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Jan. 2014. Vol. 3, No.5 ISSN 2307-227X International Journal of Research In Social Sciences © 2013-2014 IJRSS & K.A.J. All rights reserved www.ijsk.org/ijrss 97 FROM HOTEL CAREER MANAGEMENT TO EMPLOYEES’ CAREER SATISFACTION Marzieh Dehghani Department of management, science and research branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between perceived hotel career management, career ability, and career satisfaction. It also goals to examine the reconciliation procedures through which hotel career management contribute to employees’ career satisfaction. Results from structural equation modeling (SEM) show that career ability reconciliation the effects of three dimensions of hotel career management (career assessment, career development, and career preparation) on career satisfaction. The article concludes with indirect suggestions for theory development and management practice. Keywords: reconciliation effect, Career ability, Career management, Career satisfaction, Iran 1. Introduction Drawing and employing certified talent is a major issue in the hospitality industry today. The fast increases in the numbers of homebound and domestic tourists Iranian hotel industry has expanded significantly. This fast development has led to an increasing demand for high quality hotel staff. However, hotels in Iran are facing many problems in recruiting and employing the best talent (Gu et al., 2006). As career development is an impressive way of employing and developing staff, it is important for hotels in Iran to practice impressive career management. According to Arthur et al. (1995), personal ability reflects different forms of knowing, and intelligent careers reflect the application of these forms of knowing. They classify career ability into three types: “knowing why”, “knowing whom”, and “knowing how”. The first relates to career motivation, personal meaning, and recognition; the second interest's career- related networks and contacts; and the third includes career related skills and job related knowledge. Improvement employees’ career ability requires a cooperative relationship between hotel managers and hotel employees. From the employee viewpoint, accomplishment career management emphasizes the property of the requisite personal qualities, and thus career ability has become increasingly important (Arthur et al., 1999). From the hotel viewpoint, helping staff to develop their own careers and improving their career satisfaction is an impressive means of drawing and employing certified staff members (Barnett and Bradley, 2007). Nowadays, most organizations work as enablers in the career management system by supporting employees’ career development (Baruch, 2006). Impressive hotel career management can contribute to the development of employees’ career ability, thereby improving their career satisfaction. It would thus be useful to investigate the reconciliation effect of career ability on the relationship between hotel career management and career satisfaction. 2. Literature review 2.1. Perceived hotel career management and career ability In today’s business environment, the organization plays an important role in career management systems, working as a supportive enabler and developer of its human assets (Baruch, 2006). Organizational career management (OPM), which is also known as “organizational support for career development” or “organizational endorsement”, refers to the programs, procedures, and assistance furnished by organizations to support and increase the career accomplishment of their employees (Ng et al., 2005). The significance of OPM to the career development of employees’ career has become increasing important to the hotel industry. Hence, this study tried to examine career management in hotels

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Jan. 2014. Vol. 3, No.5 ISSN 2307-227X

International Journal of Research In Social Sciences © 2013-2014 IJRSS & K.A.J. All rights reserved www.ijsk.org/ijrss

97

FROM HOTEL CAREER MANAGEMENT TO EMPLOYEES’ CAREER

SATISFACTION

Marzieh Dehghani

Department of management, science and research branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran

Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between perceived hotel career management, career

ability, and career satisfaction. It also goals to examine the reconciliation procedures through which hotel career

management contribute to employees’ career satisfaction. Results from structural equation modeling (SEM) show

that career ability reconciliation the effects of three dimensions of hotel career management (career assessment,

career development, and career preparation) on career satisfaction. The article concludes with indirect suggestions

for theory development and management practice.

Keywords: reconciliation effect, Career ability, Career management, Career satisfaction, Iran

1. Introduction

Drawing and employing certified talent is a major

issue in the hospitality industry today. The fast

increases in the numbers of homebound and domestic

tourists Iranian hotel industry has expanded

significantly. This fast development has led to an

increasing demand for high quality hotel staff.

However, hotels in Iran are facing many problems in

recruiting and employing the best talent (Gu et al.,

2006). As career development is an impressive way

of employing and developing staff, it is important for

hotels in Iran to practice impressive career

management. According to Arthur et al. (1995),

personal ability reflects different forms of knowing,

and intelligent careers reflect the application of these

forms of knowing. They classify career ability into

three types: “knowing why”, “knowing whom”, and

“knowing how”. The first relates to career

motivation, personal meaning, and recognition; the

second interest's career- related networks and

contacts; and the third includes career related skills

and job related knowledge. Improvement employees’

career ability requires a cooperative relationship

between hotel managers and hotel employees. From

the employee viewpoint, accomplishment career

management emphasizes the property of the requisite

personal qualities, and thus career ability has become

increasingly important (Arthur et al., 1999). From the

hotel viewpoint, helping staff to develop their own

careers and improving their career satisfaction is an

impressive means of drawing and employing certified

staff members (Barnett and Bradley, 2007).

