A study of critical factors of the job involvement for hotel employees—Taking hotels in Taiwan as an example

The selection of staff is always a critical success factor for managers in the hospitality service sector. This work focuses on the front-line employees and supervisors of international tourist hotels as the study subjects to explore the direct effects of the individual guanxi networks and POS (perceived organizational support) of hotel staff on their job involvement, and examines the indirect effects of these via personality characteristics. For this paper, questionnaire surveys were utilized; 246 questionnaires returned, of which 221 were deemed valid samples appropriate for further analysis. Reliability analysis, EFA, CFA, and SEM were used to examine the data.After integrating the results from the empirical analysis, the findings of the study are as follows: (1) POS had a significant positive correlation and effect on personality characteristics and job involvement; (2) individual guanxi networks had a significant positive correlation and effect on POS and personality characteristics; (3) individual guanxi networks had an indirect effect on job involvement via employees’ personality characteristics and POS. This means that personal characteristics and POS can mediate the relationship between individual guanxi networks and job involvement. The findings of this research are discussed, and the conclusions and limitations are presented, along with suggestions for both academics and managers.

► POS affects personality characteristics and job involvement.
► Individual guanxi networks affect POS and personality characteristics.
► Individual guanxi networks affect job involvement via employees’ personality characteristics.