Determining the Underlying Dimensions of Quality of Work Life (QWL) in the Nigerian Hotel Industry

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this paper is to explore the underlying dimensions of quality of work life (QWL) in the Nigerian hotel industry.

Research Design & Methods:With a defined population of 3.110, a sample size of 355 was determined using probability technique, which formed the participants of the study. Employing the Delphi technique, eight experts and four cycles of inputs led to a consensual number of sixty-three indicators of QWL which formed the final inventory or variables of the quality of work life dimensions used for exploratory factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation was employed. Kaiser criterion, examination of the scree plot and Horn parallel analysis (Horn, 1965) guided factor extraction.

Findings:Preliminary assessment conducted confirmed the appropriateness of the dataset for factor analysis. Furthermore, based on the extraction criteria, five factors were extracted which explained 59.37% of the total variance in QWL in the Nigerian hotel industry, labelled as remuneration and benefits, job security and career satisfaction, training and opportunities for personal autonomy, home-work balance and safe and healthy environment.

Implications & Recommendations: The Nigerian hotel industry should focus on the QWL factors which the study reports as most considered by employees. The study has also identified the dimensions of QWL in the Nigerian hotel industry.

Contribution & Value Added:This study identifies the latent variables that show QWL in the Nigerian hotel industry, which are labelled as remuneration and benefits, job security and career satisfaction, training and personal autonomy, home-life balance and safe and healthy environment. The managerial implication is that owners and operators of hotels in Nigeria can benefit by understanding what quality of work life entails and which indicators show the concept.

Keywords

quality of work life, latent variables of QWL, exploratory factor analysis, underlying dimensions of QWL, Nigerian hotel industry

Supplementary File(s)

