The Effect of Workplace Friendship on Hotel Employees’ Intention to Leave: Moderating Role of Psychological Contract Violation

Abstract

Sustainability is a universal value of running a business. This study examines the influence of workplace friendships among hotel staff on their intention to leave, while considering the moderating effect of psychological contract violation. The sample group of the questionnaire is the employees in the five-star hotels in Taiwan. This study employs the purposive sampling method to collect questionnaires. For this research, 450 questionnaires were handed out to hotel staffs, with 150 questionnaires distributed, respectively, in Northern, Central, and Southern Taiwan. A total of 368 valid questionnaires were collected, resulting in an effective response rate of 81.78%. The results indicate that: (1) Friendship opportunities and friendship prevalence can significantly decrease workers’ intention to leave their jobs; (2) Psychological contract violation moderates the negative influence of friendship opportunity/friendship prevalence on one’s intention to leave. Finally, the paper proposes theoretical implications, practical implications and future research directions in accordance with the findings.