Influence of Human Resource Management Practices on Employee Commitment in the Kenyan Hotel Industry: A Case of Panari Hotel

Abstract

Empirical evidence and statistical data show that the hotel industry in Kenya faces the challenge of employee commitment culminating to high employee turnover. Though employees can be easily hired, committing and retaining them becomes the most challenging job faced by the hotel managers when high turnover gradually increases. It is a fact that the hotel industry is confronted with some challenges induced by constant changes in technology, changing customers’ requirements and a highly competitive environment. The hotel industry is not so fortunate in maintaining standards of employee commitment and therefore retaining its employees. As such, the attentions on commitment to the organization’s human resources need to be enhanced. Based on this, the purpose of this study was to find out the influence of Human Resource Management Practices (HRMP) on employee commitment in the hotel industry in Kenya. This study employed descriptive research design. The target population of this study consisted of all the 298 employees of Panari hotel but stratified at all levels of employees in the various departments. A sample size of 168 employees was selected randomly. The study basically utilized primary data collected through questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential analysis was conducted. The findings indicated a positive influence of HRMP on employee commitment. The influence of employee resourcing was however not significant. The results revealed that employee resourcing positively influence employee commitment even though the influence is not significant. Based on this, the study recommends that hotels in Kenya and other companies in the same industry should not only improve their employee resourcing practices but also consider other human resource management practices too. The study also recommends that hotels in Kenya and other companies in the same industry should increase their investments to boost their employees’ capacity. Another recommendation by this study is that there is a need for hotel management and other companies in the same industry in Kenya to improve communication channels through increased team-briefs, employee feedback and improving the systems for information flow since this leads to a significant improvement on employee commitment.

Keywords: Employee Resourcing, Employee capacity building, Employee involvement, Communication, employee commitment