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Women’s career advancement in hotels: The mediating role of organization

commitment

Article in International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management · June 2020

DOI: 10.1108/IJCHM-12-2019-1030

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Women’s
Women’s career advancement in career
hotels: the mediating role of advancement
in hotels
organizational commitment
Ting Liu
School of Tourism, Huangshan University, Huangshan, China
Received 25 December 2019
Huawen Shen Revised 16 February 2020
30 March 2020
Faculty of International Tourism and Management, 17 May 2020
City University of Macau, Macau, China, and Accepted 23 May 2020

Jie Gao
Department of Hospitality, Tourism and Event Management,
San Jose State University, San Jose, California, USA

Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to uncover women’s career advancement (CA) in the hospitality industry, by
examining the influence of female employees’ career expectation (CE) and work–family balance (WFB). It also
investigated the extent to which organizational commitment (OC) mediates the relationships among women’s
CE, WFB and CA.
Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was used to collect data. The data were collected
from 525 hotel female employees in China. A structural equation model was conducted with all of the data to
test the relationships between the constructs. The individual measurement model was tested using the
exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. A structural model was estimated using
analysis of moment structures to test all the hypotheses.
Findings – The results showed that women’s CE and WFB positively influenced their OC and CA. Women’s
organizational commitment also positively influenced their CA. The results also confirmed that the indirect
effect of CE and WFB on CA was mediated by OC.
Originality/value – This study examines how the CE and work–family relationships of female employees
in the hospitality industry affect their OC and their CA. The results help female employees to overcome the
glass ceiling effect and achieve greater career success. This study seeks to expand the research on the CA of
female hotel employees by identifying the factors that influence their CA.
Keywords Career expectation, Life balance, Organizational commitment, Career women,
Career development, Organizational psychology
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
As valuable human resource assets, employees have been crucial to the organizational
success in the hospitality industry. Evidence suggests that over a half of employees are
women in the hospitality and tourism industry (Fan, 2011) and it continues to increase.
According to China Labor Statistical Yearbook (2018), 55.54% of hotel employees are
women; yet, fewer are senior managers (only 17.1% in 2014; Wang et al., 2020). It might be International Journal of
because women have to play their traditional family role and accompanied, persisting Contemporary Hospitality
Management
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0959-6119
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. DOI 10.1108/IJCHM-12-2019-1030
IJCHM expectations, which are women being responsible for family care and well-being (Costa et al.,
2017; Zhao et al., 2019). Meanwhile, given the emphasis of gender equality in China, Chinese
women managers rarely blame their work domain or reduce their time investment in jobs
(Zhao et al., 2019). However, the fact is that many women are working in the lower level of
hospitality jobs and they struggle to be promoted to higher management positions (Catalyst,
2015). This unfair situation called for further research to study the influences of gender on
career development in the hospitality industry (Kauser and Tlaiss, 2011).
From the employer perspective, many hotels are facing a problem that talented women
are more likely to leave because hotel jobs involve longer working hours, frequent business
trips and getting harder to take care of families (Karatepe and Uludag, 2008). Hotels’
retention and development programs/workshops have been receiving unsatisfactory results,
leading to the women brain drain (Groschl and Arcot, 2014). Therefore, it is worth
examining women’s career development and advancement in the hospitality industry. How
to convince women to stay and progress through the hotel is a question to be answered.
Existing studies have primarily focused on women’s career development in Western
countries and some Asian areas (Li and Wang Leung, 2001; Choi and Park, 2014; Saadin
et al., 2016). Considering the recent rapid development of the hospitality industry in the
special social and economic context of China, this study is aimed to uncover women’s career
advancement (CA) in the hospitality industry, by examining the influence of women’s career
expectation (CE) and work–family balance (WFB). It also investigated the extent to which
organizational commitment (OC) mediates the relationships among women’s CE, WFB and
CA. Study results not only are advisory for women working at hotels to help overcome the
glass ceiling effect and progress and advance through their careers but also provided critical
implications for hotels how to retain and motivate female employees for the organizational
sustainability purpose. The results also fill in a gap in the literature on hotel women’s CA in
China by identifying its influencing factors.

