The Role of Transformational Leadership and Psychological Capital in the Hotel Industry: A Sustainable Approach to Reducing Turnover Intention

Daria Gom, Tek Yew Lew, Mary Monica Jiony, Geoffrey Harvey Tanakinjal and Stephen Sondoh
Additional contact information
Daria Gom: Labuan Faculty of International Finance, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Labuan 87000, Malaysia
Tek Yew Lew: Faculty of Business, Curtin University Malaysia, Miri 98009, Malaysia
Mary Monica Jiony: Labuan Faculty of International Finance, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Labuan 87000, Malaysia
Geoffrey Harvey Tanakinjal: Labuan Faculty of International Finance, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Labuan 87000, Malaysia
Stephen Sondoh: Faculty of Business, Economics & Accountancy, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 19, 1-20

Abstract: With the high level of importance placed on service delivery and the elevated turnover rate experienced in the hotel industry, this study was conducted to explore the influences of perceived transformational leadership on the cross-cultural psychological capital and turnover intentions of frontline employees working in four- and five-star hotels in Sabah, Malaysia. Data were collected from 162 frontline employees using the purposive sampling method. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was performed to test the hypothesized relationships. The findings clearly demonstrate that transformational leadership positively affects cross-cultural psychological capital and negatively influences turnover intention. Cross-cultural psychological capital, on the other hand, has no substantial link with turnover intention and does not act as a mediator between transformative leadership and turnover intention. This study extends the hospitality literature by offering a new conceptual model representing the perceptions of frontline employees toward transformational leadership and cross-cultural psychological capital that influence the turnover intention of these employees based on the job demands–resources and conservation of resources theories. These findings have implications for the advancement of transformational leadership and cross-cultural psychological capital toward a sustainable approach to reducing employee turnover in the hotel industry.

Keywords: transformational leadership; cross-cultural psychological capital; turnover intention; frontline employees; job demands-resources theory; conservation of resources theory; hotel industry; hospitality; sustainability; Sabah; Malaysia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/10799/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/10799/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:19:p:10799-:d:645605

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().