Nowadays, most organizations work as enablers in

the career management system by supporting

employees’ career development (Baruch, 2006).

Impressive hotel career management can contribute

to the development of employees’ career ability,

thereby improving their career satisfaction. It would

thus be useful to investigate the reconciliation effect

of career ability on the relationship between hotel

career management and career satisfaction.

2. Literature review

2.1. Perceived hotel career management and

career ability

In today’s business environment, the organization

plays an important role in career management

systems, working as a supportive enabler and

developer of its human assets (Baruch, 2006).

Organizational career management (OPM), which is

also known as “organizational support for career

development” or “organizational endorsement”,

refers to the programs, procedures, and assistance

furnished by organizations to support and increase

the career accomplishment of their employees (Ng

et al., 2005). The significance of OPM to the career

development of employees’ career has become

increasing important to the hotel industry. Hence, this

study tried to examine career management in hotels

Jan. 2014. Vol. 3, No.5 ISSN 2307-227X

International Journal of Research In Social Sciences © 2013-2014 IJRSS & K.A.J. All rights reserved www.ijsk.org/ijrss

98

through employees’ intuitions of hotel career

management (HPM) practices. Hotels can furnish

impressive career management activities such as

preparation, mentoring, performance assessment, and

development programs to their employees (Kong et

al., 2010). These activities are pleasurable to the

development of career ability. For example,

performance assessment can furnish input to career

planning, and may help employees to be better aware

of their performances (Baruch, 2003). Mentoring

plays an important role in directing career

development and decision making (Ayres, 2006). The

use of these career activities can furnish employees

feedback on their strengths, and following related to

the ability of “knowing why”, “knowing whom”, and

“knowing how”. Employees receiving feedback of

their performance can develop specific career goals,

leading to the “knowing why” career ability. In

addition, mentoring and preparation furnish

networking opportunities (Higgins and Kram, 2001;

O’Brien and Gardiner, 2006), and thus increase the

“knowing whom” ability. Organizational preparation

and development programs can also increase

employees’ learning and the “knowing how” ability

(Sullivan et al., 1998). All of the above relationship

leads to the following prediction that:

H1. Perceived hotel career management may

contribute positively to career ability

2.2. Career ability and career satisfaction

Career satisfaction is the satisfaction that individuals

extract from the essential and external aspects of their

careers, including pay, promotion, and developmental

opportunities (Greenhaus et al., 1990). Employees’

perceived career satisfaction reflects how they feel

about their career-related roles, realizations, and

accomplishment. Career satisfaction is an important

predictor of career accomplishment that has been

conceived as including both external and essential

outcomes, and is thus measured using both objective

and subjective signals (Barley, 1989; Nabi, 1999).

Objective career accomplishment indicates an

external viewpoint that describes more or less

tangible signals of an individual’s career situation

(Arthur et al., 2005). Signals of objective career

accomplishment include salary (Tharenou, 2001),

promotion (Judge et al., 1999), family structure

(Schneer and Reitman, 1993), and job level (Judge

and Bretz, 1994). Subjective career accomplishment

is defined as “individuals’ feelings of performance

and satisfaction with their careers” (Judge et al.,

1995), and is most often measured by career

satisfaction (Ng et al., 2005). As objective career

accomplishment includes observable outcomes, it

generally depends on a third-person viewpoint, and

thus does not reflect an employee’s assessment of his

or her own accomplishment. In recent years,

subjective measures of career accomplishment have

become increasingly important (Arthur et al., 2005;

Parker and Arthur, 2000), with career satisfaction

being one of the most significant predictors of career

accomplishment. This study thus focused on

employees’ career satisfaction. As stated, career

ability includes three types: “knowing why”,

“knowing whom”, and “knowing how”. The

“knowing-why” ability surrounds career perception, a

proactive personality, and accessibility to experience.

People who know themselves well are able to clarify

their career goals (Suutari and Makela, 2007), while

people with a proactive personality tend to seek

opportunities and act on them (Crant, 2000).

Accessibility to experience refers to the degree to

which individuals are curious, creative, willing to

accept changes, and accepting of diversity (Barrick

and Mount, 1991; Mignonac, 2008). Individuals who

score highly on this trait tend to obtain higher levels

of job performance and seek regular training and

development opportunities to obtain transferable

skills (Banai and Harry, 2004). It has also been found

that employees with high job performance scores are

perceived to have more favorable promotion

prospects, which is related with a higher level of

career satisfaction (Igbaria and Wormley, 1992). The

“knowing whom” ability relates to the career-related

networks, mentoring, and contacts of an individual

both inside and outside the organization (Arthur et

al., 1995). Individuals in a mentoring relationship

show great impressiveness in self-managing their

own careers (Murphy and Ensher, 2001) and better

career accomplishment (Janasz et al., 2003).

Individuals often benefit greatly from networks, as

networking inside and outside the organization helps

them to stay on top of new developments and

approaches (Higgins and Kram, 2001). An employee

can also gather career- related information and social

capital through networks (Moss and Barbuto, 2010).