Literature review
Gender stereotypes in the hospitality organizations
The gender theory suggests that, instead of being naturally sex-based, women and men are
socially constructed because of many differences in deeply embodied social practices
(Guenther et al., 2018). Hospitality and tourism are a highly gendered industry, where there
is a strong segregation of occupations and a prevalence of men in top-level management
positions (Baum, 2015; Baum et al., 2016). Although gender equality was raised by social
movements, legislation and organizational regulations and academic research studies
(Morgan and Pritchard, 2018), little effort has been made to correct the male domination of
higher positions and marginalization of women in hospitality industry (Gebbels et al., 2019).
Women’s CA in tourism are invisible (Costa et al., 2017). Relevant barriers include imposed
barriers and personal priorities, and even workplace and societal barriers (Boone et al., 2013;
Mooney and Ryan, 2009). For example, the existence of male culture in organizations,
coupled with certain organizing practices can explain the lack of women at the top
managerial positions (Mooney and Ryan, 2009).
Recently, employees are expected to an unencumbered worker, who is completely
dedicated to working without family-related responsibilities (Acker, 2012). A male worker
can perfectly fit into this expectation because his life is work-centered and his wife takes
care of family. Therefore, from this perspective, the concept of work is implicitly gendered.
The traditional gender role divisions and gendered social reproductive roles influence
employees’ availability (Heilman et al., 2015) and thus reinforce gendered stereotypes in the
workplace.
 Further evidence suggests that women’s promotion in hospitality and tourism are Women’s
influenced by the way how the society views them (Campos-Soria et al., 2011), which career
highlights how gender roles and managerial discourse are related. A study on gender-typing
in the Spanish hospitality industry showed masculine characteristics are rated as more
advancement
important than feminine characteristics for the managerial positions (Cuadrado et al., 2015). in hotels
Another study in Portugal suggested that emotionality is a managerial characteristic
associated with women and femininity and has been progressively incorporated into
managerial discourse; however, gender roles and femininity related to their caring roles
continued influencing their career and promotion (Costa et al., 2017). The concept of gender
in this study is not only constructed biologically but also importantly perceived socially
(Guenther et al., 2018). Given that gender-based stereotypes toward women in CA are deeply
rooted in China, our study is important to examine women’s CA and address the influences
of gender stereotypes in the workplace.

Defining organizational commitment

OC refers to employees’ responsibilities and obligations to an organization. It is primarily
considered as an attitude or behavioral tendency derived from the recognition of the
organizational goals in occupational psychology (Becker, 1960). Employees’ commitment to
an organization is not only related to their recognition of an organization but also related to
their recognition of the specific occupation they pursue within the organization (Bedeian
et al., 1991). The employees, who are more concerned about their own career, showed a
greater OC, compared with those with a lower level of career commitment (Chang, 1999). Li
(2011) found that Taiwanese employees had different work values from mainland employees.
Taiwanese employees’ work values were inversely proportional to their OC, whereas the OC
and job involvement of mainland employees were positively correlated with their work
values. Shang (2013) confirmed that the career values and the OC of employees in high-star
hotels of Hunan province were significantly related. Based on the literature, it was concluded
that high-star hotels offered good opportunities for promotion and the degree of CE at hotel
services affected hotel employees’ emotional commitment, value commitment and retention
commitment. In addition, the lower employees’ turnover rate reduced the cost of labor.
CE and WFB are the independent constructs of this study. The CE refers to real and
attainable aims, as well as career goals that an employee intends to achieve (Metz et al., 2009).
The influencing factors of the CE were examined, including personal interests, hobbies,
family background (Schoon and Parsons, 2002), education level, race/ethnicity (Cook et al.,
1996) and gender (Metz et al., 2009). The employees’ CE have effects on OC (Robinson and
Morrison, 2000). When an employee was more committed to the organization, this person’s
CE might be satisfied (Rigotti et al., 2009). In addition, a higher level of personal commitment
to the career may lead to a greater CE. Therefore, when the CE of employees with a high level
of commitment is met by the organization, they are more motivated than those with a lower
level of OC (Shang, 2013). Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H1. CE has a positive effect on organizational commitment.

WFB is another important construct in this study, which leads to two outcomes: OC (O’Neill
et al., 2009) and job satisfaction (Cegarra-Leiva et al., 2012). Evidence suggested that
employees would further recognize their company’s values and may increase their
commitment to the organization when the organization supports their employees to achieve
WFB (Rhoades and Eisenberger, 2002). On the other side, the work-family conflict and
emotional exhaustion negatively influence front-line hotel employees’ job satisfaction,
emotional OC and turnover intention (Karatepe and Uludag, 2007).
IJCHM Evidence suggests that the work-family conflict leads to the strained labor relations, the
reduced job satisfaction, the poor organizational performance, and thus results in a lower OC
and higher turnover intention among employees (Eby et al., 2005). Employees with the work-
family conflict were more likely to leave their organization (Karatepe and Baddar, 2006). The
work-family conflict also negatively influenced hotel staffs’ performance, whereas the work-
life balance was positively correlated with job satisfaction and OC (Karatepe and Kilic, 2007;
Carlson et al., 2009).
However, it became difficult for women to balance work and family without the
support from their employers (Choi and Park, 2014). Peng (2014) confirmed that
women’s work-family conflict directly resulted in a decrease in their OC and also led to
their turnover intention. In light of the preceding findings, the following hypothesis is
proposed:

H2. WFB has a positive effect on OC.

