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The purpose of this study was to develop a measurement scale to assess work motives for hospitality employees utilizing McClelland’s theory of needs as the theoretical underpinning.

Both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to achieve the study purpose. First, individual interviews were conducted to explore employee work motives and develop work motive scale items. Second, data from a self-administered paper questionnaire, completed by 388 respondents, were used to validate the developed scale.

Four themes were identified which reflect employees’ perspectives of hospitality jobs and culture: the job itself, need for affiliation, need for achievement and need for power. The developed scale, consisting of 22 items, was found to be reliable and valid in assessing work motives.

The majority of participants were entry-level employees; therefore, the developed scale may not be useful when assessing work motives of individuals not in front-line positions. Future research could extend the measurement model to investigate work motives of individuals in managerial positions. In addition, future research could assess work motives as antecedents of employee organizational behaviors and attitudes.

The developed scale could be used as a selection tool to assess applicants’ work motives, thereby assisting employers in making effective hiring decisions.

This study contributes a new reliable and valid measurement scale developed specifically to address the unique work motives desirable for individuals seeking employment in the hospitality industry.

This study aims to generate novel insights about minimum wage policy implementation through a joint assessment of the mediating roles of work motivation, work engagement and job satisfaction in predicting outcomes such as turnover intention and work engagement.

Data were collected from hotel employees in Malaysia using an electronic survey. A total of 239 responses were used in analyzing direct and indirect effects.

Results reveal that work motivation, work engagement and job satisfaction significantly mediated the relationship between employee compensation satisfaction and employee turnover intention. Work motivation was found to mediate the relationship between employee compensation satisfaction and employee work engagement. Additionally, work engagement and job satisfaction mediated the relationship between employee work motivation and employee turnover intention.

Missing data are inevitable in survey research. Due to data missing for some of the demographic questions, the moderating effect of certain demographic characteristics (e.g. sex) could not be assessed.

Given recent minimum wage policy implementation in Malaysia, it is imperative that Malaysian hotel operators understand to what extent employee compensation satisfaction influences how employees perceived their jobs and to what extent work motivation, work engagement and job satisfaction mediate employee compensation satisfaction and employee turnover intention.

This study makes a significant contribution to the hospitality compensation research area, specifically regarding the impact of compensation on how employees perceived their jobs after minimum wage implementation.