Frontline employees' turnover intentions in tourism and hospitality sectors: A systematic literature review and research agenda

Abstract

Frontline employees play crucial roles in tourism and hospitality organizations because they work directly with the customers and represent the organization. However, the turnover rate among tourism and hospitality frontline employees was found to be higher than other groups of employees in the same sector. Therefore, detecting the factors that affect turnover intention among frontline employees is necessary to develop effective human resource management strategies in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Our article reviews the empirical studies on frontline employees' turnover intention in tourism and hospitality and proposes a research agenda for future research. Through a systematic and rigorous selection process, we obtained a sample of 72 empirical studies. By analyzing and synthesizing the research results from these studies, we found that: (a) studies on frontline employees' turnover intention in tourism and hospitality are mainly anchored in conservation of resources theory, social exchange theory, and the job demands-resources model; (b) turnover intention of frontline employees has been investigated in different cultural contexts mainly using quantitative methods; (c) various scales were utilized to measure turnover intention; and (d) antecedents, mediators, and moderators of frontline employees' turnover intention in a variety of tourism and hospitality contexts have been identified. Based on the findings of our review, we developed an integrated framework for turnover intention in tourism and hospitality contexts and provided research implications for future studies.