perception of work environment affects employee performance in hotel settings the case of millennials in ho chi minh city

It is because the preponderance of employees in Vietnam’s workforce belongs to millennials so organizations must acknowledge the attributes of this group, and design an effective work en

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of

BACHELOR OF ARTS in BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Student’s name: TRAN THI KIM NGAN (BABAIU16092) Advisor: Ms NGUYEN DUY YEN LINH

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

PERCEPTION OF WORK ENVIRONMENT AFFECTS EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN HOTEL SETTINGS

THE CASE OF MILLENNIALS IN HO CHI MINH CITY

APPROVED BY: Advisor APPROVED BY: Committee members

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This thesis course has been a long journey for me This would be a decent chance for me to express my thanks to all people that have offered support to me during the thesis time

Firstly, I want to express my most sincere appreciation to my advisor, Ms Nguyen Duy Yen Linh, a lecturer at International University – Vietnam National University, who delivers me continuous help and valuable advice during conducting my thesis Choosing her as my advisor is the most preferred choice that I have ever made

Secondly, I would like to show my greatest admiration and gratitude to all lecturers in the Department of Hospitality Management, especially Mr Mai Ngoc Khuong and Mr Ho Trung Hieu, who are willing to provide valuable suggestions to all the students Their feedback and advice are of great significance to me

Lastly, I want to say the warmest thanks to all of my friends and colleagues helping me to fill up my surveys and giving me mental motivation Thereby, I feel be more confident and encouraged to put a concerted attempt to complete my thesis.

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 10

2.1 Millennials in Work Environment 10

2.2 Work Environment 11

2.2.1 Introduction 11

2.2.2 Variables of the Work environment 12

Factor 1: Communication in the Work 13

2.2.2.1 Factor 2: Participation in the Work 14

2.2.2.2 Factor 3: Organization and Design of The Work 15

2.2.2.3 Factor 4: Characteristics of the Work Setting 17

2.2.2.4 Factor 5: Personal Fit of Employees, the Work, and Work Setting 20 2.2.2.5.

Factor 6: Personal Fit of Work Group, Work, and Work Setting 22

2.2.2.6.2.3 Perception of Work Environment, Behavior and Performance 24

CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 41

4.1 Characteristics of Sample and Univariate Descriptive and Statistics 41

4.1.1 Demographic characteristics of the sample 42

4.1.2 Univariate descriptive statistics 44

4.2 Reliability Test of Independent Variables 47

4.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis 50

4.3.1 Factor analysis of Independent variables 50

4.3.2 Factor analysis of Dependent variable 57

4.4 Multiple Regression and Path Analysis 59

4.4.1 Independent Variables directly affect Employee Behavior 59

4.4.2 Independent Variables directly affect Employee Performance 62

4.4.3 Path Diagram of Employee Performance 66

4.4.4 Indirect Effects on Employee Performance 66

4.4.5 Total Causal Effects on Employee Performance 68

CHAPTER V: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 70

5.1 Discussion of findings 70

5.1.1 Relationship between Independent variables and Employee Behavior 70

5.1.2 Relationship between Employee Behavior and Employee Performance 71

5.1.3 Direct and Indirect Relationship between Independent variables and Employee Performance 72

5.1.4 Summary of hypothesis testing 73

5.2 Limitations 75

5.3 Recommendations and Implications 75

5.3.1 Recommendation for further research 75

5.3.2 Implications in the Hospitality industry 76

5.4 Conclusion 78

LIST OF REFERENCES 80

APPENDIX 92

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Number of Tourist Accommodation Establishments 4-5 stars 2