As both internal and external networking aid career

development (Raider and Burt, 1996; Sturges et al.,

2010), it is supposed that the “knowing whom”

ability is an important predictor of career satisfaction.

The “knowing how” ability includes career or job-

related skills and career personality. Career

personality is the degree to which people absorb

themselves in skill- improvement and career

activities (London, 1993; Noe et al., 1990). As

employee skills are an important predictor of job

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99

performance (Semadar et al., 2006), employees who

are strong in a variety of skills are expected to

receive better compensation and promotion

opportunities (Todd et al., 2009), which increases

their career satisfaction. Thus, the accumulation of

career or job-related skills may help to increase

employee career satisfaction. This lead to the

following prediction that:

H2. Career ability may contribute positively to career

satisfaction.

2.3. Perceived hotel career management and

career satisfaction

Hotels can increase the career satisfaction of their

employees by engaging in impressive career

management activities. It has been found that specific

career management activities, such as job rotation

plans, are positively related to career satisfaction

(Campion et al., 1994). Other career management

practices, such as career endorsement, preparation,

and career development programs, also contribute

positively to career satisfaction (Greenhaus et al.,

1990; Ng et al., 2005). Organizations try to increase

employee career satisfaction by providing impressive

career support, such as preparation, performance

assessment, and challenging jobs (Burke, 2001;

Burke and McKeen, 1995). This produces a

perception among employees of being supported by

the organization, which leads to better career

satisfaction and retention intention (Allen et al.,

2004; Armstrong- Stassen and Ursel, 2009).

Therefore it is hypothesized that:

H3. Perceived hotel career management may

contribute positively to career satisfaction

2.4. Reconciliation effect of career ability

In addition to its direct effect on career satisfaction,

career ability may reconciliation the relationship

between hotel career management and career

satisfaction. The function of an intervener represents

the creative mechanism through which the focal

independent variable is able to affect the dependent

variable of interest (Baron and Kenny, 1986). There

are two forms of intervention: full intervention and

incomplete intervention. When the direct effect

between the independent variable and the dependent

variable is no longer statistically different from zero

after controlling for the intervener variable, the effect

is said to be one of full interventions. However, if the

perfect size of the direct effect between the

independent variable and the dependent variable is

reduced after controlling for the intervener variable

but the direct effect is still significant, then the

intervention effect is regarded as incomplete. As

many previous studies, such as those of Allen et al.

(2004), Greenhaus et al. (1990), and Ng et al. (2005),

have found that organizational career support

contribute s significantly to career satisfaction, this

study focused on the incomplete intervention effect

of career ability. As shown in Fig. 1, it is assumed

that, also to its direct effect on career satisfaction,

career ability acts as an intervener of the relationship

between hotel career management and employee

career satisfaction. Impressive hotel career support

activities request career ability in various ways. For

example, mentoring helps individuals to build

“knowing why” and “knowing whom” ability

(Baruch, 2003). These career abilities in turn enable

individuals to personal opportunities, take action to

obtain their career goals, and thus experience career

satisfaction (Crant, 2000; Raider and Burt, 1996). In

sum, hotel career management activities furnish

appropriate organizational support for employees to

secure better career satisfaction by improvement their

career ability. Therefore it is deducted that:

H4. Career ability may reconciliation the relationship

between perceived hotel career management and

career satisfaction

3. Research methodology

This study collected data to test the hypotheses

developed by questionnaire survey. Perceived hotel

career management was measured using 11items

developed by Kong et al. (2011). Two sample items

included in the questionnaire to measure the

organizational career management construct. Career

ability was estimated using items adopted from the

study of Eby et al. (2003). Career satisfaction was

measured using a four item measurement developed

by Greenhaus et al. (1990). All of the items were

measured using a five point Likert type scale that

ranged from 1 (disagree) to 5 (agree). Based on quota

sampling, data were collected from a target sample of

hotel managers in Iran. A total of 104, five and four

star hotels were recognized in 20 of the main tourist

cities in Iran. Two methods were employed to collect

the data. First, the researcher approached a large

number of the selected hotels (62 hotels), and with

the help of the general managers distributed a

questionnaire and collected on the spot by the

researcher. For hotels that were far from the authors’