Author Biography

Akuraun Shadrach Iyortsuun

Department of Business Administration

Federal University, Wukari

Taraba State, Nigeria

References

1. Agba, A.M.O. (2007). External factors in industrial crisis: a study of higher institutions in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States,Nigeria (Ph.D. Thesis). Faculty of Social Science, University of Calabar, Nigeria.
2. Adetoyin, Y.T. (2012). Effect of pay on organisational effectiveness. Ibadan: Idowu Press.
3. Almarshad, S.O. (2015). A Measurement Scale for Evaluating Quality of Work Life: Conceptualiza-tion and Empirical Validation. Trends in Applied Sciences Research, 10(3), 143-156. http://dx.doi.org/10.3923/tasr.2015.143.156
4. Armstrong, M. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice (13th edition). UK: Kogan Page Ltd.
5. Bartlett, M.S. (1954). A note on the multiplying factors for various chi square approximations. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 16(Series B), 296-298.
6. Blau, P. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: John Wiley and Son.
7. Bowley, A.L. (1926). Measurements of precision attained in sampling. Bulletin of the International Statistical Institute, 2, 1-62
8. Clark, S.C. (2000). Work/family border theory: a new theory of work/family balance. Human Rela-tions, 53, 747-770.
9. Cook, K.S., & Rice, E. (2003). Social exchange theory. In J. Delamater (Ed.), Handbook of Social Psychology (pp. 53-76). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
10. Coyle-Shapiro, J.A.M., & Parzefall, M. (2008). Psychological contracts. In C.L. Cooper & B. Julian (Eds.),The SAGE handbook of organisational behaviour (pp. 17-34). London, UK: SAGE Publica-tions.
11. Das, S.H. & Gope, A.K. (2013). Employees’ perception on quality of work life (QWL) in Sugar Mills of U.P.: a comparative study based on working environment factor. Pacific Business Review International, 6(4), 76-84.
12. David, L., Brazil, K., Krueger, P., Lohfield, L., & Tjam, E. (2001). Extrinsic and intrinsic determinants of quality of work life. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance Incorporating Leadership In Health Services, 14(3), 9-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13660750110391539
13. Delbecq, A.L., Van de Ven, A.H., & Gustafson, D.H. (1975). Group techniques for program planning. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman & Co.
14. Diener, E., Emmons, R.A., Larsen, R.J., & Griffin, S. (2010). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71-75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
15. Easton, S., & Van Laar, D. (2013). Evaluation of outcomes and quality of working life in the coaching setting. The Coaching Psychologist, 9(2), 71-77.
16. Emerson, R.M. (1976). Social exchange theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 2(1), 335-362.
17. Emerson, R.M. (1987). Toward a theory of value in social exchange. In K.S. Cook (Ed.), Social ex-change theory (pp. 11-58). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
18. Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS (3rd edition). London, UK: SAGE Publications Ltd.
19. Gardner, S.D., Lepak, D.P., & Bartol, K.M. (2003). Virtual HR: the impact of information technology on the human resource professional. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 63, 157-179. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0001-8791(03)00039-3
20. Gauri, S.R. (2015). Organisational justice and quality of working life: a road that leads to a virtuous organisation. Journal of Social Service Research, 41(2), 269-294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2014.987942
21. Gerhart, B., & Milkovich, G.T. (1991). Employee compensation: research and practice (CAHRS Working Paper #91-35). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Rela-tions, Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies. Retrieved on April 22, 2015 from www.http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cahrswp/365
22. Hackman, J.R., & Oldham, G.R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16, 250-279. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-5073(76)90016-7
23. Hair, J., Black, W., Babin, B., & Anderson, R. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
24. Haitovsky, Y. (1969). Multicollinearity in regression analysis: a comment. Review of Economics and Statistics, 51(4), 486-489.
25. Hassan, F., Keeney, S., & McKenna, H. (2000). Research guidelines for the Delphi survey technique. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32(4), 1008-1015.
26. Homans, G.C. (1961). Social behaviour and its elementary forms. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.
27. Horn, J.L. (1965). A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 30, 179-195.
28. Hossain, M. (2013). Perceptual factors in quality of working life of the garments workers in Bangladesh. Journal of Business Studies, 34(2), 1-12.
29. Hsu, C.C., & Sandford, B.A. (2007). The Delphi technique: making sense of consensus. Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, 12(10), 1-8.
30. Hunker, I.K. (2014). Quality of work life in the hospitality industry: the contingent workers’ perspective (Master Thesis). Copenhagen Business School.
31. Imafidon, A. (2013). Challenges of e-banking and payment system in Nigeria. Journal of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, 7(4), 76-84.
32. Inyang, B.J., & Akpana, M.A. (2012). Personnel management practice in Nigeria. Calabar: Merb Business.
33. Iverson, R.D., & Maguire, C. (2000). The relationship between job and life satisfaction: evidence from a remote mining community. Human Relations, 53(6), 807-839. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0018726700536003
34. Kaiser, H.F. (1970). A second generation Little Jiffy. Psychometrika, 35, 401-415.
35. Kaiser, H.F. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39, 31-36.
36. Kwahar, N. (2016). Effect of quality of work life on Organisational performance in the Nigerian hotel sector (Ph.D. Thesis). Department of Business Management, Faculty of Management Sciences, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria.
37. Levine, M.F., Taylor, J. C., & Davis, L.E. (1984). Defining Quality of Working Life. Human Relations, 37(1), 81-104. http://dx.doi.org/0018-7267/84/0100-0081$03.50/1