Table 2.1: Independent and Dependent Variables in the research 27

Table 2.2: Operationalization Table 27

Table 3.1: Questionnaire Design 36

Table 3.2: Demographic Questionnaire Measurement 39

Table 3.3: Strength of Path Coefficients 41

Table 4.1 Employee profile (N=288) 42

Table 4.2: Descriptive Statistics of Independent variables 45

Table 4.3: Descriptive Statistics of Dependent Variables 46

Table 4.4: Rules of Thumb for Evaluating Cronbach’s Alpha 48

Table 4.5: Corrected Item-Total Correlation and Cronbach’s Alpha” 48

Table 4.6: KMO and Bartlett's Test of independent variables 50

Table 4.7: Total Variance Explained of Independent Variables 51

Table 4.8: Table of Rotated Component Matrix of Independent Variables 51

Table 4.9: Final Test of Rotated Component Matrix of Independent Variables 53

Table 4.10: Final Test of KMO and Bartlett's Test of Independent Variables 55

Table 4.11: Total Variance Explained of Independent Variables 56

Table 4.12: KMO and Bartlett's Test of Dependent Variables 57

Table 4.13: Total Variance Explained of Dependent Variables 57

Table 4.14: Factor Loadings and Reliability of Dependent Variables 58

Table 4.15: Pearson Correlations between Independent Variables and EB 59

Table 4.16: Effect Coefficients between Independent Variables and EB 60

Table 4.17: Model Summary 62

Table 4.18: ANOVA 62

Table 4.19: Pearson Correlations between Independent Variables and EP 62

Table 4.20: Effect Coefficients between Independent Variables and EP 64

Table 4.21: Model Summary 65

Table 4.22: ANOVA 65

Table 4.23: Direct, Indirect and Total Causal Effects on Employee Performance 69

Table 5: Summary of hypothesis testing 73

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Conceptual Research Model 27

Figure 2: Research Design 33

Figure 3: The Percentage of Attendant’s Gender 43

Figure 4: The Education Level of Eespondents 44

Figure 5: Revised Research Model 66

ABSTRACT

In recent years, luxury hotels and the lodging sector as a whole have witnessed the noticeable change in service provision strategy, especially their human resources To get a deep grasp of their employees, there were tons of researches conducted to explore and analyse the environmental factors affecting their performance in order to design development intervention This quantitative research focuses on how millennials perceive their work environment in four-and-five-star hotels and its relationship with their behaviors and then their performance Questionnaire survey was delivered to 288 respondents who stays in Ho Chi Minh City and have had working experience in hotels setting The results illustrated that while Communication in the work (CO) had the highest direct effect on Employee Performance (EP) through Employee Behavior (EB), the factor of Characteristics of Working Setting (WS) witnessed a significantly indirect

Integrating into global trends, many travelling cities in Vietnam comprising Da Nang, Da Lat, Nha Trang are quickly turning into a newly-trended place, yet Ho Chi Minh city (HCMC) is regarded as the most outstanding destinations luring tourists' preference for coming In current time, the exclusive segment of hotel has experienced an remarkable upward change with regard to revenue The data collected from Statista

describes that there is a marked increase in revenue amounts from US$1,373 million in 2018 to US$1,414 million in 2019, and this still has an upward tendency in the following years Additionally, there is a steady growth in the accommodation supply of hotels every year Especially, in terms of the upscale hotels, it is reported that the number of tourist accommodation establishments of four to five-star hotels has witnessed a stable increase over the years respectively It is demonstrated that the market of luxury hotels are still drawing enormous attention from international and local developers and investors

Table 1: Number of Tourist Accommodation Establishments 4-5 stars

(Source: VNAT, 2020)

Concerning the strategy for tourism development in the following years, a statistics is assuming that total revenue from tourists in 2050 will rise by approximately 4 times compared to the projected figures before for 2030 (Dmitrovic, Cvelbar, Kolar, Brencic, Ograjenšek, & Žabkar, 2009; Ranjbarian, & Pool, 2015) Also, Vietnam has become a global fascinating traveling destination and will consider tourism as a key economic market with high competitiveness In order to obtain these targets, besides attracting international tourists, human resources management, needless to say, should be prioritized Of employee-related studies, the perception of the work environment has

been appreciated by many scholars since its importance in attracting and retaining talents as well as employee performance in organizations As the statistics of The Worldometers, the age groups of 25-54 and 15-24 account for 45.4% and 13.7% namely in the Population pyramid of Vietnam in 2020 In other words, millennials in this case range from 1981 to 1999 (Lancaster & Stillman, 2002), taking up the majority of the workforce in Vietnam nowadays That is why this employee group will be a targeted sample of this quantitative research to describe the correlations between their work-environment perception, behaviors, and performance