institution, 40 general managers were contacted by

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100

email or phone. Once they had agreed to aid with the

survey, the questionnaires were emailed to the target

hotels. A total of 1260 questionnaires were collected,

giving a response rate of 70% which is used a SEM

analysis. And 1200 valid questionnaires were

retained. On testing, they were found to follow a

multivariate normal distribution. The respondents

were varied in terms of age, education level, job

position, work area, and work experience. Fifty-nine

per cent of the respondents were male and 41% were

female. The average age of the respondents was 43,

with a working experience of 2–12 years in the

hospitality industry. Over 83% had completed college

level education or above, showing that a large ratio

were well educated. The great majority of the

respondents (98%) were department managers or

supervisors. They generally had a wide range of

duties and served in the food and beverage, sales and

marketing, housekeeping, front office, human

resources, accounting, security, engineering, public

relations, purchasing, or other departments. In

coordination with previous studies, such as those of

Judge et al. (1995), and Noe (1996), several control

variables were included in the study. As age, gender,

education, and salary may be related with intuitions

of career satisfaction, these variables were controlled

in all of the analyses. In addition, career ability may

vary based on individual job strength (as measured in

years), and hotel career management activities may

be different depending on the size of the hotel (as

measured by star rating). These variables were thus

also treated as control variables. The individual

measurement model was tested using exploratory

factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor

analysis (CFA). The purpose of the EFA was to find

groups of variables that represent a basic dimension,

since that of the CFA was to specify the relationships

between the observed measures and their assumed

basic factors. EFA with varimax rotation was

considered an appropriate first step to simplify the

interpretation of the recognized factors and to

determine the major constructs in the data (Field,

2005; Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007). Cross-validation

was conducted to prove that the data structure was

representative of the population. Following Hair et al.

(2009), the entire dataset was randomly split into two

equal subsets of 600 for the EFA and CFA,

respectively. For each measurement model, EFA with

varimax rotation was first conducted with one subset,

followed by CFA at a later stage with the other

subset. Finally, structural equation modeling (SEM)

was conducted with the entire data to test the

relationships among the constructs.

4. Results

4.1. Individual measurement model

4.1.1. EFA and CFA of perceived hotel career

management

EFA of the 26 hotel career management items was

conducted, and three dimensions were recognized:

career assessment and advice, career development

programs, and career preparation. As shown in Table

1, the three factors explained 70.92% of the total

variance. The result of Bartlett’s test of sphericity

was significant, and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO)

measure of sampling fitness was 0.90, indicating that

the models of correlations were relatively compact

and created distinct and reliable factors (Field,

2005). The Cronbach’s alpha of the full scale was

0.90, and that for the three factors ranged from 0.83

to 0.89, all of which exceed the minimum standard

for reliability (0.70) recommended by Nunnally

(1978). It can thus be concluded that the items

including the three dimensions were internally

coherent and stable, and together formed a reliable

scale. CFA was then carried out to test the construct

of perceived hotel career management, which

included the three factors of career assessment, career

development, and career preparation. Based on the

model fit indices (x2 = 283.59, df = 67, CFI=0.95,

GFI=0.92, RMSEA= 0.09), it can be concluded that

the model fit the data acceptably well. When

checking the validity of a measurement model, in

addition to the goodness of fit indices it is important

to find specific evidence of construct validity (Hair et

al., 2009). The convergent validity of hotel career

management was thus estimated by the size of the

factor loadings and their statistical significance level.

Table 2 shows the estimate, standardized factor

loading, critical ratio (CR), and squared multiple

correlations (SMC) between each variable and all of

the other variables. All of the standardized loading

estimates exceeded 0.5 and were statistically

significant (Byrne, 2001). It can thus be concluded

that the convergent validity of the perceived hotel

career management construct is satisfactory

(Anderson and Gerbing, 1988; Hair et al., 2009). The

average variance extracted (AVE) was also used to

test for both convergent validity and discriminant

validity. The AVE values of assessment,

development, and preparation were 0.59, 0.53, and

0.65, respectively. As all of these values are greater

than 0.52, a high level of convergent validity is

shown. Also, the AVE for each construct was greater

than the squared correlation coefficients for the

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101

corresponding inter-constructs, showing satisfactory

discriminant validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).

4.1.2. EFA and CFA of career ability

EFA with varimax rotation was conducted, which

supply four items that explained 66.16% of the total

variance. A succession of factor analyses recognized

seven factors named career perception, proactive

personality, and accessibility to experience,

mentoring, networks within the hotel, networks

outside the hotel, career/job-related skills, and career

personality. The result of Bartlett’s test of sphericity

was significant and the KMO measure of sampling

fitness was 0.95 (Field, 2005). The Cronbach’s

reliability scores of the factors ranged from 0.83 to

0.95, indicating satisfactory internal consistency.

After the EFA analysis, CFA was conducted. The

career ability construct was complex, with more than

one level of latent variables. Three approaches are

normally used to deal with complex structural

models: total dis-collection, incomplete dis-

collection, total collection, and incomplete

collection (Bagozzi and Edwards, 1998). An

incomplete collection model is supposed appropriate

when the focus is on a higher level of abstraction,

rather than the specific ingredients (Bagozzi and

Edwards, 1998). When items within ingredients are

aggregated the aggregates can be used as signals of

the ingredients. The fit indices of the career ability

model were x2 = 119.69, df = 18, CFI=0.95,

GFI=0.96, and RMSEA=0.08, indicating that the

model fit the data reasonably well. All of the

standardized estimates were statistically significant at

the p < 0.05 level. As shown in Table 3, the effects of

career ability on “knowing why”, “knowing whom",

and “knowing how” were statistically significant,

with standard regression weights of 0.97, 0.98, and

0.93, respectively. The AVE values of “knowing

why", "knowing whom”, and “knowing how” were

0.57, 0.53, and 0.59, respectively, indicating

satisfactory convergent validity. In addition, the AVE

value for each construct was greater than squared

correlation coefficients for the corresponding inter-

constructs, indicating satisfactory discriminant

validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981, Haiyan Konga,

et al, 2012).