38. Levine, M.G. (1983). Self developed QWL measures. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 4(1), 35.
39. Levitt, S.D., & List, J.A. (2011). Was there really a Hawthorne Effect at the Hawthorne plant? An analysis of the original illumination experiments. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3(1), 224-238. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.3.1.224
40. Linstone, H.A. (1978). The Delphi technique. In J. Fowlers (Ed.),Handbook of Futures Research (pp. 273-300). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
41. March, J.G., & Simon, H.A. (1993). Organisations (2nd edition). UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
42. Matsunaga, M. (2010). How to factor-analyze your data right: do’s, don’t’s and how-to. Interna-tional Journal of Psychological Research, 3(1), 97-110. http://dx.doi.org/10.21500/20112084.854
43. Merenda, P.F. (1997). A guide to the proper use of factor analysis in the conduct and reporting of research: pitfalls to avoid. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 30(3), 156-164.
44. Mirvis, P.H., & Lawler, E.E. (1984). Accounting for the quality of work life. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 5, 197-212. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/job.4030050304
45. Mohamad, M., & Mohamed, W.N. (2012). A model of quality of work life, life satisfaction and service quality. Asian Journal of Business Research, 2(2), 38-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.14707/ajbr.120009.
46. Mohammad, R.F.P., Sayyed, M.A., & Reza, A. (2013). Effect of quality of work life on Organisational commitment by SEM (case study: OICO Company). International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 3(10), 135-144. http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v3-i10/285
47. Namasivayam, K., Miao, L., & Zhao, X. (2007). An investigation of the relationships between com-pensation practices and firm performance in the US hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 26(3), 574-587.
48. Naude, R., Kruger, S., & Saayman, M. (2015). The effect of casino employees’ demographic va-riables on QWL domains. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 4(2), 1-30.
49. Nickson, M. (2009). Human resource management for the hospitality and tourism industries. USA: Elsevier Ltd.
50. Nunnally, J.C. (1978). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
51. Nwadukwe, U.O. (2012). Healthy environment Management and effectiveness of hotel industries in Anambra State of Nigeria. Anambara: Gozie Publisher Ltd.
52. Peterson, R.A. (2000). A meta-analysis of variance accounted for and factor loadings in exploratory factor analysis. Marketing Letters, 11(3), 261-275.
53. Psychogio, A.G. (2005). Towards a contingency approach to promising business management paradigms: the case of total quality management. Journal of Business and Society, 18(1/2), 120-134.
54. Pulakos, E.D. (2009). Performance management: a new approach for driving business results. London, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
55. Rethinam, G.S., & Ismail, M. (2008). Constructs of quality of work life: a perspective of information and technology professionals. European Journal of Social Sciences, 7(1), 58-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.12691/education-4-20-3.
56. Rousseau, D.M. (1995). Psychological contracts in Organisations: understanding written and un-written agreements. Thousand Oaks, CA: Saga.
57. Selvan, V.T. (2015). Study on role of technology in human resource management. International Journal of Applied Research, 1(7), 472-475.
58. Shengbin, H., & Bo, Y. (2011). The impact of technology selection on innovation success and orga-nisational performance. iBusiness, 3, 366-371. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ib.2011.34049
59. Skulmoski, G.J., Hartman, F.T., & Krahn, J. (2007). The Delphi method for graduate research. Jour-nal of Information Technology Education, 6, 1-21.
60. Sojka, L. (2014). Specification of the quality of work life characteristics in the Slovak economic environment. Sociologia, 46(3) 283-299.
61. Stevens, J. (2002). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences (4th edition). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
62. Swamy, D.R., Nanjundeswaraswamy, T.S., & Rashmi, S. (2015). Quality of work life: scale develop-ment and validation. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 8(2), 281-300.
63. Tabachnik, B.G., & Fidell, L.S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th edition). USA: Pearson Education Inc.
64. Yamane, T. (1967). Statistics: An Introductory Analysis (2nd edition).New York: Harper and Row.
65. Thangaratinam, S., & Redman, C.W.E. (2005). The Delphi technique. The Obstetrician and Gynae-cologist, 7, 120-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1576/toag.7.2.120.29071
66. Thompson, E.R., & Phua, F.T. (2012). A brief index of affective job satisfaction. Group and Organi-zation Management, 37(3), 275-307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1059601111434201
67. Thurstone, L.L. (1947). Multiple factor analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
68. Tinsley, H.E.A., & Tinsley, D.J. (1987). Uses of factor analysis in counselling psychology research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34(4), 414-424.
69. Van Laar, D., Edwards, J.A., & Easton, S. (2007). The work-related quality of life scale for healthcare workers. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 60(3), 325-333. http://dx.doi.org/10.111/j.1365-2648.2007.04409.x
70. Walton, R.E. (1974). Quality of work life indicators: prospects and problems. In A.H. Portigal (Ed.), Measuring the quality of working life. A symposium on social indicators of working life. Ottawa, 19-20 March.
71. Wyatt, T.A., & Wah, C.Y. (2001). Perceptions of QWL: a study of Singaporean employees develop-ment. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 9(2), 59-76.
72. Yong, G.A., & Pearce, S. (2013). A beginner’s guide to factor analysis: focusing on exploratory factor analysis. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 9(2), 79-94.