The 21st-century workplace is changing at a burgeoning rate One of the significant shift is that today's younger workforce belonging to the millennial group (Generation Y) represent significantly different attributes, and especially more frequent in job-hopping phenomenon than the other generations Therefore, this leads to certain challenges in potential millennials’ retention in the competitive workforce for organizations In this sense, the theory of human performance technology (HPT) realizes there is the influence of both individual and organizational factors and final job performance (Tiem, Moseley & Dessinger, 2004) Specifically, these factors are relating to the environmental support which has the potential power to sustain and bolster desireable performance and especially, it is necessary to consider perceptions of workers in the analysis of performance, selection and design of performance development (Bell,

2008)

1.2 Rationale of Research

Initially, the immensity of the study concerning what employees perceive affecting their behaviors as well as performance in the work setting has been widespread over the nations Bell (2008) invited 312 participants from companies in Chicago to gain a profound understanding of perception in terms of the American working environment

among four prominent generations There is the article done by Richardson, Scott, Thomas, Nicholas in 2012, which investigates the students' perceptions of the job pursuit in the hospitality industry in this nation In another exploratory study implemented, the authors examined similar and different traits in work environment-related perceptions with the effect of nationally cultural factors (Ripley, Hudson, Turner, & Osman Gani, 2006) The population investigated is relatively huge, comprising developed Asia (South Korea and Singapore), American, and Europe (Australia, New Zealand) Although relationships have been demonstrated with various samples, the same investigation still not available in Vietnam Besides, it is unarguable that the hospitality is one of the most potentially fast-growing sectors in Vietnam Therefore, this study will be implemented to apply this topic into the context of Vietnam, especially HCMC - the most developed city of this country

In addition, according to there are substantial differences of perception of work environment among generations, ranging from Baby boomers, GenX, and GenY (Earle, 2003 & Bell, 2008) From the effect of perception, behaviors, as well as the performance of the millennial group, also differ those of other groups in the workplace Hence, the author wants to explore and comprehend more detailed insight of millennials in particular in the modern days It is because the preponderance of employees in Vietnam’s workforce belongs to millennials so organizations must acknowledge the attributes of this group, and design an effective work environment

On top of that, with the personal experience of the author, it is not easy to keep employees committed to a hospitality organization An array of renowned first-class hotels in HCMC are, for example, is estimated to be substantial with the list comprising The Myst Dong Khoi, Novotel Saigon Centre, Park Hyatt and so forth This immense appearance allows service providers to access a variety of employment opportunities when their present work is not in their favor Employees, in turn, eager to vacate the

current position that is not easily replaced by other personnel, which leads to a high turnover rate of a certain organization among employees, especially millennials Therefore, the important role of understanding perception about the work environment needs to be recognized and highly appreciated by organizations, since it stimulates certain favorable behaviors directly affecting the employee performance, which will be deeply discussed in the literature review Also, the provision of ideally comfortable and positive work settings can considerably build up positive perception, and, thereby, it not only works in recruiting plan but also retains potential talents for organizations in this competitive industry

1.3 Research Problem

Previous research papers recommended a limited deep understanding of the millennial employee group in hotel sectors In addition, it is acknowledged that human resources are a key factor in organizational performance, meanwhile, one of the most distinctive attributes, also a grave concern in hospitality organizations is the high turnover rate Due to the job insecurity, job instability, or high level of stress in the work setting, employees tend to easily feel dissatisfied and give up their jobs, especially millennials who are more often job-hoppers in modern times Therefore, the outcome of human performance suggested that it is substantially necessary for practitioners to take those factors of work environment into account of selecting and designing performance development

1.4 Research Gap

Although there has been a number of studies finding out attributes of a particular millennial group, or examining the effect of factors relating work environment on behaviors as well as performance in the hospitality industry among many generational

lines, it is undeniable that there have been researching papers having detailed exploration of millennials To simplify, Bell (2008) exams the perception of the work environment across generations, thereby illustrating the similarities and differences among them Other researches were put in implementation for the work impact in hospitality management on the different perception among various generations (Chen & Choi, 2008; Gursoy, Maier & Chi, 2008) Apart from that, there is an array of research concerning attributes of Generation Y and its importance in the workforce of hospitality across many countries worldwide A survey was carried out to understand Gen Y's influential factors that participants concern in Thailand in 2013 (Dhevabanchachai, Natetra, Muangasame, & Kaewta) Despite a variety of research about Gen Y, however, it is noticed the limited number of pertained research in Vietnam

