Abstract:
The main objective of this study was to examine the effect of human resource development on the performance of tourist class hotels. The study specifically sought to determine the effect of the three components of HRD namely: training and development (T&D), organization development (OD), and career development (CD) on the performance of the tourist class hotels in Malindi District in Kenya. The study also sought to determine the moderating effect of organizational learning on the relationship between the HRD components and performance of tourist class hotels in the district. The focus groups were the tourist class hotels.
A mixed research approach, which combined qualitative and quantitative methods, was adopted for this study. Specifically a descriptive survey aimed at a targeted population from a representative sample was used. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The unstructured section of the instrument was used to collect the qualitative data. The structured section of the questionnaire used Likert scales to collect quantitative data. A range of methods were employed to analyze the data including descriptive statistics, bivariate and multivariate analysis.
The findings of this study indicated that the independent variable training and development had a significant and positive effect on tourism industry performance. Results also showed that human resource development had a positive and significant relationship with performance. Organizational learning (OL) was found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between the independent variable organizational development (OD) and performance (PERF), resulting in a significant relationship between the two. From the findings, it was concluded that, the greater the HRD practices in the tourism industry, the greater would its performance be.
The study recommends that tourist class hotels adopt more effective HRD practices to enable them compete effectively in the global stage. This could be done by continually monitor and improve employee competence which would enable then offer customers quality services. This would in turn enable the industry to attract new clientele (i.e. growth) and retaining existing one.
