Conducting performance appraisals in the Irish hotel sector: A study exploring employee performance appraisal satisfaction and its impact on the motivation to improve performance

The primary objective of this research was to explore the relationship between employee performance appraisal satisfaction and the motivation to improve performance among Irish hotel employees. To accomplish this, the author examined the impact of organisational justice as encompassed by four constructs, namely procedural, distributive, interpersonal and informational on employee satisfaction with performance appraisals. The research design was explanatory in nature with the author undertaking a positivistic deductive approach and a quantitative method to answer the research questions and test proposed hypotheses. The study adopted a survey strategy and used a self-administered questionnaire to collect data from employees working in three Dublin city four star hotels. A total of 113 managerial and non-managerial employees have participated in the survey. The research revealed positive and significant relationships between variables illustrating that all four dimensions of organisational justice form the basis for employee appraisal satisfaction. The findings supported the hypotheses that procedural, distributive, interpersonal and informational justice have significant positive influence on employee appraisal satisfaction in the organisation. Likewise, a strong positive correlation was established between employee satisfaction with the performance appraisals and motivation to improve performance. The findings highlighted the need for Irish hotels to adopt and implement a fair and effective performance appraisal system that positively influences employee performance and their future development. Employees must experience positive appraisal reactions to be satisfied with the system. Generating and cultivating those reactions should be the focal point of every HR practitioner and manager in Irish hotels. Based on the findings of the research, a number of recommendations were suggested to HR practitioners and managers to make the appraisal systems more efficient in service-oriented industries such as the hotel sector