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2007 Annual International CHRIE Conference & Exposition
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with physical working condition, satisfaction with the reward system, satisfaction with relations with superiors and
colleagues, and satisfaction with corporate HR policies have on the level of employee commitment to the
organization. Moreover, the importance of those variables in the tourism industry, particularly the accommodation
sector, in which employee satisfaction and commitment are key ingredients in the provision of a quality service
aimed at customer satisfaction, led to the research being undertaken in the context of hotels with more than 3 stars
on the island of Gran Canaria. In that sense, this work constitutes an effort to identify those important aspects of
business management in a context that practically no previous works have addressed.
An examination of the results obtained in the analyses regarding organizational commitment reveals that
the youngest employees display much lower commitment, which is perhaps explained by their better prospects in the
labor market and reflected in the high turnover of staff that characterizes the hotel industry. In contrast, employees
over 45 years-old have more reservations about leaving the firm, which may translate into stronger organizational
commitment since they consider their employment in the firm to be a very long term relationship. Similarly, the fact
that employees with only primary education also display a higher level of organizational commitment than those
with intermediate university degrees may be explained by the substitutability that they perceive in their jobs. In
commenting on the aspects that may help explain organizational commitment, we can say that satisfaction with the
physical conditions of the workplace exercise an influence on the employee’s commitment to the organization. This
relationship may be understood in terms of the importance of the physical and working context (cleanliness,
lighting, temperature, etc.) in which the employee performs his/her tasks, even though the hypotheses are tested in
the context of 3, 4 and 5-star hotels. Even in hotels of those categories, it is assumed that it is an important aspect of
the normal working day that the physical conditions of the workplace attain adequate standards of quality.
In line with the literature, this work also confirms the significant effect that satisfaction with the reward
system has on the organizational commitment of the employee. Thus, both direct reward, which includes financial
reward and promotion opportunities, and indirect reward, which covers compensation in kind related to the job (e.g.,
working hours, uniform, meals) are clear antecedents of organizational commitment. Therefore, its is logical to think
that an employee who is satisfied with the way the firm rewards him/her for his/her contributions to the firm will be
proud of the firm and even recommend it as a suitable place to work. In turn, the connection between satisfaction
with superiors and organizational commitment is also confirmed. Following the approach that managerial support
has a positive effect on commitment (Gaertner, 2000), our results show that the degree to which the employee is
satisfied with the professionalism of his/her superiors, the way in which those superiors fulfill their role, their style
of supervision and the general support received from them constitute a determining factor of the employee’s
organizational commitment and his/her wish to remain part of the organization. On the same lines, the results show
that hotels where the workers express higher levels of satisfaction with corporate HR polices (e.g., level of worker
autonomy, level of participation in important decision taking, training received from the firm, conflict resolution)
will have more highly committed employees. That relationship is in line with the conclusions of Kim (1999), who
points out that aspects such as employee autonomy and involvement in the work lead to affective responses like
organizational commitment. However, in the results obtained in this work, one facet of employee satisfaction does
not appear to explain employee organizational commitment. In effect, satisfaction with relations with colleagues
does not exercise any significant influence on organizational commitment. An explanation for this may be found in
the cohesion of informal groups that put the feeling of belonging to the group above that of belonging to the
organization. Thus, it is not possible to draw a conclusion about the relationship between those two variables.
Finally, it is necessary to point out that the conclusions of this work should be taken with caution due to a
series of aspects. Firstly, the use of the questionnaire limits the approach to information gathering although its
application in studies of attitudes may be deemed suitable. Secondly, the research context only permits conclusions
to be drawn about the hotel sector on Gran Canaria, and any generalization of the results to other sectorial contexts
should be made with caution. Finally, we must mention the static character of the research, which means that it is
impossible to analyze the evolution of satisfaction and organizational commitment over time.
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