Assessment task 1

Individual Literature Review

Job satisfaction in hospitality industry in

Australia

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Abstract
In this easy, various literatures in relates to the job satisfaction mainly in the hospitality industry
of Australia, it reviewed and analyzed through the literature review and various research has
been done to find how, Australian hospitality industries is running? Their job satisfactions and
some other issue related to job satisfaction. It states that if employees are satisfied than they are
more creative that helps to increase in productivity. The area of organizational behavior
incorporates job performance, job satisfaction, diversity and other aspect. Among this area, this
essay will be focused on the aspect of job satisfaction.

Organizational behavior is the study of how individual interact within organizational context, it
is the interface amid the human behavior and organization as well as the organization itself
(Moorhead, 1995). The focus of study of organizational behavior is to develop more efficient
business organization and management of worker. Job satisfaction is the emotion and attitude as
well as subjective approach towards their job. It is generally associated with the contentment and
positive perception of the employees to their job. As job satisfaction is directly related to the
employees’ behavior, it has greater significance in organization and various literary evidences
have supported this fact.

Literature Review
Hospitality industry is regarded as one the fast-growing industrial sector all around the world
including Australia. With the notion of delivering wide range of services to the customer,
hospitality sector heavily depends on the human resource by which there is prominence of job
satisfaction in the hospitality industry. Job satisfaction refers to the state in which employees are
happy with their job; they have positive feeling and attitude towards their job. It helps to increase
employee motivation, confident and moral in the working environment. Various literatures have
unfolded the concept of job satisfaction. Locke (1969) defines job satisfaction as the delightful
emotional state that results through the assessment of one’s job obtaining or enhancing the
achievement one’s job value. Satisfaction creates sense of happiness and content to the
employees which could have positive impact over the performance of the employees. Statt
(2004) denotes job satisfaction as the extent to which the employee is satisfied to the reward they

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gain from their job specifically on base of intrinsic motivation. It is associated with the feeling of
the individual towards their job; positive feeling develops job satisfaction whereas negative
felling towards job denotes job dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction is closely link up with the
individual behavior within the organization. The satisfied employees tend to be more productive
and stay in the organization for longer period of time while dissatisfied employees are less
productive and leave the organization in between. If the organization could create environment
in which employee’s job satisfaction level is high, then such organizations could achieve its
intended height and if not, their organizational productivity might reduce. Thus, organization
today strives for employees’ job satisfaction. Like other sector, there is significance of
employees’ job satisfaction in the hospitality sector. Job satisfaction has turned out to be one of
the major aspects of organizational behavior and extensively studied area in term of
organizational research. As per the study conducted by Chien-Hug WE et al. (2017) through the
use of survey questionnaire method, it was found that the job satisfaction has significant positive
impact on the job performance and employees’ health has a noticeable effect over job
performance and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is leads to the improved job performance. If
the employee of hospitality industry is satisfied in their job, then their customer service might be
better or in every task they perform better.

Job satisfaction in crucial aspect in the hospitality industry as the satisfaction level of the
employees determines the performance level of the employees and good performance is vital to
the growth and development of hospitality industry and increase the productivity as well.
However, there are various factors that impacted the job satisfaction in the hospitality industry of
Australia. Luthans (1989) opines that job satisfaction is developed from three aspects, emotional
attachment to the work environment, connection between expectation and outcome and the
satisfaction with the pay. As per the study of Shagufta Sarwar (2013), it is depicted that there is
associated between rewards system and job satisfaction whereas on the other side workers
satisfaction towards their job is associated with the rise in customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Rewarding the employees for their performance increase employees’ job satisfaction and a
satisfied employee play vital role in increasing customer satisfaction as well as loyalty. On the
other hand, Abdul (2010) argued that training programs are beneficial to develop satisfaction and
loyalty of the employees. The work relevant trainings developed the skills and competency of

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the employees by which they could be competent in their position. This works as motivational
factor and aid in the job satisfaction of the employees.

