Determinants of Employee Engagement in the South African Hospitality Industry During COVID-19 Lockdown Epoch: Employee Perception

Abstract

Employee engagement has emerged as an important concept in hospitality management as well as in human resources management fields. The purpose of the study was to assess the determinants of employee engagement in the South African hospitality industry. The study was conducted against a backdrop caused by volatile uncertain, complex and ambiguous business environments in which business and hotels in general operate exposing employees in the hotel industry to serve in very difficult conditions due to the nature of the diverse and changing needs of their clients. The study used a sample of 260 employees from 15 hotels within and around eThekwini municipality territorial jurisdiction. A cross-sectional survey was used based on a deductive research approach. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected using a questionnaire. Research findings submits that hotels that put a strong emphasis on cultivating engaged workers reap substantial rewards. Employees who report being engaged at work have been shown to perform better at work, as employee involvement is related to organisational results such as efficiency, organisational citizenship, and overall job performance. The researcher recommends that organisations should examine the possible relationships between engagement and performance-related outcome variables that indicate improving engagement, as these provide a competitive advantage over rivals.