural analysis

    European Journal of Psychological Assessment

    (2010)
  • A.C. Bluedorn et al.

    Polychronicity and the inventory of polychronic values (IPV)

    Journal of Managerial Psychology

    (1999)
  • A.C. Bluedorn et al.

    How many things do you like to do at once? An introduction to monochronic and polychronic time

    Academy of Management Perspectives

    (1992)
  • S. Campbell et al.

    Purposive sampling: Complex or simple? Research case examples

    Journal of Research in Nursing

    (2020)
  • S.A. Carless

    Person–job fit versus person–organization fit as predictors of organizational attraction and job acceptance intentions: A longitudinal study

    Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology

    (2005)
  • G.C. Carrión et al.

    Mediation analyses in partial least squares structural equation modeling: Guidelines and empirical examples Partial least squares path modeling

    (2017)
  • J. Chen

    A juggling act: CEO polychronicity and firm innovation

    The Leadership Quarterly

    (2020)
  • H. Chen et al.

    Work-Family conflict and turnover intentions: A study comparing China and US hotel employees

    Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism

    (2018)
  • J.-C. Cheng et al.

    Job resourcefulness, work engagement and prosocial service behaviors in the hospitality industry

    International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

    (2017)
  • H.-T. Chen et al.

    Incivility, satisfaction and turnover intention of tourist hotel chefs

    International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

    (2019)
  • T. Chin et al.

    Polychronic knowledge creation in cross-border business models: a sea-like heuristic metaphor

    Journal of Knowledge Management

    (2020)
  • J.M. Conte et al.

    Investigating relationships among polychronicity, work-family conflict, job satisfaction, and work engagement

    Journal of Managerial Psychology

    (2019)
  • J.M. Conte et al.

    Polychronicity, big five personality dimensions, and sales performance

    Human Performance

    (2005)
  • M. Daskin

    Testing a structural equation model of polychronicity

    International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

    (2019)
  • D. Dawley et al.

    Perceived organizational support and turnover intention: The mediating effects of personal sacrifice and job fit

    The Journal of Social Psychology

    (2010)
  • R. Eisenberger et al.

    Perceived organizational support, discretionary treatment, and job satisfaction

    Journal of Applied Psychology

    (1997)
  • I. Etikan et al.

    Sampling and sampling methods

    Biometrics & Biostatistics International Journal

    (2017)
  • J.-L. Farh et al.

    Individual-level cultural values as moderators of perceived organizational support–employee outcome relationships in China: Comparing the effects of power distance and traditionality

    Academy of Management Journal

    (2007)
  • C. Fornell et al.

    Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error

    Journal of Marketing Research

    (1981)
  • C. Fornell et al.

    Structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error: Algebra and statistics

    (1981)
  • Cited by (36)

    • Lack of IT and digital marketing professionals in hospitality: is it education's fault?

      2022, Heliyon
      Citation Excerpt :

      The hotel staff is pivotal in facilitating the fulfillment of positive outcomes in light of customers' satisfaction and hotels' overall profitability. However, as one of the rapidly developing industries throughout the world, hospitality encounters serious issues related to recruiting and retaining adequate and qualified employees (Im, 2011; Ashgar et al., 2021), especially high-performing ones (Khan et al., 2021). Large numbers of part-time staff, low educational competence among staff, and a high turnover rate constitute the status quo in the industry (Underthun and Jordhus-Lier, 2018), and this situation demonstrates the employee problem from another perspective.

    • The intersection of parental support and abusive supervision: A multi-wave design

      2022, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management
      Citation Excerpt :

      Chen, Sparrow, and Cooper (2016) have found that positive perceptions of person–organization fit can have long-term positive influences on one's career. Previous research has also found that a job applicant who perceives a high level of person–organization fit tends to be attracted to and accept the offer from that organization (Asghar et al., 2021). There is a potential salience of the process by which interns proactively manage their perceptions of fit (Zhao & Liden, 2011).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text