1.5 Research Objectives

The objectives are to acquire knowledge of the workforce which millennials make up a chunk of numbers Thereby, it appears as a strategy to develop whole performance at individual and organizational levels in a hotel setting It includes:

- Understand the expected environmental factors by millennials within the workplace of HCMC

- Unearth the level of millennials’ perceptions of the work environment affecting their behavior and performance, then recommending practical advice on designing performance improvement in the hotel-setting workplace of HCMC

- Which environmental variables would be prioritized in the development plan toward this employee group in hotel setting?

1.7 Significance of Research

The outcome of this study is pivotal for several justification One of the these is that human is the fundamental and decicive facilitators behind the organizational performance The rapid technological advance, burgeoning competition in the global marketplace requires a further significant demand for high-quality employees in overall organizational success, therefore, it is necessary for the organizations in this day and age to concentrate competent human capital (Karoly & Panis, 2004; Stolovitch & Keeps, 1999) It is acknowledged that employee perception about the work environment brings a huge impact on behavior and performance as well As a result, environmental variables should be included in the process of designing effective interventions as its significant influence on the work setting Secondly, although this dynamic workforce consists of individuals stemming from different ages or generations; however, Gen Y emerges as the major workforce in the world, in particular in the nation of Vietnam And this study will explore the perception of this group with diversified gender and education level Apart from different knowledge and skill levels compared to older generations, Gen Y witnesses varied social experiences, work values, and motivations, then leading to expectations and perceptions of the workplace Therefore, gaining more profound insights into Gen Y plays a pivotal role in talent retention for Vietnam's companies in the hospitality and tourism industry

1.8 Scope and Limitations

The scope of the research will be employees, trainees or students who have had working experience of luxury hotels in HCMC They can take a variety of jobs in many

departments, including back offices or front offices, however, the important criteria is that they need to belong to the millennial group based on this study’s definition

As the research carried out by the very first time with less experience; therefore, it is fairly challenging for me to avoid unexpected limitations in the research Specifically, the survey is conducted in a short time and mainly via online platforms due to the inconvenience of Covid 19 outbreak As a result, it is significantly hard to take observation, useful guidance and clear explaination for the attendants so it might be not objective enough for the validity of the research Furthermore, the research could be more reliable with larger sample size rather than 300 responses, and data should be collected ranging an array of upscale hotels in Ho Chi Minh so that it can be regarded as the general outlook of this city

1.9 Research Structure Chapter I: Introduction

This chapter describes the potential hospitality and tourism industry coupled with its positive indications in Vietnam, especially in hotel sector Besides that, certain statistics are demonstrating the dominance of the millennials group in regard to population and workforce in Vietnam Many relevant related to employees and the vital role of the work environment in any hospitality organizations are mentioned while in Vietnam, in particular, HCMC, the similar investigations are not popular despite the importance mentioned Also, eight sections have been constructed to illustrate this study

Chapter II: Literature review

This chapter evaluates the researches and clarifies definitions related to all independent variables, dependent variables and their relationships in the model Besides, six environmental factors would be described with certain related variables This

information is in accordance with public and reliable scholarly papers, which is considered as prime foundation for the study, consequently, developing the conceptual framework

Chapter III: Methodology

This chapter reviews the whole procedure in collecting and applying methods to process data including research design, questionnaire design, data analysis and factor analysis Furthermore, it includes the reasons why the quantitative research method is chosen as an optimal data collecting solution and how it works in the whole researching process

Chapter IV: Data analysis and findings

The chapter mainly presents the information analyzed from the primary data along with the research standpoints The explanation of data would be illustrated into different following parts: Demographic statistics, Univariate descriptive analysis of variables, Reliability test, Exploratory factor analysis, Multiple regression, and Path diagram of the research

Chapter V: Discussion and recommendation

This is built up based on the findings of chapter IV with relevant implications for organizations in service industry in the future in enhancing and improving employee performance Also, due to some limitations, suggestions for future studies are mentioned

