Research structure
The epidemic has impacted the tourism industry as well as the hotel industry, and it has caused great harm to the hotel industry along the coast of China. Tourism development requires sufficient manpower. According to the literature, the hotel industry currently has a huge manpower shortage and insufficient recruitment channels. Therefore, industry-academia cooperation projects have been used to cultivate talents and supplement manpower (Leonchuk and Gray 2019; Ministry of Education of China 2020). However, studies found that due to changes in tourism patterns, high labor-intensity (Foo et al. 2020a), wage gap (Yunfei and Qin 2019) and other internal issues, coupled with external factors such as the raging COVID-9, the turnover rate is high, the employment willingness has declined, and manpower shortage has been caused. It can be seen that seeking to improve the problem of manpower shortage will be an urgent issue.
Studies have confirmed that there are methods for exploring employee satisfaction and loyalty (Kwon et al. 2010). Employee satisfaction can be understood by studying working environment, salary, organizational commitment and interpersonal relationships (Allen and Grisaffe 2001; Bushra et al. 2011; Smith et al. 1969; Yukongdi and Shrestha 2020), employee loyalty can be explored by studying the levels of delegation and career development (Abdullah et al. 2011; Farrukh et al. 2019; Reynolds 2019; Yao et al. 2019), and there is mutual influence between each other. This method helps to find out and enhance the social responsibility of island hotels and solve the problem of manpower shortage, as shown in Fig. 1.
Research hypothesis
As illustrated in the research structure, the hypotheses of the research are as follows:
H1 Hotel trainees have the same understanding of job content satisfaction.
H2 Hotel trainees have the same recognition of corporate loyalty.
H3 There is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and corporate loyalty.
H4 There is a significant relationship between working environment and corporate loyalty.
H5 There is a significant relationship between salary and benefits and corporate loyalty.
H6 The relationship between corporate culture and corporate loyalty is significant.
H7 There is a significant correlation between interpersonal relationship and job satisfaction.
H8 There is a significant correlation between Degree of work authorization and job satisfaction.
H9 There is a significant correlation between job promotion elasticity and job satisfaction.
Subjects
In particular, the pleasant climate in Fujian Province has attracted a large number of international tourists to spend money there for years, resulting in significant growth in the number of Coastal Region Hotels and a boom in tourism development (Matzler and Renzl 2006). However, the slow start of China's tourism development and the speed of manpower training cannot cope with the demand, and the hotel manpower turnover rate is high and the willingness to stay is low (Hotel Industry Research Center, Zhongrui Hotel Management College 2019; Noe et al. 2003), which shows that the internal social responsibility system and implementation effectiveness of hotel enterprises are flawed. Therefore, hotel enterprises are currently cooperating with schools to promote university student hotel talent training programs, attempting to bring in fresh university graduates to enter the workplace early and train them as talents to compensate for the shortage of talent, which has become one of the main sources of hotel primary manpower. The effectiveness of implementing this policy needs time to be verified. In order to understand the degree of decision implementation and find out the deficiencies, the most realistic way is to examine the perceptions of the employees in the field (Ap and Crompton 1998; Widaningsih et al. 2020). Therefore, in this study, a questionnaire survey was used to select the participants by intentional sampling method, and a snowball method was used to obtain more samples from the current hotel trainees in Fujian Province. A total of 300 questionnaires were collected and 20 invalid questionnaires were excluded, resulting in a total of 280 valid questionnaires and a recovery rate of 93.3%. The data were then coded, and the valid questionnaire data were documented with the SPSS 22.0 statistical software and analyzed for demographic variables, job satisfaction, and loyalty of the hotel trainees using statistical validation. Then, AMOS 20.0 software was used to analyze the relationship between the variables and validate the research model, and Pearson Correlation was used to analyze the relationship between job satisfaction and corporate loyalty. Focused interviews were then used to obtain the opinions of experts and scholars with backgrounds in hotel operations, working experiences, or professions, and the paper was constructed following a sequence of summarization, organization, and analysis (Gursoy et al. 2002). Finally, the multivariate verification analysis method was used to integrate the information of different research subjects, research theories and methods, and multiple viewpoints to verify multiple data and compare the research results (Gursoy et al. 2002; Janesick 2000; Strauss and Corbin 1998) in order to obtain accurate knowledge and meaning.