4.1.3. EFA and CFA of career satisfaction

The basic structure of the relationships of the career

satisfaction construct was recognized by EFA. The

four items explained 76.78% of the total variance.

The result of Bartlett’s test of sphericity was

significant, and the KMO measure of sampling

fitness was 0.83. The Cronbach’s alpha of the scales

was 0.91, which is above the minimum standard for

reliability (0.72). It can thus be concluded that the

items in the career satisfaction construct are

internally coherent and form a reliable scale. The four

items recognized by EFA were then further tested

using CFA. The results shown that the model fit the

data fairly well (x2 = 9.0, df = 6, CFI=0.98,

GFI=0.98, RMSEA=0.07).The convergent validity of

career satisfaction was estimated based on the size of

the factor loadings and their level of statistical

significance. As shown in Table 4, all of the

standardized loading estimates exceeded 0.52, and

their respective perfect t-value was greater than 1.97,

indicating a high level of convergent validity

(Anderson and Gerbing, 1988; Hair et al., 2009). The

AVE value of career satisfaction was 0.65, which is

greater than 0.50 and the square of the correlation

estimate between these measures. The convergent

and discriminant validity of the career satisfaction

construct are thus confirmed.

4.2. Overall measurement model

In general measurement model was tested after

testing the fit and construct validity of each

individual measurement model. The EFA of

perceived hotel career management suggested the

three dimensions of career assessment, career

development, and career preparation. In general

measurement model was thus tested with these three

dimensions using the entire sample. The goodness of

fit indices (x2 = 899.95, df = 182, CFI=0.95, GFI

=0.92, RMSEA=0.08) all shown a fairly good fit

between the model and the sample data. As shown in

Table 5, there liability of each construct ranged from

0.84 to 0.93, with all values exceeding 0.72. The

AVE value for each construct exceeded 0.52 and was

greater than the squared correlation. Hence, both the

convergent and discriminant validity are satisfactory.

4.3. Structural model

The final structural model was tested using the

AMOS soft- ware package. The model fit indices

were x2 = 726.95, df = 179, CFI =0.96, GFI=0.95,

and RMSEA=0.07.The CFI and GFI values show that

the model sufficiently fit the data. The RMSEA value

for the hypothesized model was 0.07, with a 90%

confidence interval ranging from 0.07 to 0.09,

showing that one can be 90% confident that the true

RMSEA value in the population will fall within the

framework of 0.056–0.065, which represents a good

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102

degree of accuracy (Mac Callum et al., 1996). Thus,

based on the CFI, GFI, and RMSEA values, the

structural model can be considered to fit the sample

data fairly well (Haiyan Konga, et al, 2012). Fig. 2

shows the final structural model with direct path

results. As shown in Table 6, the path coefficient

value and significance level together show that the

structural paths are both positive and significant, and

thus that all of the direct positive relationships are

supported. The model proposed that career ability has

a reconciliation effect on the relationship between

perceived hotel career management and career

satisfaction (Haiyan Konga, et al, 2012). There are

many methods to test intervention hypotheses, but

some of the criterion can only be used to informally

judge reconciliation effects. Baron and Kenny (1986)

describe a procedure developed by Sobel (1982),

which is referred to as the Sobel test. Various

statistical methods based on this test have following

been simplified by researchers, including MacKinnon

and Dwyer (1993) and MacKinnon et al. (1995).

Among these various methods, the Sobel test seems

to perform best in a Monte Carlo study (MacKinnon

et al., 1995) and converges closely with a sample size

of greater than 50 or above. The Sobel test was thus

supposed appropriate for this study. Following the

formulae of MacKinnon et al. (1995), the indirect

effect was calculated as: indirect effect = a × b

(where a is the path coefficient of the organization

between the exogenous variable and the intervener

and b is the path coefficient of the organization

between the intervener and the outcome).The

significance level was calculated using the Sobel test.

As shown in Table 6, the results of the analysis of the

reconciliation effect of career ability on the

relationship between career assessment and career

satisfaction were: indirect effect coefficient=0.16, t-

value =4.83 and p-value =0.00. Similar significant

results were found in the indirect path linking career

development and career satisfaction through career

ability (indirect effect coefficient=0.09, t-value

=3.71, p-value =0.00). Finally, the indirect effect

coefficient (0.16) and t-value (5.08) also supported

the reconciliation effect of career ability on the

relationship between career preparation and career

satisfaction. All of the above indirect effect

coefficients were positive and significant (p < 0.05),

the results supported the reconciliation role of career

ability.

