HRM Practices, Employee Well-Being, and Workplace Incivility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tourism Industry

Abstract

Well-being in the workplace is a key strategic focus for organizations in highly emotive and contact service businesses like tourism and hospitality. This study uses two theories: Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory to explore the direct impact of human resource management (HRM) practices on employee well-being and the moderating effect of workplace incivility on this relationship. A structured survey questionnaire was used to gather data from a total of 570 front line, supervisory and middle management employees of five tourism related sub-sectors: hotels/resorts, travel/tour operators, restaurants, transport/airline services and heritage/museum sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships. Results indicate that HRM practices have a significant positive influence on employee' well-being (β = .164, t = 3.639, p < .001). Workplace incivility was present as a significant and negative moderator (β = -.073, t = 1.997, p = .046), meaning that HRM practices' positive impact on well-being decreased with increases in workplace incivility and was no longer significant at higher levels of workplace incivility. The results indicate that while HRM systems alone are not enough to ensure the well-being of their employees, organizations need to manage interpersonal civility in the workplace at the same time. The study contributes to the under-researched developing-economy context of the tourism industry and provides practical suggestions for HR practitioners and policymakers who want to strengthen their tourism workforce.

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