Improving Millennial Employee Well-Being and Task Performance in the Hospitality Industry: The Interactive Effects of HRM and Responsible Leadership

The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of organizations on millennial (born 1981–2000) employee well-being and task performance in the hospitality industry. Millennial employees are becoming the main workforce in hotels and their well-being is drawing greater attention in research and practice. Prior studies suggest that human resource management (HRM) bridges the organization and employees and has a significant influence on employee well-being in the hospitality industry. Additionally, the supervisor’s responsible leadership is a key factor influencing employees in a changing workforce. However, how do HRM and responsible leadership contribute to millennial employee well-being? Can employee well-being make a difference in the hospitality industry? Those questions remain unanswered. To address the two questions, this research aims to examine the interaction effects of HRM and responsible leadership on millennial employee well-being and the mediating effect of well-being between the HRM and responsible leadership on employee performance. The research hypotheses were tested with multiple linear regression analysis based on a survey of 243 millennial employees in the Chinese hospitality industry. The results indicated that HRM and responsible leadership have positive impacts on millennial employee well-being, which could improve task performance in the hospitality sector. In addition, responsible leadership strengthens the positive effect of HRM on employee well-being and task performance. In addition, the interaction effects of HRM and responsible leadership on performance are mediated by employee well-being. It is of practical value for hotels to know that millennial employee well-being can be fostered through improving HRM and responsible leadership.