The influence of performance appraisals on employee retention within the hospitality sector in Ireland
Authors
Millea, Rachael
Issue Date
2024
Degree
Master of Business Administration
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
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Abstract
The aim of this study was to understand the influence of performance appraisals on employee retention within the Irish hospitality sector. The Irish hospitality sector has long faced a challenge of both recruiting people to the sector, as well as retaining these valuable employees. This study aimed to bridge the empirical gap between the previous literature, with the objective of conducting semi-structured interviews with employees in this sector. Semi structured interviews were carried out with employees from the Irish hospitality sector, in order to understand their views on performance appraisals and if this process could contribute to their commitment to an organisation. The Transformational Leadership Framework was used in order to develop interview questions and data collected was analysed using a branch of Thematic Analysis, known as Template Analysis. The results confirmed that performance appraisals can influence an employee’s commitment to an organisation, through the importance of communication, feedback, employee engagement, motivation and employees’ relationship with managers. The results demonstrate that performance appraisals influence commitment and in turn, employee retention levels within the sector. On foot of these results, it was concluded that businesses within the Irish hospitality sector could use this as a foundation to inform their current and/or future performance management methods, in order to positively affect retention rates and retain valued employees within the sector.