Psychological contract of employees in family-owned hotels: the role of talent management practices

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to analyse how talent management practices in family-owned hotels contribute to their employees' fulfilment of their psychological contract.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 employees working at three different family business hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Moreover, thematic analysis was undertaken on the collected data resulting in four major themes.FindingsThe findings revealed that stimulating employees to fulfil their psychological contract towards their family-owned hotels leads to several benefits. First, it leads to talent management practices that support crisis management, sustainability and resilience. Second, it contributes to empathy towards or at least a deep concern for the future of work in the hospitality sector. Third, to fulfil their psychological contract, employees, particularly non-family members, require inclusive talent management and ongoing training programmes tailored to prepare them to meet current and future challenges in the hospitality sector.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, the present study is the first study to empirically investigate the relationship between talent management practices and the psychological contract of employees in family-owned hotels, especially in developing economy context of Egypt. Also, it is one of the pioneering studies to unpack these dynamics for family as well as non-family employees.

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“…This is because family owners control flow of information and decision‐making, which influences motivation of firm members to learn and innovate (Mousa et al, 2023). Family firm owners mostly tend to create a sense of cohesion and loyalty by encouraging member conformity and groupness, which creates a dysfunctional inertia that severely constrains exploitation and exploration of talent and knowledge of diverse members and that may possibly lead to elimination of learning necessary to stimulate entrepreneurship (Mousa et al, 2023). In the presence of democracy, rule of law, political stability and effective governance, family firms have a better chance to achieve long‐term economic and socio‐affective family goals than in a context where institutional uncertainty prevails and can deter firm growth (Mousa & Arslan, 2023; Soleimanof et al, 2018).…”

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“…Family businesses are prominent in the hospitality industry, including transport, restaurants and hotels (Mousa et al, 2023). They constitute a significant number of firms within the hotel industry and employ a considerable percentage of industry personnel (Ramos et al, 2021).…”