The Nature of Managerial Career Development in Three, Four and Five Star Hotels in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify and explore factors that affect managerial career development in three, four and five star hotels in Kenya. The research examined the relationship and link between various independent variables such as Vocation Education (VE), management Training (MT), Mentorship (MS), Job Experience (JE), Leadership Style (LS) and Life- Chances (LC); and managerial career development (MD). Based on the identified relationship, the study developed a framework that explained the relative importance of the variables under study on Managerial career development. Six hypotheses based on the variables under study were tested. The study was conducted in Nairobi and Mombasa given that the two areas have the highest concentration of the target population. The sample population included 108 managers and operational departmental heads from 18 such hotels as approved by the Hotels and Restaurants Authority within the ministry of Tourism. A cross-sectional survey that employed both analytical and descriptive methods to address the objectives of the study was used. Stratified random sampling (SRS) was used to obtain a representative sample of hotels and purposive sampling used to select managers. Data was collected using both structured and semi – structured questionnaire. The findings reveal that vocational Education, Management Training, Mentoring, Job Experience, Leadership style and life chances are positively correlated to managerial career development with the following coefficients; vocational education (VE) 0.52, Management Training (MT) 0.401, Mentoring (MS) 0.010, Job Experience (JE) 0.165, Leadership Style (LS) 0.123 and life chances (LC) 0.136. The F-Value of 4.31 with pa probability of 0.002 at 5% significance and adjusted R squared of 0.76 dictated that the joint contribution of the independent variables was significant in predicting the dependent variable in these hotels. The study recommends that hotels and training organization in this industry should emphasize vocational education and management training in their development programs, besides mentorship and leadership style. This research contributes to the hotel industry, by providing a framework for the development of appropriate human resource strategy.