5. Discussion of the findings

This study developed a new conceptual framework

for understanding the incomplete reconciliation effect

of career ability on the relationship between

perceived hotel career management and career

satisfaction. Hotel career management can directly

affect employee career satisfaction. At the same time,

it can also affect career satisfaction by improvement

career ability. Organizations can increase employees’

career ability by promoting career management

activities such as preparation and development

programs (Sullivan et al., 1998), co-learning between

coworkers (Hall and Mirvis, 1996), developmental

missions (Seibert, 1996), online Internet preparation ,

and career assessment (Baruch, 2003). All of the

above activities help employees to remain marketable

and up to date knowledge of current industry

developments. Employees with a high level of

marketability and current knowledge are likely to

distinguish high level of career satisfaction. Hence,

impressive career management increases employees’

competitive ability and career satisfaction, it can also

contribute to the development of the ability of the

firm as a whole and its host industry (Arthur et al.,

1999; DeFillippi and Arthur, 1994). Clearly, it is

important for hotels to support employees to improve

their career ability and to obtain higher career

satisfaction. The findings of this study furnish strong

evidence to support the proposed structural model

and the assumed relationships. To summarize,

perceived hotel career management has a positive,

direct effect on career ability; career ability has a

positive, direct effect on career satisfaction; career

assessment, career development, and career

preparation each has a positive, direct effect on career

satisfaction; and career ability reconciliation the

relationship between three dimensions of perceived

hotel career management (career assessment, career

development, and career preparation) and career

satisfaction. Of the three dimensions of perceived

hotel career management, career preparation

contributes the most to career ability, followed by

career assessment and career development. These

findings are coherent with those of previous research

(Kong et al., 2010), and they further emphasize the

importance of career preparation in the hotel industry

in Iran (Kong and Baum, 2006). As career

preparation plays an important role in career ability,

it should be offered together with other career

development activities to address the long-term

career goals of employees. Career assessment is also

positively related to career satisfaction. This is

probably because hotels in Iran have relatively

comprehensive assessment systems and use

performance assessment as a basis for employee

career planning and further promotion (Kong et al.,

2010). As career advising by managers and

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103

mentoring are also positively related to skill

development among employees (Chao et al., 1992;

Williams et al., 2009), these activities should be

considered when evaluating the possible of present or

future managers. Career development activities are

also significantly related to career ability. This

furnishes support for the positive effect of job

rotation on skill improvement (Azizi et al., 2010) and

underlines the importance of specific career

development practices, including job postings, job

rotation, accomplishment planning, and financial

support. Compared with the other two dimensions,

career development makes the smallest contribution

to career ability. However, as career development is

one of the powerful motivators of hotel employees

(Wong et al., 1999), a systematic development

system could help hotels in Iran to attract and retain

certified hotel staff Career assessment makes the

greatest contribution to career satisfaction, followed

by career development and career preparation. This is

probably because career assessment is a valid and

reliable tool for career planning, and career advice

and mentoring furnish useful information for career

development (Baruch, 2003). Employees who discuss

their careers more often by occupied with mentoring

will receive more feedback which can give directions

to future, and thus obtain higher levels of career

satisfaction (Murphy and Ensher, 2001). Coherent

with previous studies (Barnett and Bradley, 2007),

this study further confirms the important role of

career assessment in improving career satisfaction.

This finding also emphasizes the importance of

formal and informal mentoring, including career

advice, career discussion, and clear work feedback,

induction. The positive relationships show that

impressive hotel career support can increase

employee career satisfaction. This result should be

carefully clarified by hotel managers. As employees

are eager to be educated and empowered with further

preparation (Kong and Baum, 2006), it is critical for

hotels to offer a variety of preparation programs in

addition to pre-job and on-the job preparation . Most

importantly, career ability has a direct effect on

career satisfaction; it also reconciliations the

relationship between the three dimensions of hotel

career management (career assessment, career

development, and career preparation) and career

satisfaction. This study presents a first step in

empirical research on this topic, and furnishes initial

evidence of the reconciliation effect of career ability.

Building on the theory of Arthur et al. (1995), the

findings show the importance of career ability and

suggest that hotel managers will be better able to

increase their career ability to obtain higher career

satisfaction when their career management is

supported through hotel career activities such as

mentoring, job rotation, and career assessment. Both

hotels and individual employees should thus adopt

proactive and impressive practices to improve career

ability. Individuals need to be obligated to their

career and to navigate their own careers by

distinguishing career goals, developing different

networks, and engaging in continuous learning.

6. Theoretical and practical indirect

suggestions

Theoretically, the results improve the knowledge of

careers by showing the reconciliation effect of career

ability. Although career ability has previously been

found to be a significant predictor of career

satisfaction (Eby et al., 2003), empirical evidence of

its reconciliation role is limited. This study finds that,

in addition to being directly related with career

satisfaction, career ability reconciliation the

relationship between perceived hotel career

management and career satisfaction. The recognition

of this reconciliation role furnishes a relational

approach that emphasizes the function of the

“knowing why”, “knowing whom”, and “knowing

how” types of career ability. This study adds to the

literature by developing three dimensions of hotel

career management and examining their effects on

career ability and career satisfaction. In addition, this

study investigated the effect of each dimension on

career ability and career satisfaction, respectively.

