Personal Needs Assessment Approach in Strategic Training and Affective Commitment

Abstract

This paper aims at determining the relationships between psychological contracts, job involvement, affective commitment, and three dimensions of personal needs assessment in strategic training (i.e. motivation to learn, perceived support, and training attitudes) in the Iranian hospitality industries. A questionnaire survey was conducted among the full-time administrative employees of five-star hotels in the Isfahan region, which is an important tourism destination especially for Europeans and Russians in Iran. This study highlights the importance of strategic need assessment in training employees in order to foster their affective commitment. These findings have important practical and theoretical implications. Firstly, managers will not be able to foster affective commitment through human resource practices unless they recognize and appreciate which needs are valued by employees. Secondly, managers must have a clear understanding of both the quantity and quality of information desired by employees if they are to design high-commitment of strategic human resource management practices that meet the information needs of employees. Finally, the results provide evidence in favor of managerial interventions aimed at enhancing organizational commitment and, consequently, minimizing the negative effects of an actual turnover in the hospitality industry.