Guest House Supervisors’ Meaning Cognition and Its Influence on Job Satisfaction in the Context of Mombasa County, Kenya

Abstract

The alignment between an employee’s work role and his/her beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviours (meaning) are critical human resource issues in guest house operations. This is because, compared to classified hotels, guest houses have a larger percentage of untrained personnel. For those with hospitality training, they are usually recruited as supervisors. This notwithstanding, the owners of guest houses tend to dictate and control almost all the operations, thus lowering employee empowerment; a major source of job satisfaction. This study sought to determine the influence of meaning, a dimension of psychological empowerment, on job satisfaction of guest house supervisors. A descriptive survey study design, focusing on the seventy-six registered guest houses in Mombasa County was used. The study utilized census, where all the supervisors in all the registered guest houses in Mombasa County were included. Primary data was collected through a semi-structured questionnaire. Pre-testing was done in three guest houses and the remaining seventy-three were included in the study. Data was analysed by means, percentages and standard deviations. Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression were used to establish the relationship between the study variables. Findings revealed that there existed a positive and significant influence (p< 0.05) of meaning on job satisfaction (r= 0.765). This study could well be of critical importance to guest house entrepreneurs and managers who would be able to formulate and implement empowerment strategies for their supervisors and other staff. In addition, it will be helpful to organizations such as the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Kenyan Employers, the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers and Pubs Entertainment and Restaurant Association of Kenya, in sensitizing their various members on the importance of aligning employee’s work roles to their beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviours.