Factors Affecting Hospitality Workers’ Intention to Leave the Industry during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Evidence from the UK

ABSTRACT

This study, drawing on a questionnaire survey conducted among UK hospitality workers in July 2021, aims to ascertain factors affecting intention to leave the hospitality industry. In particular, it seeks to find out how the interplay between negative moods, job satisfaction, career satisfaction, work experience and perceived organizational support (POS) influences this key variable. The results indicate that there was a negative relationship between job satisfaction and intention to leave the industry, as well as between career satisfaction and the latter variable. We also found a positive relationship between job satisfaction and career satisfaction. There was a positive association between negative moods and turnover intention. Crucially, POS had a direct positive effect on job satisfaction and a negative one on negative moods. Although the direct effect of POS on turnover intention was insignificant, the indirect effects of POS on the dependent variable through job satisfaction and negative moods, and, sequentially, through job satisfaction and career satisfaction were significant. It also turned out that, contrary to our a priori assumptions, work experience did not moderate the relationship between career satisfaction and intention to leave. The study concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

KEYWORDS:

• Hospitality workers
• job satisfaction
• career satisfaction
• moods
• covid-19
• United Kingdom

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the constructive comments of the anonymous referees.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).