Factors influence on turnover intention and job satisfaction of frontline employees in Vietnamese hospitality industry - The case in Vung Tau city and Ho Chi Minh city

Abstract

Frontline employees have an important role in hospitality industry because they influence directly on the service quality and customer satisfaction. However, frontline employees’ high turnover intention and their low job satisfaction are popular problems in Vietnam and many other countries. In addition, there are a few studies to explore this topic in hospitality management. Therefore, this study was implemented to identify factors, which influence on the turnover intention and job satisfaction of frontline employees at hotels. Based on a survey of 301 frontline employees in seven different hotels in Ho Chi Minh city and Vung Tau city, the results show that high-performance work practices (HPWPs), as expressed by frontline employees’ perception of training, empowerment and rewards, have indirectly effect on frontline employees’ turnover intention and job satisfaction through the mediating role of work engagement. Specifically, HPWPs directly influence on work engagement; then, work engagement has a negative effect on turnover intention and a positive effect on job satisfaction. Moreover, the study also expresses job satisfaction having a negative association with turnover intention of frontline employees. And there is no significant relationship between job embeddedness and turnover intention. The findings suggest that hospitality managers should motivate frontline employees’ work engagement by providing them enough training, empowerment and rewards. By this way, the managers can decrease turnover intention and increase job satisfaction of their frontline employees. Key words: Turnover intention, job satisfaction, work engagement, frontline employees, hospitality management.