The relationships between supervisor-subordinate guanxi, perceived supervisor autonomy support, autonomous motivation, and employee job satisfaction: Evidence from international hotel chains in China

Abstract

This research aims to assess the structural relationships between supervisor-subordinate guanxi, perceived supervisor autonomy support, autonomous motivation, and employee job satisfaction at international hotel chains’ operations in China. The theoretical model was developed and tested by an online questionnaire method. This study administered an online survey to employees working at international hotel chains in China, and a total of 328 valid responses were used for data analysis which was completed through SPSS Statistics 24.0 and SmartPLS 3.3.3. The results reveal that: there is a significant relationship between autonomous motivation and employee job satisfaction; perceived supervisor autonomy support exerts a significant impact on autonomous motivation and employee job satisfaction; supervisor-subordinate guanxi is positively related to perceived supervisor autonomy support and autonomous motivation; autonomous motivation and perceived supervisor autonomy support play mediating roles. This work enriches hospitality research through contextualising Chinese indigenous culture into international hotel chains’ operations in China.