Construction of career advancement

CA is a common form of career development, which enables employees to produce better
performance. Peng (2011) defined CA as the promotion of management or professional
positions in the organization, which means CA includes the promotion of management
positions and professional titles. CA is a system career path to meet employees’ goals and
organizational needs (Kwah et al., 2012). As this study focuses on the discussion of the CA of
women, CA can be defined not only on the level of title promotion, also refers to their ability
can be expected for career development prospects and opportunities. To meet the long-term
needs, the system and measures are taken to promote effectively development through the
way of system. This can enhance their capabilities to improve the professional level,
professional competition and upgrade the possibility of career mode.
As an early attempt to understand the women’s role in the leadership position, several
influencing factors were identified at some levels, such as individual, interpersonal and
organizational (Ragins and Sundstrom, 1989). The individual-level factors included
individual resources, such as achievement orientation, career aspirations and the
interpersonal-level factors primarily referred to proactive partnerships. The organizational
factors focused on the organization support (Ramli et al., 2016). Individual, interpersonal and
organizational factors all together contribute to a person’s CA (Xiao, 2010). As Shang (2013)
indicated, the organizational citizenship behaviors of hotel employees were significantly
influenced by their value, effort and retention commitment.
From the employees’ perspective, the CA is considered as an investment in an
organization, which might keep employees in a good condition for long time (Karen, 2001).
The career development opportunities allow employees to learn and grow on the jobs
(Asiedu-Appiah et al., 2013). Given that the CA training provided by the employer is aimed
to improve the employee performance and thus enhance positive atmosphere and job
satisfaction (Walia and Bajaj, 2012), a logical positive correlation might exist between CA
and job satisfaction (Shani and Divyapriya, 2013), as well as between OC and job
satisfaction (Asrar and Rizwan, 2017). Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H3. OC has a positive effect on CA.

O’Brien (1996) found that employees’ CE was positively correlated with the CA. Their
expectations and values also influenced the career goals (Liu et al., 2019). Individuals who have
a higher level of CE were more likely to have greater career achievements. Ng et al. (2010)
suggested that millennials had a high level of CE and thus wanted to further develop their Women’s
careers. Millennials had realistic expectations of their first job after graduation, and desired for career
good employers and working environment. In this sense, the work-life balance became a job
expectation, not just a need from the family perspective. In addition, evidence suggested that
advancement
almost all female managers expressed their willingness and commitment to work hard for an in hotels
excellent performance, which was a key factor positively influencing the CA and being
consistent across different countries, such as the USA, India and China (Peus et al., 2015). As for
the studies of women’s CA in the hotel sector in China, Lin (2011) demonstrated that gender
influenced the career development, which was not evident in the early or intermediate stages of
a career path. However, as a woman’s career developed, gender played an increasing role in a
woman’s career path. One influencing factor in the hotel industry might be the personal CE
(Fan, 2011). Therefore, H4 is proposed:

H4. CE has a positive effect on CA.

Work-life balance contributed to women’s CA (Patwardhan et al., 2016), whereas work-family
conflict hindered women’s career development (Zhao et al., 2019). Thus, how to balance work
and family has become an important factor for women to advance their careers in the hotel
industry (Knutson and Schmidgall, 1999). Boone et al. (2013) recognized that to achieve the
work-life balance was a strategy to cope with constraints in their CA. Hoobler et al. (2009) also
suggested that at least women needed a good work-family relationship which was beneficial
for potential opportunities of CA. Saadin et al. (2016) confirmed a significant relationship
between women’s work-life balance and their CA. Work overload may bring more stress to
women, who still have the same workload in their families (Zhao et al., 2019). When senior
female managers realize that their work has influenced family life, they are more likely to
choose the family side, instead of pay raise and promotion opportunities (Sudha and
Karthikeyan, 2014; Direnzo et al., 2015). Women would benefit from multiple organizational
support, which leads to the longevity outcomes of employees’ affective commitment (David
et al., 2019). This is also beneficial for women to achieve the WFB and their CA opportunities
(Mooney and Ryan, 2009). Thus, the fifth hypothesis is proposed:

H5. WFB has a positive effect on CA.