Study procedure and instruments
From the perspective of hotel trainees, this article examines the hotel talent training system in terms of job satisfaction and loyalty perceptions, in order to understand the effectiveness of hotel enterprises in promoting social responsibility and to analyze the key factors for the sustainable development of hotel enterprises. The research mainly analyzes the results of employee corporate loyalty and job satisfaction in the current COVID-19 infectious environment. It is believed that even in the current pandemic exploring the relationship between job satisfaction and employee loyalty can be helpful for finding solutions to the manpower shortage in China’s hotel industry, according to the relevant research results (Abdullah et al. 2011; Farrukh et al. 2019; Reynolds 2019; Yao et al. 2019), inference and analysis of company loyalty (Allen and Grisaffe 2001; Bushra et al. 2011; Gupta and Mikkilineni 2018; Smith et al. 1969) and job satisfaction (Farrukh et al. 2019; Foster et al. 2008; Friedman 2007; Huemann et al. 2007; Marlow 2006; Noe et al. 2003; Reynolds 2019; Wu et al. 2010). The questionnaire can be divided into three parts: background variables, job satisfaction, and company loyalty. The background variables (Reynolds 2019) are related to gender, department, and geographic location of workplace. A total of 3 relevant questions are posed, and their question numbers are 1–3. Job satisfaction referencing to (Allen and Grisaffe 2001; Bushra et al. 2011; Smith et al. 1969; Yee et al. 2010) is divided into four dimensions. A total of 17 relevant questions are posed, and the question numbers are 4–20. Company loyalty referencing (Abdullah et al. 2011; Farrukh et al. 2019; Reynolds 2019; Yao et al. 2019) is divided into two dimensions, power control and career development, a total of 6 questions posed. There are 26 questions in total, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.
Demographic variables include gender (male, female), work department (front desk, catering, guest room, kitchen, other), work location (local employment internship, non-indigenous employment internship). The 5-point Likert scale was used, ranging from strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree to strongly disagree, with 1–5 points respectively. Job satisfaction referencing to (Allen and Grisaffe 2001; Bushra et al. 2011; Smith et al. 1969; Yee et al. 2010) is divided into four dimensions, work environment, salary, organizational commitment and interpersonal relationship. The company loyalty (Abdullah et al. 2011; Farrukh et al. 2019; Reynolds 2019; Yao et al. 2019) is divided into two dimensions, levels of delegation and development opportunities, as shown in Table 1.
Information processing and analysis
It is a corporate social responsibility to stabilize the development of enterprises and communities and to provide employment opportunities for residents to improve their quality of life in a mutually beneficial way (Wu 2017), which is also a major concern for society and the public (Uduji and Okolo-Obasi 2019). It is a new concept to explore the work system from the perspective of employees to understand whether the company can provide perfect job security for employees and fulfill its social responsibility. Innovative research methods need to be combined with new theories, based on grounded theory, using mixed research methods, first using quantitative research methods to get the opinions of the majority (Galli et al. 2020; Ochieng 2009), and then using qualitative research to obtain more profound, More subtle insights (Berry et al. 2019) can make up for the theoretical shortcomings (Cypress 2018). The first step was to eliminate the invalid questionnaires from the returned responses, code the valid questionnaire data, and use the SPSS 22.0 statistical software to document the data. The relationship between job satisfaction and corporate loyalty was analyzed by Pearson Correlation. Focused interviews were then used to ask experts and scholars with hotel operations, work, or professional backgrounds about their opinions on the analysis results, and the research paper was constructed by applying the sequence of induction, organization, and analysis (Gursoy et al. 2002). Finally, the multivariate check analysis method was used to combine the information of different research subjects, research theories and methods, and multiple viewpoints to verify multiple data and compare the research results (Gursoy et al. 2002; Janesick 2000; Strauss and Corbin 1998) to obtain accurate knowledge and meaning.
According to the analysis of the data from the 280 questionnaires, the majority of the respondents are female, accounting for 59.1%, and 40.9% of them are male. The largest proportion of the respondents worked in catering department as interns, accounting for 30.9%, 25.5% of them worked at front desk as interns, 12.3% in guest room department, 4.5% in kitchen, and others 26.8%. Most interns have selected hotels close to their places of residence, accounting for 60%, and 40% of the interns worked at hotels far away from their places of residence.
Offending estimate
As shown in Table 2, we can see that the error variance of this research model is 0.02 to 0.05, and the standardized regression coefficient is 0.75 to 0.96, none of which exceeds 0.96. Then the relevant testing was carried out to determine whether there is a negative error variance or the standardized regression coefficient exceeds or is too close to the standard of 1 (Bagozzi and Yi 1988) [76]. Therefore, this means that there is no offending estimate situation about the results, and the overall model can be tested for goodness of fit.
Measurement mode analysis
Verification of convergent validity
In this study, the convergent validity of the measurement model was tested using the standardized path coefficient, the average variance extracted and the composite reliability. Generally speaking, the composite reliability needs to be greater than 0.60, and the average variance extracted needs to be greater than 0.50 [76]. As shown in Table 3, as for job satisfaction, the values related to working environment dimension are between 0.76 and 0.90, the values related to the salary and benefits dimension are between 0.53 and 0.75, the values related to company culture dimension are between 0.66 and 0.89, and values related to interpersonal relationship dimension is between 0.89 and 0.90. As for employee loyalty, the values related to the level of delegation dimension are between 0.80 and 0.83, the values related to development opportunities dimension are between 0.83 and 0.84. The composite reliability scores of the four potential variables of job satisfaction, working environment, salary and benefits, company culture, and interpersonal relationships is 0.82, 0.65, 0.79, and 0.86 respectively, and the composite reliability scores of the two potential variables of loyalty, levels of delegation and development opportunities, are 0.80 and 0.83 respectively. The composite reliability scores are all greater than 0.60 and the average variance extracted is greater than 0.50, indicating that the model is of good inherent quality and convergent validity.
