The effects of mentoring on hotel staff turnover

Abstract

Purpose Mentoring was considered as an efficient way to facilitate staff attachment with hotels. Such a strong attachment has been demonstrated to reduce employees’ intention to quit. This study aims to investigate the mediating roles of organizational and occupational embeddedness in the relationships between mentoring functions and turnover intention. Design/methodology/approach The responses were collected from a sample of 354 employees in four hotels group across three Chinese provinces. A structural equation model (SEM) was applied to test the model and mediating roles of organizational and occupational embeddedness. Findings The results of SEM suggest that both organizational and occupational embeddedness mediated the relationships between mentoring functions (career and psychosocial support) and turnover intention. Specifically, employees who are able to receive successful mentoring can easily embed in their organization and occupation. Thus, these employees are reluctant to leave. Research limitations/implications Although this study reveals the important role of mediation, it has several limitations. First, the data drawn from Hebei, Beijing and Zhejiang provinces may lack geography representativeness. Second, this paper neglects potential moderating role of certain personal or context factors. Third, the time lag between the three data collections are not the same. Practical implications Managers should retain proper employees by introducing mentoring programs. Furthermore, to increase organizational and occupational embeddedness, managers should also consider the person-organization/occupation attachments of this industry. Originality/value This study tests organizational and occupational embeddedness simultaneously as mediators between mentoring and turnover intention through data obtained from the Chinese hotels.