The mediating role of the OC

According to Baron and Kenny (1986) and Judd and Kenny (1981), the necessary conditions
to become a mediating variable included:
(1) The independent variables must have a significant effect on the dependent variables.
(2) The independent variables significantly affect the intermediary variables.
(3) The mediating variables significantly affect the dependent variables.

Kenny et al. (1998) further stipulated that only the Conditions (2) and (3) were necessary to
determine the mediating effect. If the Conditions (2) and (3) were combined, the overall
conclusions of the model can be inferred (Rose et al., 2004).
Evidence has confirmed the direct effects of:
 the CE and the WFB on the CA (Peus et al., 2015; Sudha and Karthikeyan, 2014;
Saadin et al., 2016);
 the CE and the WFB on the OC (Shang, 2013; Choi and Park, 2014); and
 the OC on the CA (Asrar and Rizwan, 2017).
IJCHM To further investigate the influencing mechanisms of the OC, the mediating role of the OC
should be examined because the OC not only directly affects a person’s CA but also is an
intermediary variable of relating to the CE, WFB and CA.
The OC includes affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative
commitment (Meyer et al., 2002). Normative commitment plays a moderating role in an
employee’s expectations toward the organization, job retention, career development and
promotion (Hu and Shi, 2004). A person with a higher level of the OC is more likely to stay in
the organization and have the opportunities for CA. When more employees received support
from their employers, their CE were more likely to be met, which led to an increasing OC and
positively influenced their work performance and career development (Cho and Johanson,
2008). In addition, Namasivayam and Zhao (2007) suggested that the work-family conflict
negatively influenced their loyalty to the organization and resulted in a decrease in their
affective commitment and continuance commitment for hotel staffs, which all significantly
affected their CA. In this sense, the OC played an intermediary role between the WFB and
the CA. Evidence has suggested that OC played a moderating role in work-family conflict
for women, and thus good organizational atmosphere and flexible working hours were
strategies to help employees to achieve a WFB, which increased employees’ retention and
helped their career development (Blomme et al., 2010).
This study measured the indirect effect of the CE and/or the WFB and the CA via the
mediating role of the OC. It is assumed that the OC played an intermediary role between the
CE and/or the WFB and CA. The following hypotheses are proposed:

H6. CE has a positive and indirect effect on CA through the intermediary role of OC.
H7. WFB has a positive and indirect effect on CA through the intermediary role of OC.
This study is aimed to identify the determinants of CA in the hotel industry. Our conceptual
framework for women’s CA in the hotel industry included four constructs: CE, work-life
balance, OC and CA (Figure 1). CE and WFB are considered as exogenous variables that are
positively related to OC and CA, while OC and CA are endogenous variables. OC not only
positively influences CA but also serves as an intermediary variable to adjust the
relationship between CE, WFB and CA.

Research methods
Data collection
A questionnaire draft was provided to seven scholars and hotel managers for the content
validity (i.e. four hospitality management professors, one general manager and two HR

Figure 1.
Proposed conceptual
framework
managers), which had good feedback on its representativeness and validity. A pilot test was Women’s
conducted in two provinces of China from July to September in 2018 to evaluate the length, career
clarity, reliability and validity of the scales. Results from the pilot test showed that good
quality of the questionnaire and also suggested change to make, including clarifying unclear
advancement
wording, addressing comments from participants in the pilot study. in hotels
The survey included questions on CE, WFB, OC and CA. The CE scale was developed
based on Liu et al. (2019) and Wu and Li (2001). The WFB scale was based on Wong and Ko
(2009). The OC scale was based on Meyer and Allen’s (1997) OC scale and Zhang et al.’s
(2002) revised scale, which have examined the OC of hotel female employees. Finally, the CA
scale was based on Patwardhan et al. (2016). All of the items were measured using a seven-
point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
The data collection was conducted in mainland China. Participants were female
employees who worked in three stars, four stars or five stars hotels in China. First,
researchers obtained the consent of the human resource department at these hotels. Then,
the paper-based questionnaires were distributed to their women employees who are
voluntary to participate. These participants accessed a consent page at the beginning of the
survey, which described their anonymity of participation and the study purpose for research
only. Third, the participants were asked to fill in the survey during their non-working hours
and put their complete questionnaires in a sealed envelope. Researchers gathered all the
completed surveys on site. AS the surveys were administered in Chinese, all the survey
items were translated from English into Chinese using the conventional back-translation
technique in this manuscript (Brislin, 1970). This study surveyed 600 women employees and
525 valid questionnaires were obtained (response rate: 87.5%).