Given the scarcity of research on hotel career

management in Iran, the findings of this study

constitute a significant addition to the literature and

may serve as a foundation for future research.

Practically, the findings should encourage hotels to

retain qualify staff and increase hotel core ability. By

implementing impressive career management, hotels

in Iran will keep their core ability and also retain

talented staffs who contribute to that core ability, as

the career ability of individuals adds to the core

ability of an organization (Arthur et al., 1999).

However, to obtain such mutual benefits, it is

important for hotels to occupy with career

management activities that are coherent with the

hotel’s objectives and needs. The findings of this

study also suggest some impressive ways in which

employees can increase their career ability and obtain

a higher level of career satisfaction. First, the results

emphasize the importance employee participation in

hotel career management activities. They also show

that employees who are willing to engage in career-

related activities are likely to have higher levels of

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104

career ability, and thus career satisfaction. Finally,

the meditating effect of career ability emphasizes the

importance of career ability in the career

management system. Impressive hotel career

management makes a great contribution to career

ability. Proactive and obligated employees present

the “knowing why”, “knowing whom”, and

“knowing how” types of ability. Hotel employees

should thus actively participate in the various career

activities offered by their hotels, as this could help

them to develop specific career goals, improve career

related skills, and expand their career related

networks. Clearly, both hotels and hotel employees

need to pay more attention to the development of

career ability.

7. Limitations and suggestions for future

study

As the construct of career ability is complex, and

contains a large number of variables, incomplete

collection was applied to simplify the model. The use

of incomplete collection helps to deal with the

complex model and to obtain the research objectives,

but also limits the level of analysis to an overall

model of second order factors. To help overcome this

limitation, future research is needed to investigate the

reconciliation effect of each dimension of career

ability. Another limitation is related to the role of

individual in developing employees’ career ability.

As individual should also be responsible for career

ability and career satisfaction, it would be interesting

for future studies to investigate the effect of the

individual related factors on career ability, and the

findings could furnish valuable indirect suggestions

for hospitality management. This study furnishes

initial evidence that improves our understanding of

the reconciliation effect of career ability, and has

several indirect suggestions for future research.

Career ability is found to reconciliation the

relationship between hotel career management and

career satisfaction, which is one predictor of career

accomplishment. However, there are many predictors

of career accomplishment, such as salary (Tharenou,

2001), promotion (Judge et al., 1995), family

structure (Schneer and Reitman, 1993), and job level

(Judge and Bretz, 1994), and there is thus important

for future research to investigate the relationship

between hotel career management and other kinds of

dimensions of career accomplishment. Future

research could also extend this study by further

survey the influencing factors and outcomes of career

ability. Besides the influencing effects of

organizational and individual factors on career

abilities, it is also important to examine the effect of

work life balance issues, and Iranian culture factors

on career abilities. In terms of outcomes, future

research could examine the relationship between

career ability and psychological and physical

portability, as suggested by Sullivan and Arthur

(2006). According to Arthur et al. (1995), the career

abilities of individuals supplement the core abilities

of organizations. The accumulation of abilities by

employees can contribute significantly to the

unfolding abilities of the organization and its host

industry (Arthur et al., 1999). Future empirical

studies could determine the contributions of career

abilities to organizational core abilities. Besides this,

will there be other possible outcomes? Thus, it should

be interesting to further test the other outcomes of

this model, such as job participation and retention

intention. As this study considers only hotels in Iran,

a logical question is whether the results would be

reproducing in other hotels in different culture

settings. This question represents an interesting and

possibly important area for future research into the

cross- culture generalizability of career research

(Sullivan, 1999; Sullivan and Baruch, 2009). It is

important to investigate career management systems

and career ability across hotels of different ownership

types and different settings. Such comparative results

should furnish further indirect suggestions for career

management in different cultures. Another interesting

area for future research would be to examine the

causal relationships between perceived hotel

management and the second-order factors of career

ability. As mentioned, using the incomplete

collection technique makes it difficult to determine

the distinctiveness of the ingredients within a

construct (Bagozzi and Edwards, 1998). Given this

limitation, future research should investigate the

respective effects of perceived hotel career

management on each category of career ability

(“knowing why”, “knowing whom”, and “know

how”). Previous studies have found that there are

gender differences in relations to unemployment

(Forret et al., 2010). To investigate this area further,

future research could compare the gender difference

on the “knowing why”, “knowing whom”, and

“knowing how” types of ability. It is also suggested

that researchers could investigate the relationship

between the demographic characteristics of hotel

managers and career abilities, career obligation, and

perceived hotel career management. Previous study

on demographic characteristics of managers has

shown that age has a significant effect on network

diversity (Lambert et al., 2008), and career abilities

may vary based on job strength (Kong et al., 2010).

