Journal of Hospitality

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation: Which Drives Long-Term Employee Productivity in Hotels?

Bhaskar Sailesh — 2026-06-15

Employee motivation plays a crucial role in shaping performance, engagement, and retention in the luxury hospitality industry. This study explores the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on long-term employee productivity, focusing on organizational trust, psychological safety, and employee engagement as key drivers. The research evaluates theoretical models, including Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), Kahn’s Engagement Model (1990), and the Job Demands-Resources Model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007), to assess how motivation impacts workforce stability in high-pressure hotel environments. Findings suggest that intrinsic motivation (autonomy, job satisfaction, career growth) plays a stronger role in long-term engagement, whereas extrinsic motivators (salary, incentives, promotions) provide only short-term performance boosts. The study also highlights the role of leadership, trust, and open communication in fostering psychological safety, which enhances employee commitment and service innovation. Furthermore, it discusses cultural and organizational factors affecting motivation, emphasizing the need for tailored HR strategies in luxury hotels. The paper concludes by proposing practical recommendations for balancing financial and non-financial rewards to improve employee motivation, reduce turnover, and enhance service quality. These insights provide valuable implications for hotel management, policymakers, and future hospitality research.

Exploring food and beverage hospitality sector employees’ experiences of empathetic ability in their leaders

Kelvin Ing — 2026-06-15

The UK F&B hospitality sector recently faced challenges such as issues with employee motivation, stress, and retention, but previous research suggested empathetic leadership may help address these challenges. This study explored UK F&B hospitality employees’ experiences of their leaders’ empathetic abilities using a semi-structured interview design and analysed the data using reflexive thematic analysis. The researchers interviewed 10 participants and generated five main themes: Behaviours of empathetic leadership; Employee beliefs about empathetic leadership; Performance benefits of empathetic leadership; Structural and organisational implementations of empathetic leadership; and Unempathetic leadership. Our findings suggested participants experienced leaders with empathetic abilities positively and attributed positive outcomes like enhanced retention, loyalty, motivation and productivity to empathetic leadership, which largely aligned with existing research. Future research could focus on the effects of empathetic leadership on specific constructs like burnout, potential negative effects of empathetic leadership, adopt experimental designs and focus on managers’ experiences of empathetic leadership.

The Determinants of Tourists’ Accommodation Choice in Nandi County, Kenya

EVALINE WANJIRU WAINAINA — 2026-06-15

Despite Nandi County having a variety of accommodation facilities such as guest houses, hotels, service apartments, cottages and lodges, these accommodation facilities experience low occupancy rates. This may be linked to tourists’ choice of accommodation. Therefore, general objective of the study was to examine factors influencing tourists’ accommodation choice in Nandi County in Kenya. The study used concurrent explanatory research design and data collected using questionnaires and a structured interview guide. From a target population of 2,560 accommodation guests, the study adopted a sample size of 334 guests. Participants were selected using simple random sampling. Additionally, 16 general accommodation facility managers were purposively selected and interviewed. Quantitative data was analyzed using multiple regression while the qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. The study was guided by the rational choice theory which explains the decisions of individuals over one particular preference from other available options.