Data analysis
In the present research, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and, for testing the structural
model, analysis of moment structures (AMOS) program were used. To test the research model,
two-step approach by Anderson and Gerbing (1988) was followed. The individual
measurement model was tested using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and CFA. The
EFA with varimax rotation was considered as appropriate to be the first step to simplify the
interpretation of the identified factors and to determine the major constructs in the data (Field,
2005). The postulated relationship between the observed items and the latent constructs was
tested using CFA, which was used to check the goodness of fit of the measurement scales and
to test their psychometric properties. CFA enhances the results of traditional techniques (e.g.
Cronbach’s alpha) by testing the unidimensionality of a scale and, refining the factorial
structure found in the exploratory analysis to ensure the unidimensionality.
Composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) were calculated for the
latent constructs. The CR coefficients should be greater than 0.7 and the AVE values should
be greater than 0.5 (Hair et al., 2006). In addition, Cronbach’s alpha values were calculated,
which should be above 0.7 (Nunnally, 1978). The scale validity was analyzed by focusing on
content validity, convergent validity and discriminant validity. The content validity is
assumed to be correct when the scale is constructed according to Hair et al. (2009). The
convergent validity is accepted when the t-values associated with each factor loading is
significant at the 0.05 level. The larger the factor loading compared with its standard error,
the stronger the evidence that there is a relationship between the observed indicator and its
latent variable (Bollen, 1989). Discriminant validity is established when the AVE value for
each construct was greater than the squared correlation coefficients for the corresponding
inter-construct correlations (Kline, 2005). Finally, a structural equation model was conducted
with all of the data to test the relationships between the constructs.
IJCHM Results
Participants’ profile
Of the 525 respondents, over 72% were between 23 and 44 years old and over 56%
were married. Over two thirds (69%) of the respondents had a college degree or
higher, indicating that most respondents were well educated. The majority of
respondents (76%) were supervisors or below and about 61% had on average more
than 4 years of work experience in the hotel industry. Among the hotels surveyed,
most (71.05%) were five star hotels, 19.24% were four star hotels and 9.71% were
three star hotels (Table 1).

Measurement model
During the assessment of the measurement model, some items were removed from the analysis
due to the low factor loadings. After removing those items, the measurement model was
finalized. As shown in Table 2, all item loadings in the final measurement model exceeded the
minimum cut off point of 0.40 (Hair et al., 2014), thus internal consistency was achieved.
Cronbach’s alpha exceeded 0.70, the minimum reliability standard recommended by Nunnally
(1978). In terms of convergent validity, all CR values were above the minimum cut off point of
0.70 and all AVE values met the minimum criteria of 0.50 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). Thus, the

Socio-demographic Indicators N (%)

Age (n = 525)
18–22 years old 93 17.7
23–33 years old 247 47.1
34–44 years old 133 25.3
45–55 years old 52 9.9
Marital status (n = 525)
Single 226 43.05
Married 299 56.95
Education level (n = 525)
High school graduate or less 50 9.5
Some college 112 21.3
Two-year college degree 195 37.1
Four-year college degree or above 168 32.0
Working year (n = 525)
6 months-1 year 86 16.4
1-3 years 114 21.7
4-6 years 102 19.4
7-10 years 85 16.2
Over 10 years 138 26.3
Position level (n = 525)
General Manager 10 1.9
Department Manager 116 22.1
Supervisor 128 24.4
Captain 61 11.6
Attendant 210 40.0
Hotel type (n = 525)
Table 1. Three stars 51 9.71
Participants’ profile Four stars 101 19.24
(n = 525) Five stars 373 71.05
 Women’s
Factor
Construct loading a CR AVE
career
advancement
CE 0.82
Factor 1: career rewards 0.88 0.89 0.73
in hotels
I expect a good salary for my job 0.87
I expect good job benefits 0.91
I expect high job stability 0.84
Factor 2: career development 0.74 0.78 0.50
I expect to work in a famous, medium or large hotel above 0.71
four stars
I expect a challenging job 0.82
I expect to work in a hotel which is in the first and second tier 0.67
cities
I expect to obtain the ability to work at higher levels through 0.77
training and learning
WFB 0.85
Factor 1: time support 0.87 0.87 0.60
I can schedule my preferred days off supported by my team 0.63
I have enough time after work to carry out personal matters 0.80
I have enough time for my family and friends 0.90
I have personal discretion over my and starting and finishing 0.72
times
I fell happy when I have quality time for my family life 0.91
Factor 2: work support 0.79 0.80 0.50
My co-workers are supportive when I talk about personal or 0.83
family issues that affect my work
My supervisor is understanding when I talk about personal or 0.79
family issues that affect my work
I look forward to being with the people I work with each day 0.56
I work very smoothly to handover to the next shift because of 0.69
a good management system
I find it easy to concentrate at work because of family support 0.70
OC 0.96 0.96 0.64
I am willing to put in much effort to help this organization be 0.76
successful
I talk up this organization to my friends as a great 0.81
organization to work for
I feel very little loyalty to this organization 0.83
I would accept almost any type of job assignment to keep 0.83
working for this organization
I find that my values and the organization’s values are very 0.72
similar
I am proud to tell others that I am part of this organization 0.78
I could just as well be working for a different organization as 0.83
long as the type of work were similar
This organization really inspires the very best in me in the 0.83
way of job performance
It would take very little change in my present circumstances 0.83
to cause me to leave this organization
I am extremely glad that I chose this organization to work for 0.83
0.81 Table 2.
(continued)
Result of
measurement model
IJCHM
Factor
Construct loading a CR AVE

