Work - family conflicts as a cause of turnover intentions in zero rated hotels in Nairobi city, Kenya

Abstract

Due to the nature of work in the Hotel Industry, there is a tendency that turnover intentions on employees will be experienced. The study examined time-based conflict, strain-based conflict, and the behavior-based conflict that influence the turnover intentions of employees in the hotel industry. Relevant literature was reviewed on the various work-family conflicts that lead to turnover intentions. This study contributed to our understanding of the relationship of work - family conflict and organizationally meaningful consequences as turnover intentions. Adams' Equity Theory was used to show that subtle and variable factors affect an employee's assessment and perception of their relationship with their work and their employer. The study was conducted on ‘O’ rated Hotels in Nairobi, Kenya. The research design used was explanatory survey. The population for the study consisted of employees totaling 208. The sampling techniques used were probability, stratified sampling and simple random sampling. The research used questionnaires as instruments for data collection. The questionnaire was developed on a series of measures based on standardized attitude scales. Regression Analysis and Pearson Correlation, with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) were used to analyze data. The findings showed that the work family conflicts, the time-based, strain-based and behavior-based conflicts had a positive relation to turnover intentions of employees. The study found that 60.5% (n=104) of the respondents often wished to leave the hotel industry profession. The results showed that time-based conflict was positively correlated to turnover intentions (coefficient estimate (β1 = 0.27, p value =0.000), while strainbased conflict was also positively correlated to turnover intentions (coefficient estimate (β2 = 0.323, p value =0.000). Lastly the behavior based conflict also showed a positive correlation to turnover intentions (coefficient estimate (β3 = 0.27, p value =0.000). In conclusion, the study findings showed that there was enough prove that time-based conflict, and strain based conflict, particularly long and irregular hours of working, and combining work and family roles was a contributory factor to turnover intentions among the employees. Therefore, when an employee is stressed due to work overload, conflict resulted as less attention would be paid to the family thus leading to job dissatisfaction and turnover intention. Thus, inter-role conflict is experienced when pressure arising at work are incompatible with pressure arising in family role. It was recommended that the employees in the hotel industry should have workplace flexibility in terms of work-hour scheduling and how to cope with family concerns, and should have family-friendly policies. Finally, the organization should keep a corporate culture that invites creativity and fun while the employees are at work.