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105

These findings furnish important perception into the

determinants of career abilities. Lastly, there are

opportunities for future research to further investigate

the effect of demographic factors on career abilities,

career obligation, and perceived hotel career

management practices.

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Fig. 1. Proposed conceptual framework

Professional ability

Hotel

Professional

management

Professional

satisfaction

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0.70

0.25

0.27 0.15

0.25

0.8

0.18

Fig. 2. Final structural model with path results

Professional

ability

Assessment

Professional

satisfaction

Preparation

Development

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Table 1 EFA results for perceived hotel career management

Item Factor Eigen-value Variance

explained

(%)

Reliability

alpha (a)

Factor 1: career assessment 3.22 25.13 0.89

OPM6: career discussion 0.79

OPM5: clear feedback 0.79

OPM4: career advice 0.76

OPM7: induction 0.66

Factor 2: career development 3.08 23.55 0.84

OPM8: job rotation 0.82

OPM9: succession plan 0.75

OPM3: financial support 0.65

OPM10: job posting 0.63

Factor 3: career preparation 3.11 18.48 0.87

OPM1: external visits and study 0.92

OPM2: : career workshop 0.87

OPM11: in-house preparation 0.71

KMO=0.88, Bartlett’s test of sphericity: X2 = 2765.51, df = 81, p < 0.000

Table 2 CFA results for perceived hotel career management

Estimate C.R.(t-value) Std. factor

loading

SMC

Factor 1: career assessment

assessment→HPM6 1.03 0.83 0.69

assessment →HPM5 0.83 17.05 0.79 0.63

assessment →HPM4 0.85 15.25 0.70 0.49

assessment →HPM7 0.99 18.20 0.81 0.66

Factor 2: career development

Development→HPM10 1.00 0.85 0.72

Development→HPM8 0.85 15.13 0.69 0.47

Development→HPM9 1.06 19.05 0.82 0.68

Development→HPM3 0.84 12.01 0.57 0.33

Factor 3: career preparation

preparation→HPM1 1.66 14.46 0.84 0.75

preparation→HPM2 1.54 14.53 0.87 0.78

preparation→HPM11 1.03 0.68 0.45

HPM, hotel career management

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Table 3 CFA results for career ability

Estimate C.R. Std. factor loading SMC

career ability →knowing whom 0.77 15.19 0.99 0.97

career ability →knowing why 0.62 17.79 0.98 0.96

career ability →knowing how 0.69 14.26 0.94 0.90

Table 4 CFA results for career satisfaction

Estimate C.R.(t-value) Std. factor loading SMC

career satisfaction →PS1 1.03 0.70 0.49

career satisfaction →PS2 1.09 21.02 0.82 0.67

career satisfaction →PS3 0.97 15.09 0.80 0.65

career satisfaction →PS4 1.18 16.18 0.89 0.79

Table 5 Correlations (squared correlation), reliability, AVE, and mean

Construct career

assessment

career

development

career

preparation

career ability career

satisfaction

career

assessment

1.02

career

development

0.64 (0.42) 1.02

career

preparation

0.54 (0.25) 0.43 (0.17) 1.02

career ability 0.65 (0.39) 0.56 (0.30) 0.56 (0.30) 1.02

career

satisfaction

0.56 (0.32) 0.55 (0.30) 0.44 (0.19) 0.61(0.36) 1.02

Reliability 0.84 0.84 0.86 0.85 0.91

AVE 0.56 0.50 0.66 0.68 0.64

Mean 5.45 4.78 5.65 5.39 4.81

Std. dev 0.96 1.29 0.94 0.64 0.96

Note: all are significant at the 0.01 level

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Table 6 Path results for the final structural model (hypotheses testing).

Hypotheses/path Coefficient t-Value Results

H1: perceived hotel career management → career ability Supported

1) career assessment →career ability 0.24 6.07** Supported

2) career development →career ability 0.14 4.18** Supported

3) career preparation → career ability 0.25 6.64** Supported

H2: career ability has a positive effect on career satisfaction 0.69 7.90** Supported

H3: perceived hotel career management has a positive effect on

career satisfaction

1) career assessment →career satisfaction 0.23 3.73** Supported

2) 2) career development →career satisfaction 0.17 3.37** Supported

3) career preparation →career satisfaction 0.08 1.22* Supported

H4: reconciliation effect of career ability on relationship between perceived hotel career

management and career satisfaction

1) reconciliation effect of career ability on relationship

between career assessment and career satisfaction

0.15 4.83** Supported

2) reconciliation effect of career ability on relationship

between career development and career satisfaction

0.09 3.71** Supported

3) reconciliation effect of career ability on relationship

between career preparation and career satisfaction

0.15 5.08** Supported

* Parameter estimates significant at p < 0.05.

** Parameter estimates significant at p