Staff Incentives and Career Development Expectations in Chinese Homegrown Hotels: Situational Overview, Determinant Analysis, Motivational Linkages, and Incentive Model Design

Abstract

Given its imbalanced industry structure and faced with increasing competition from international brands, the Chinese hotel industry is facing great challenges for sustainable development. This research examined the staff incentive situation in Chinese homegrown hotels and identified factors affecting employees' career development expectations. Building on the established relationship between career expectations and work motivation, the study developed an improved incentive model based on staff career development expectations. The sample was 382 staffs who are working in H World Group in China. They was selected by stratified sampling to ensure representation from various employee levels, including management, middle, and front-line staff, to achieve a balanced and representative sample. The instrument for collecting data was a Likert 5-point scale. The data were analyzed using structural equation model to examine the relationships between factors such as self-efficacy, high-level needs, career counseling, and promotion and training with career development expectations and work motivation. The research results were found as follows: 1) Career development expectations had a significant positive impact on work motivation (β = 0.363, p < 0.001). 2) Job satisfaction (β = 0.223, p < 0.001), turnover intention (β = -0.373, p < 0.001), and work engagement (β = 0.305, p < 0.001) significantly mediated the relationship between career development expectations and work motivation. 3) Factors such as self-efficacy, high-level needs, career counseling, and promotion significantly influenced career development expectations, with high-level needs having the strongest effect (β = 0.281, p < 0.001). The development prospects of the hotel industry did not significantly affect career development expectations (β = -0.001, p = 0.986). 4) The total effect of career development expectations on work motivation was 0.628, with a direct effect of 0.317.5) Career development expectations positively influenced job satisfaction (β = 0.496, p < 0.001) and work engagement (β = 0.586, p < 0.001), and negatively influenced turnover intention (β = -0.620, p < 0.001).6) The structural equation model showed good fit indices (CFI = 0.951, TLI = 0.948, RMSEA = 0.030), indicating a valid representation of the relationships between the variables.