There’s not too much to be gained by sticking with this

organization indefinitely
It is difficult to agree with this organization’s policies on 0.82
important matters relating to employees
I really care about the fate of this organization 0.83
For me, this is the best of all possible organizations for which 0.84
to work
Deciding to work for this organization was a definite mistake 0.83
on my Part
CA 0.89
Factor 1: institutional guarantee 0.91 0.91 0.63
Hotel has not stereotypes against women 0.74
Hotel has no inherent gender bias in recruitment and 0.80
promotion
The hotel’s gender equality policy can be effectively 0.81
implemented
Hotel has adequate labor and non-discrimination laws 0.85
Hotel has flexible work solutions 0.76
Management is not viewed as a man’s job 0.80
Factor 2: measure guarantee 0.76 0.75 0.51
Hotel has leadership training for women 0.86
Hotel has equality policies and programs 0.81
Men are encouraged to take leave for family responsibilities 0.63

Table 2. Note: p < 0.001

measurement model was found to be satisfactory and provided sufficient evidence in terms of
reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity.
The overall measurement model was verified, after testing the fit and construct validity
of each measurement model. The entire sample (N = 525) was used to test the overall
measurement model. The goodness of fit indices ( x 2 = 2,388.58, df = 763, x 2/df = 3.13,
CFI = 0.90, GFI = 0.81, RMSEA = 0.06) all indicated a fairly good fit between the model and
the data. As shown in Table 3, the reliability of each construct ranged from 0.82 to 0.96, with
all values exceeding 0.70. All factor loadings were statistically significant, ranging from 0.61
to 0.91 (i.e. all greater than 0.50). The AVE value for each construct exceeded 0.50 and was
generally greater than the squared correlation. Therefore, both convergent validity and
discriminant validity were satisfactory.

Structural model
A structural model was estimated using the AMOS software package to test all the
hypotheses. The goodness of fit statistics showed that the model reasonably fit the current
data. The RMSEA value for the hypothesized model was 0.06, representing a good degree of
precision (MacCallum et al., 1996). Figure 2 shows the final structural model with direct path
results. As shown in Table 4, the value of the path coefficients and significance level
indicated that the structural paths were both positive and significant, thus all direct positive
relationships were supported.
The bootstrapping algorithm was used in this study to verify the mediating role of OC on
relationship between CE and/or WFB and CA (Taylor et al., 2008). The stepwise regression
method was then used to verify the analysis. If the relationship between the independent Women’s
variable and the dependent variable becomes non-significant after adding the mediating career
variable, the mediating effect is complete. Otherwise, it is partially mediated (Baron and
advancement
Kenny, 1986). The results of the analysis of the mediating role of OC supported the
hypotheses (Table 5). All of the indirect effect coefficients were positive and significant in hotels
(p < 0.05), supporting H6 and H7.

