Contextualising hotel career behaviour: testing a sociocultural and organizational career model

Abstract

This study applies Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to develop and empirically test a contextual model of hotel career outcomes in Ghana, focusing on how social and organizational factors shape employees' career attitudes and intentions. Drawing on survey data from 769 frontline hotel employees, Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to assess both the measurement and structural models. The results reveal that subjective norms significantly and positively influence career attitudes. Transformational leadership not only strengthens employees' career attitudes and intentions but also moderates the relationship between subjective norms and career attitudes, amplifying their positive effect. Additionally, favourable career attitudes strongly predict employees' career intentions, underscoring the importance of cultivating positive perceptions to enhance employee commitment. The findings offer practical implications for the hospitality and tourism (H&T) industry, particularly across collectivist (e.g., African and Asian countries) and individualist (e.g., U.S., Australia, Canada, and Europe) contexts. Theoretically, the study extends SCCT by integrating contextual influences within the hotel industry and highlighting transformational leadership's moderating role. It also provides a foundation for future research to explore other contextual factors such as career development programs, organizational commitment, and psychological contracts in shaping career outcomes.