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Effects of disposition on hospitality employee job satisfaction and commitment
Paula Silva
Department of Management, California State University, Northridge, California, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of job attitudes to personality traits in a hospitality setting. Design/methodology/approach – The author uses a questionnaire at two hotel chains in the western US to ascertain the variables. Employees that are surveyed are all non-management personnel. Findings – The author finds that job attitudes, specifically, organizational commitment and job satisfaction are significantly related to the personality traits, the big five and locus of control. Research limitations/implications – The number of hotel employees studied is 159. A larger sample size could increase the validity of the findings. Practical implications – This paper encourages hotel management to consider the use of personality tests in the selection of hotel employees as the results suggest that certain traits are related to an employee’s job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Originality/value – The paper is original in the sense that prior work has mainly focused on the employee job attitude in relation to how the employee perceives the workplace. There have been limited investigations into the relationship between personality and job attitudes. This paper suggests that dispositions may play a role in the attitude of the employee. Keywords Job satisfaction, Hospitality management, Personality, Employee attitudes Paper type Research paper

Job satisfaction and commitment

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Introduction Employee turnover has been a large problem in the hospitality industry necessitating an investigation into the reasons for this turnover. Some of the reasons cited for this turnover are low compensation, inadequate benefits, poor working

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Corresponding author Paula Silva can be contacted at: [e-mail] To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [e-mail] Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints