“It’s Not Just the Money”: Measuring Internal Employer Attractiveness

Abstract

Despite the importance of employee retention in the contemporary hospitality industry, research perspectives on employer attractiveness have largely focused on potential employees, neglecting the perspectives of current employees. Furthermore, the most common operationalization of employer attractiveness (EmpAt) was developed 20 years ago. This study refines, extends, and validates the EmpAt scale for application in the domain of current (as opposed to potential) hospitality employees, and establishes its effect on employee retention and recommendation intention. Additionally, the study examines differences in these relationships between Millennial and Generation Z (Gen Z) generational cohorts. With the exception of economic value and work–life balance, the new construct was found to have positive effects on employee retention. Additionally, the dimensions of the proposed construct showed positive effects on intention to recommend the employer, except for interest value and development value. Importantly, these effects varied significantly between Millennial and Gen Z employees.