Structural model analysis
For structural model analysis of this study, χ2 test, the ratio of χ2 to degrees of freedom, GFI, AGFI, RMSEA, CFI, and PCFI are used to carried out relevant analyses (Bagozzi and Yi 1988). After the revision of the job satisfaction scale model, GFI is 0.91, AGFI is 0.87, RMSEA is 0.07, CFI is 0.97, and PCFI is 0.74. After the revision of the company loyalty scale model, GFI is 0.98, AGFI is 0.94, RMSEA is 0.07, CFI is 0.97, and PCFI is 0.74. As shown in Table 4, all the fitness indicators meet the model fitting criteria, indicating that the results of this study are acceptable models with good convergent validity and discriminant validity.
Research result
Analysis on the current situation of interns job satisfaction and employee loyalty
The internal social responsibility of the company includes providing proper working conditions, planning and perfecting human resource management system (Friedman 2007), meeting the needs of actual operation and employees, improving employees' performance, achieving corporate profitability goals, and further providing employees with job and livelihood security (Marlow 2006). Job satisfaction is one of the effective factors that influence the content of employees' work. If the content of work, environment and gains can be balanced, job satisfaction will be higher (Liu et al. 2019; Seashore and Taber 2001). Based on the literature, the researchers divided job satisfaction into four dimensions, working environment, salary and benefits, company culture, and interpersonal relationships, and there were 17 relevant questions in total. It was found that the respondents attach importance to salary and benefits (2.9), care least about company culture (2.69), pay more attention to disciplinary rules (2.75), benefits package (2.91), job rotation (2.72), and interaction with colleagues and communication with boss (2.73), and care less about career planning (2.65), peer cooperation and collaboration (2.70), work facilities ( 2.73), and compensation system (2.82), as shown in Table 5.
If employees feel intense loyalty to the company, this will promote the interaction between supervisors and employees and the company's trust in and support for subordinates and employees, and further boost the overall operation of the company (Bushra et al. 2011; Farrukh et al. 2019). This will facilitate sustainable business operations and meet the basic costs of maintaining internal corporate social responsibility. According to the literature, employee loyalty is divided into empowerment degree and development opportunities. The analysis result shows that they attach more importance to the latter (2.86) and care less about the former (2.72). They also expect to obtain the delegation of authority to solve the problem (2.88), get development opportunities after the internship (2.88), and care less about the right to work (2.68) and personnel changes (2.84), as shown in Table 6.
Correlation analysis of interns job satisfaction and employee loyalty
High job satisfaction can inspire the loyalty of employees. Employees with loyalty to the company work efficiently. They can be valued by the company, and then get rewards, and then increase satisfaction again (Bushra et al. 2011; Farrukh et al. 2019; Foster et al. 2008; Gursoy et al. 2002). Thus, by increasing employee job satisfaction and corporate recognition, job performance can be promoted which helps hotels to achieve their operational goals (Marlow 2006) and facilitates employees to obtain corporate employment commitments (Wu et al. 2010), so that the internal social responsibility of hotel companies can be fulfilled. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 is proposed. According to the analysis results, job satisfaction and company loyalty are highly correlated (0.895, p < 0.01), confirming that Hypothesis 3 is true. In addition, the better the working environment is, the higher the job loyalty (0.862).
Job satisfaction can be explored from the perspectives of working environment, salary and welfare, corporate culture and interpersonal relationships, so hypothesis 4–7 is proposed. It can be seen that working environment, salary and benefits, company culture, and interpersonal relationships of job satisfaction have a significant impact on loyalty (P < 0.01), confirming that Hypothesis 2–6 is valid. It was also found that the better the planning of workplace facilities (0.805), staff canteen (0.639), job rotation (0.772), and cooperation and collaboration between colleagues (0.785), the stronger the interns' loyalty to the company, as shown in Fig. 4.
Work performance is the key to the growth of business operations, and it is also the employee's commitment to the company. It is also a kind of trust employers put in employees (Allen and Grisaffe 2001). Strong loyalty urges employees to actively complete tasks and improve effectiveness. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 is proposed. The analysis result shows that company loyalty and job satisfaction are significantly correlated (0.895, p < 0.01), which confirms Hypothesis 3. In addition, the higher the level of delegation is, the higher the job satisfaction (0.862).
Furthermore, company loyalty can be discussed from the perspectives of the level of delegation and development opportunities, and employees with different positions have different opinions, so Hypothesis 8–9 is proposed. The analysis result shows that the level of delegation and development are significantly correlated with job satisfaction (P < 0.01), confirming Hypothesis 8–9. In addition, it was found that interns who could choose their own work methods (0.895) to perform tasks had greater job satisfaction and more development opportunities (0.876) after the internship, as shown in Fig. 5.