Job performance of generation Y employees in selected hotels in Kisumu City, Kenya

Abstract

Generation Y, the newest and the youngest member in the workforce all over the world are making their presence felt and causing business to re-think their working practices. Despite many theoretical and empirical studies on millennial, there has not been much research done on factors affecting generation Y job performance. Nonetheless, each generation of employees bring new expectations and values to the workplace. Two thirds of Kenyans in formal employment and aged below 30 years are not satisfied with their jobs and are not willing to stay in the same job for more than a couple of years. This scenario has resulted into an increase in the cost of recruitment for organizations, a condition expected to continue as more of generation Y enter into the workplace. The hotel sector employs a bulk of generation Y and therefore faces the risk of increased labor turnover and reduced performance. The purpose of this study was therefore to establish factors affecting job performance of generation Y employees in selected hotels in Kisumu City. Specifically, the study sought to determine the effect of organization culture, the abilities and motivation of generation Y employees on job performance. The study was informed by McGregor‟s theory X and Y and Herzberg two-factor theory. The research adopted descriptive research designs. The study target population comprised of 108 generation Y employees from 12 purposively selected hotels. In total, 85 randomly selected employees from the 12 hotels participated in the study. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data, which was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. From the model, (R2 = .852) showing that factors account for 85.2% variation in job performance of Generation Y employees. The research findings revealed that generation Y abilities (β= 0.379, p= 0.000), motivation (β= 0.281, p= 0.000) and organization culture (β= 0.327, p= 0.000) positively affect job performance. The study concludes that generation Y abilities, motivation and organization culture are significant predictors of job performance. Thus there is need for hotels‟ management to devise strategies to improve generation Y employees‟ abilities, motivation and organization factors in order to enhance job performance. A further study is required to establish other factors that explain 14.8% variance in generation Y job performance.