Determinant of Employees’ Motivation in the Hotel Industry

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to identify the significant motivational factors affecting frontline employees who are currently working in the three and above star hotels in Mekelle city, Mekelle, Ethiopia. Descriptive study design was used to analyze the data collected through questionnaire from a sample of 157 front-line employees. The survey questionnaires was distributed to  the randomly selected frontline employees to evaluate the priory predetermined motivational factors from different theories on a 5-point scale indicating the level of importance associated with each factor.  The obtained data was processed through STATA version 11.0 software applications and was analyzed via weighted mean score, frequency, standard deviation, percentage, histogram and charts. The research findings indicate that (1) service (2) autonomy (3) organizational policy (4) supervision and (5) growth are the top five motivational factors among frontline employees in the hotel industry. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommended that hoteliers need focus on the identified significant motivational factors so as to satisfy customer’s needs and should also consider the differences on  demographic factors to deliver tailored motivational factors to their frontline employees accordingly.