Minimizing hotel employees’ negative responses to adverse change practices: The application of attribution theory

Abstract

Hospitality organizations need to make changes from time to time, which usually result in adverse human resource (HR) practices, such as readjustments to job duties or salary cuts. To reduce negative employee responses to these adverse practices, scholars suggest the important role of change communication. However, it remains unclear how change communication can alter employees’ cognition to minimize their negative responses. Drawing on the HR attribution theory, we hypothesize that high-quality change communication can reduce employees’ turnover intentions through well-being attribution. We further argue that this indirect effect depends on the seriousness of the negative impact on employees. We test this moderated mediation model with two waves of time-lagged data from 223 employees of a hotel in Hong Kong when it had to implement a no-pay leave program due to a renovation project. The results provide support for our proposed model. Important implications for hotel practitioners are discussed.