Discussions
Research findings support all hypotheses explicitly. This study proposed a conceptual
framework to uncover women’s CA in the hospitality industry, by examining the influence
of women’s CE and WFB. It also investigated the extent to which OC mediates the
relationships among women’s CE, WFB and CA. Seven hypotheses were tested and results

Construct CE WFB OC CA

CE 1
WFB 0.47 (0.21) 1
OC 0.35 (0.11) 0.67 (0.45) 1
CA 0.40 (0.16) 0.79 (0.62) 0.80 (0.63) 1
Reliability 0.82 0.85 0.96 0.89 Table 3.
AVE 0.61 0.63 0.62 0.70
MEAN 6.20 4.89 5.10 5.13
Correlations (squared
SD 0.83 1.05 1.31 1.15 correlation),
reliability, AVE
Note: All are significant at the 0.01 level and mean

Figure 2.
Final structural
model with different
path results

Hypothesis/path Coefficient t-value Result

H1: CE –> OC 0.23 3.436*** Supported

H2: WFB –> OC 0.96 8.506*** Supported
H3: OC –> CA 0.49 6.478*** Supported
H4: CE –> CA 0.16 2.471* Supported
Table 4.
H5: WFB –> CA 0.70 5.174*** Supported Path results for the
final structural model
Notes: *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.001 (hypothesis testing)
IJCHM were statistically significant. These causal relationships were as follows: CE and WFB had a
positive and direct effect on OC and CA, while OC had a positive and direct effect on CA. OC
also acts as an intermediary between CE, WFB and CA. The general internal consistency
and construct validity of each potential variable indicated a reliable and effective
measurement scale.
First, CE was shown to significantly influence OC and CA. Specifically, a one-point
increase in CE leads to a 0.23% point increase in OC and a 0.16% point increase in CA. Our
analysis resulted in two factors of CE. The factor of career development had more influences
on OC, which indicated the importance of CE, such as women’s expectations of working
location, career development and training opportunities. A good CE contributed to women’s
OC. The other factor of career rewards can be an asset for employees, such as income
increase, welfare availability and job sustainability. In addition, the results suggested that
women with a higher level of CE had a slightly faster CA, which was consistent with
previous evidence (Peus et al., 2015). It is worth noting that after adding OC into the model,
the factor of CE effectively contributed to women’s CA with an increased level of OC, which
has provided primary evidence of a positive relationship between CE and OC.
Second, the WFB was found to significantly influence OC and CA. Specifically, a one-
point increase in WFB leads to a 0.96% point increase in OC and a 0.70% point increase in
CA. The results indicated that work-life balance is very important for women in the
hospitality industry, not only because it reinforces women’s OC but also because it can
contribute to their CA. Our analysis resulted in two factors of WFB. The first factor of time
support was shown more important, which indicated the importance of time allocation
between work and family. Examples included leaving work on time, having paid time off,
enough free time with family and friends. The other factor of work support included moral
encouragement and practical assistance, dealing with conflicts between work and family.
Example included taking time off with colleagues, having vacation when necessary,
complete understanding toward personal or family issues affecting my work. WFB is a
result from coordinating between work and family (Sudha and Karthikeyan, 2014; Saadin
et al., 2016); however, for women it is an effort of coordination and balance of all aspects of
lives. Some of our results was consistent with previous evidence (Peng, 2014). Women who
achieved WFB were more likely to have a greater sense of belonging and loyalty to the
organization. Development opportunities can help women continuously progress in their
work and ultimately be promoted. Although previous evidence heavily looked at the work-
family conflict, our study focused on the WFB and providing preliminary evidence that a
WFB contributed to women’s OC and CA.
Moreover, the positive relationship revealed in this study between OC and CA was
consistent with previous evidence (Shang, 2013), which emphasized the importance of

Bootstrapping 5,000 times

Bias-corrected Percentile
95% CI 95% CI
Hypothesis/path Estimates Lower Upper Lower Upper p

Table 5. CE –> OC –> CA 0.11 0.04 0.23 0.04 0.22 **

WFB –> OC –> CA 0.47 0.27 0.73 0.25 0.70 **
Analysis of the CE –> CA 0.16 0.03 0.32 0.03 0.32 *
direct and indirect WFB –> CA 0.70 0.40 1.16 0.40 1.16 ***
effects of the
mediating variable Notes: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001
improving women’s OC that contributed to their CA. For an employer, the women’s Women’s
continuous commitment to the organization enhanced their loyalty and reduced career
turnover rate of women, which, in turn, was beneficial for women’s career
development and promotion (Namasivayam and Zhao, 2007). The accumulated
advancement
working experiences in the hospitality industry was important to increase the chance in hotels
of advancement (Asiedu-Appiah et al., 2013). The results also suggested that women
who were more active in involving in the organization culture and more loyal to the
organization, were more likely to grow in their careers and have a greater chance of
CA. In the hospitality industry, when woman agreed with a hotel’s culture and value
and believed in their choice of working for the hotel, the person demonstrated a
stronger OC (Wang, 2012).
Finally, our results showed that OC not only influenced CA but also was an intermediary
variable to adjust the relationship between CE, WFB and CA, which represented the first
attempt on examining the mediating effect of OC. If the career management of women can be
improved by organizing activities (such as meeting CE, providing time support or
strengthening work support) so that they can focus on their careers, their career
development level can be improved to help them achieve CA. Our study results provided
critical information for both organizations (e.g. hotels) and individuals on the career
management and development practices.

