Antecedents and outcome of job embeddedness: Evidence from four and five-star hotels

• Published in: International journal of hospitality management 2019-10, Vol.83, p.37-45
• Main Authors: Chan, Wei Leong, Ho, Jo Ann, Sambasivan, Murali, Ng, Siew Imm
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Felt obligation; Hotel frontline employees; Level of control over work hours; Off-the-job embeddedness; On-the-job embeddedness; Proactive customer service performance
• ISSN: 0278-4319; 1873-4693
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2019.04.011

•Job embeddedness determines proactive customer service performance of employees.•Level of control over work hours and felt obligation determine job embeddedness.•Job embeddedness mediates the relationship between felt obligation and proactive customer service performance. The present study explores the antecedents and outcome of job embeddedness. The antecedents are: level of control over work hours and felt obligation. The outcome is proactive customer service performance. Using self-administered questionnaires, 163 paired responses were gathered from frontline employees and their supervisors/managers in 16 hotels/resorts with a rating of four and five stars in Malaysia. Frontline employees responded to the questions on level of control over work hours, felt obligation and job embeddedness (on-the-job and off-the-job). Supervisors/managers responded to the questions on their employees’ proactive customer service performance. The salient findings are: (1) Level of control over work hours and felt obligation have significant relationships with on-the-job embeddedness; (2) On-the-job embeddedness has a significant relationship with proactive customer service performance; (3) On-the-job embeddedness mediates the relationship between felt obligation and proactive customer service performance; and (4) Off-the-job embeddedness has a significant relationship with on-the-job embeddedness.