Determinants of employee engagement in the hotel industry: An application of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approach

Abstract

The study aims to apply the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method to evaluate the priority of factors that constitute employee engagement with hotels. The theoretical review introduced and modeled five factors and 21 indicators. A pairwise comparison survey was designed and sent to experts, including university scientists, leaders of state management agencies in charge of tourism, and leaders of hotels. The research results show that the job characteristics factor is ranked as the first, the second factor is the working environment, the third factor is salary and welfare, the fourth factor is direct management, and the last ranking factor is the employee’s personality. Twenty-one indicators belonging to five factors were ranked through Liou and Wang’s (1992) method; the results showed that they ranked in the first three positions and had the most influence on hotel employee engagement as rated by experts, including recognizing employee efforts ranked first; the second factor is working together to achieve a common goal, and meaningful and purposive are ranked as the third factor. Meanwhile, the three factors with the lowest rankings, skills requirement, are ranked 19, the 20th place belongs to full facility, and the last place belongs to the sociable, enthusiastic, and friendly.