Researches show that employees’ turnover rates are majorly impacted by the employee job
dissatisfaction along with the working environment, working and work condition (Tracey B.,
2008) . When employees are satisfied with their job then employees’ retention could increase
whereas job dissatisfaction might lead to increase in employees’ turnover. Being a service
oriented industry; there is high significance of employees in the hospitality industry without the
intended services couldn’t be delivered to the customer. The high turnover might disrupt the
service level of the hospitality by which it is necessary that the hospitality industry should
increase employees’ satisfaction in order to reduce employees’ turnover. Hospitality industry is a
labor intensive in which there is need of wide range of workforce extending from the unskilled,
semi-skilled, and skilled to highly skilled. In spite of high demand of employee, lack of job
satisfaction, employee retention, high employees’ turnover is some of the problem that
hospitality industry is facing (Baum, 2008). The research on 64 Australian 4/5-star hotels
depicted 50.74% turnover rate for the operational staff and 31.9% in the case of managerial
employees, for substituting an operational staff there is need of around A$9,591 which is higher
for the managerial cost (Davidson, Timo and Wang, 2009). Moreover, the impact of turnover is
not limited to financial aspects only; it is extended to customer dissatisfaction, incoherent service
quality along with negative impact on employees’ morale and organizational performance.
However, there are various aspects that has contributes to job dissatisfaction among employees
within hospitality with result of high turnover rate. Odd working hour, less salary, low job status
as well as minimum job security has obstructed in the job satisfaction and upsurge turnover. In
order to avoid staff turnover, organizations within hospitality industry need to spotlight on
employee’s motivation and job satisfaction which will lead to employees’ retention.

Although, job satisfaction has turned out to be major issue in the hospitality industry of
Australia, there are many ways by which the job satisfaction could be enhanced. One of the ways
is employees’ empowerment. Harris et al. (2009) asserts that empowerment develop intrinsic
rewards which are associated with the upsurge job satisfaction. Likewise, a good organizational
culture is useful for increasing job satisfaction. Literatures shows that organizational culture has
influence over the employees’ behaviors and job satisfaction (MacIntosh and Doherty, 2010). In

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addition, motivation, good pay as well as better working condition are helpful for increasing job
satisfaction among employees within hospitality industry of Australia.

Conclusion
Job satisfaction is the extent to which the employees are content, happy and satisfied with their
job. It is one of the major aspects of organizational behavior that hold significance in every kind
of industrial sector including the hospitality industry. This essay is centralized to review and
analyzed various literary sources in relates to job satisfaction in hospitality industry of Australia.
From the literature review, it is found that hospitality industry is one of the major industries in
Australia that requires wide range of employees ranging from unskilled to highly skilled. In the
hospitality industry of Australia, there is greater significance of job satisfaction as it is directly
related to employees’ commitment, retention as well as organizational performance and
productivity. The findings from the literature review revealed work environment, connection
between expectation and outcome, pay scale, reward system and training schemes are the factor
affecting employee’s job satisfaction in hospitality industry. Likewise, the finding shows that,
employee retention, high employees’ turnover and low job satisfaction are major problem that
hospitality industry of Australia is currently enduring. The indifferent working hour, low salary,
low job status and less job security has led to job satisfaction in hospitality sector with increase
in employees’ turnover. Moreover, it is suggested that employees’ empowerment, organizational
culture, motivation, good pay and better working environment is contributory for improving job
satisfaction in hospitality industry of Australia.

References

Baum,T. (2008). Implications of hospitality and tourism labour markets for talent management
strategies. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 20(7), 720-729.

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Chien-Hung Wu, I-shen Chen, Jia-Chern Chen (2017). A study into the Impact of Employee
Wellness and Job Satisfaction and Job Performance. International Journal of Organizational
Innovation.

Davidson, M. C. G., Timo, N. & Wnag, Y. (2009). How much does labour turnover cost? A case
study of Australian four- and five-star hotels. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management. 22(4), 451-466.

Harris, K.J.; Wheeler, A.R.; Kacmar, K.M. 2009. Leader-member exchange and empowerment:
Direct and interactive effects on job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and performance. The
Leadership Quaterly, Vol. 20, pp. 371-382.

Locke, E.A (1969). 'What is job satisfaction?” Organizational Behavior and Human
performance, 4, pp. 309-336.

MacIntosh, Eric W. ,Alison Doherty. 2010. The influence of organizational culture on job
satisfaction and intention to leave. Sport Management Review 13 (2010) 106–117.

Moorhead, G. a. (1995). Organizational behavior: Managing people and organizations. Boston.

Houghton Mifflin.

Statt, D. (2004). The Routledge Dictionary of Business Management, Third edition, Routledge
Publishing, Detroit, p. 78

Shagufta Sarwar, J.A., 2013. The Influence of Rewards and Job Satisfaction on Employees in the
Service Industry. The Business & Management Review, 1-11.

Tracey B., H. T. (2008). Contextual factors and cost profiles associated with employee. Cornell
Hospitality Quarterly , 49(1), 12-27.