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

 
INTRODUCTION 
Enz (2001) has uncovered, by surveying hospitality executives, that the most critical problem within the 
industry is the motivation and care for hourly employees. Additionally, Woods and Macaulay (1989) revealed that 
in fact managers often think that they know what employees in the hospitality industry want and what motivates 
them, yet their assumptions are often wrong. Most recently, Dermody, Young and Taylor (2004) conducted a study 
of hospitality workers providing insight into the reasons why employees choose to work in the industry and what 
factors encourage long-term commitment. Although, these studies address significant motivational issues faced by 
many hospitality managers today, minimal research has been published evaluating attitudes and motivations of part-
time workers and whether and how these behaviors differ from full-time employees. In fact, research analyzing the 
comparisons between part-time and full-time service employees in hospitality has been limited to the foodservice 
sector, and the recent research in this area of study has concluded mixed results for industry practitioners (Inman and 
Enz, 1995; Stamper and VanDyne, 2003). Furthermore, no empirical evidence was found that directly evaluates 
attitudes, behaviors, and commitment of part-time hotel employees despite the fact that they represent nearly 25 
percent of the total U.S. hotel workforce (BLS, 2005). Therefore, the current research project is designed to uncover 
whether part-time workers differ from full-time workers in their attitudes, behaviors and organizational commitment 
in the U.S. hotel industry.