Conclusions
Theoretical and practical implications
This paper provided important insights on the subject of women’s CA in the hotel industry
of China. Study results made important theoretical contributions to the construct of OC by
identifying its organizational and individual determinants. This study was an early
empirical research to reveal individuals’ CE and their WFB as important determinants of
OC. Compared with CE, individuals’ work-life balance played a greater role in OC and CA.
This study also contributed to the literature of human resource management by revealing
the mediating effect of OC. There was limited evidence on the mediating effect of OC, despite
it is an important predictor of employees’ career development (Eby et al., 2003). Uncovering
the intermediary role of OC provided a solution to the problem, emphasizing the importance
of the “what to expect” and “how to balance” factors.
This study also contributed to the construct of CA. CE, WFB and OC directly affect CA.
Meanwhile, OC can also mediate the relationship between CE, WFB and CA. This study
proposes a new and comprehensive conceptual framework for understanding the
determinants and outcomes of OC and, together with the findings, can serve as a basis for
future research.
In practice, our results provided important implications to the hotel management, which
might design better career management and development strategies, as well as offer
corresponding programs/activities for their women employees. It is clearly management’s
responsibility to facilitate the career development of their women employees. The hotel
management are encouraged to provide opportunities to facilitate women’s CA. The
employer may want to create guidelines for gender neutral recruitment and performance
evaluation, which will help to address barriers women face in fully participating in the
workplace and achieving their full potential. For example, the gender-identifying
information should be removed from the application or resume of an applicant, which
minimizes the risk of bias occurring against the applicant based on their gender. In addition,
reasonable rules, regulations and development opportunities should be offered to women,
including maternity leave policies, professional training courses and connection with
IJCHM successful women managers to seek advice on career paths. From the hotel perspective, as
WFB is found to be an expectation of employees, the hotel management needs to check
their current policies and regulations to see whether they have addressed the
expectation. Employers’ support to women would encourage them to initiate an open
conversation with the organization by providing immediate feedback, such as
discussing their challenges, thoughts on improving work performance. It is very
important for both women and their organization to have the communication channel
and benefit each other. Women would benefit from organizational support to achieve a
more desirable state of work. On the other side, organizations would also benefit from
assisting women to address known challenges such as childcare, education assistance
and support to maintain family ties (David et al., 2019). These all together create a
supportive working environment for women to seek WFB and contribute to a
sustainable talent management system.
Moreover, study results provide career advice and guidance for women in the
hospitality industry. The industry decides that a larger proportion of hotel employees
are women (Baum et al., 2016). Therefore, it is important for the hotel management to
understand their women employees’ career needs and design and offer activities and/or
programs that contribute to women’s OC and CA. Individuals in supportive
environments would have a sense of belonging and enjoying working in hotels even at a
lower position (Mooney et al., 2016). The hotel management should well treat women
employees and guarantee their paid time off to enhance OC. For example, the many
aspects of CE and work-life balance identified in this study can be referenced by hotels,
including offering good benefits and more time with families after work. From the
employee perspective, women should identify their CEs, improve professional skills
and make a strategic career plan.

Limitations and directions for future research

The first limitation relates to the sampling population of this study. Although data
was collected from over 10 provinces and cities of China, they were primarily from the
east coastal area, and there was limited evidence from other regions of China, which
may lead to the sampling bias. Considering that hotels across different regions of
China are at different development stages with various cultures and values, it is
important to catch different perspectives of female employees in different regions of
China. Despite that our participants varied in age, education, job status, working year
and hotel star rating, female CA and position levels (from attendant to general
manager), future studies should consider collecting data at different types of hotels in
other regions of China and even other countries with a larger sample size. It is also
encouraged to account for more variables in future research, such as motivations and
incomes.
Second, the study population was restricted to hotel female employees in mainland
China. Although the hospitality industry is female dominant, it is worth considering the
gender differences in CA for hotel staffs in China. Given the situation that only a few women
reach the top management positions (Cooke, 2005) and women are more willing to
participate in training and invest in education than men (Skromme Granrose, 2007), it would
be interesting to uncover factors that lead to fewer opportunities for CA for women. Future
research may want to use mixed methods or qualitative critical approaches to find out
answers which a survey is unable to answer.
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Corresponding author
Huawen Shen can be contacted at: [email protected]

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