Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

Key Words:
Organizational commitment, employee satisfaction. 
INTRODUCTION 
In the competitive environment in which today’s economy develops, the role of workers and their levels of 
involvement with, and commitment to, the organization are becoming increasingly important. As Hosmer (1996, p. 
501) states, “companies today –due to increasing global competition and advancing technological complexity- are 
much more dependent than previously upon the trust of workers, specialists, managers”. That trust is an element of 
stability for the firm since it affects the conduct of employees and, in turn, has significant implications for corporate 
performance (Déniz and De Saá, 2003). Therefore, although the employees’ involvement and commitment to 
organizations have always been necessary, the current economic scenario makes worker collaboration an essential 
factor for business success. That fact is even more relevant when we focus on the tourist industry in general, and the 
hotel sector in particular, where the employee and the customer are both present in the provision of the service. This 
confers the employee with a prominent role that establishes him/her as a basic and integrating element of the service 
provided: an intangible service where the principal input is the customer, to whom a special, and perhaps one-off, 
response must be made. However, despite the importance of employee satisfaction and commitment for the good 
functioning of hotel firms, the number of studies that analyze those aspects is rather limited. Thus, this work focuses 
on studying how the different dimensions that determine employee job satisfaction (e.g., job conditions, reward 
system, relations with superiors and colleagues, organizational HR policies) influence the level of employee 
commitment to the organization.