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Millennials in Work Environment

The human factor is the driving force in any organization’s success so that organizations should realize valuable offerings in the workplace, ranging from teaching them, learning from them to sharing with them (Micheals, HandfieldJones, & Axelrod, 2001) According to Worldometer, millennials account for the preponderance of the population in Vietnam, and it seems that it is the main workforce in the hospitality sector There have been tons of studies about the bond of this generation and work environment, however, the concern of this relationship in specific luxury hotels setting, especially in the Vietnam context is still limited Regarding millennials, also called Gen Y with a birth range from 1981 to 1999 (Lancaster & Stillman, 2002), it is acknowledged that millennials have the highest demand in terms of their work environment of all generations (Earle, 2003) Following this paper, hence, they eager to vacate their positions if feeling dissatisfied It can be the content of their work, career development opportunities, social networking or recognition for their effort and talent Additionally, they highly appreciate the recognition as a part of innovative organizations that tend to

cultivate their potential, encourage and treasure their innovations Last but not the least, millennials are living in an energetic and creative world, they are more likely to adopt advanced technology, and oppose to rules or hierarchy in organizations, however, they look forward to mentoring or receiving feedbacks from their supervisors, working in a community, and valuing recognition and structure In other words, they like being engaged and valued as a member of a team Therefore, to attract and retain talented millennials, environmental support is one of the significant elements that should be on top of mind for companies

2.2 Work Environment

2.2.1 Introduction

In this day and age, organizations across the world are operating in a dynamic and competitive market than ever before In other words, organizations have to compete with others who operate a similar sector and face a fierce global workforce to entice potential employees Although human capital acts as imperatives for most corporations, designing specific plans for a distinct generation remains certain challenges for them

In the paper written by Earle in 2003, Dr Linda Duxbury who is a professor of business Carleton University in Canada assumed that the keys that employees nowadays look for are life-work balance, learning, and development of the career, which are all related to work-environment factor Work setting appears as the place where people can spend most of their waking time beside their homes; thus, it undoubtedly plays an indispensable role in their lives That is why employees will tend to leave out if being in an unpleasant environment, even if this job is rewarding and fascinating Conversely, they eager to be loyal to the company if that organization can offer a comfortable and ideal work environment bringing the feeling of being valued for them Mentioning the

specific case of Vietnam, Generation Y emerged as the driving workforce in organizations Admittedly, they have specific attributes as opposed to generations before, and so seemingly are demanding much more from their employers as well as organizations, not only in regard to physical rewards but also about the mental factors relating to work likes or organizational climate There are many companies have found that a dynamic and flexible work environment has the capacity of drawing the attention of employees Robinson and Robinson (1996) claimed that the work environment consists of various external factors and variables which can cause a huge effect on work performance of employees Also, many researchers figured out variables of work performance include the information, tools, resources, human resources policies, and incentives that support work performance (Gilbert, 1996; Van Tiem, Moseley, & Dessinger, 2004) Furthermore, an array of elements including background and experiences and values from multi-generations affect employee perceptions of environmental support (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, & Konopaske, 2005) When it comes to methods of collecting information, individuals or employees, in this case, seem to be the most reliable and suitable subject to obtain the perception of the work environment According to Robinson & Robinson in 1996, this mechanism provides the best information quality about how environmental support works out

Although organizations have a deep understanding of work-environment importance, creating a positive workplace still appears as a frustrating task since it includes numerous variables Moreover, Earle in 2003 assumed that the context of each company is different, so adjustments made can work for one company, but often not work for another Therefore, the workplace as well as how it operates should fit within the organization’s culture accompanied by support from managers and supervisors

2.2.2 Variables of the work environment

Ripley (1998 & 2003) established the scale of performance environment perception (PEPS) to measure work environment-perception among employees The PEPS includes a total of 6 major variables regarding the work environment that also were covered again in the research of Bell (2008) From this scale, the study develops model itself with 6 separate factors, which allows HPT practitioners to collect information on how employees perceive their work environment, which is a factor to affect behavior and performance

Factor 1: Communication in the Work 2.2.2.1.

The communication in this case indicates how employees perceive their relationships with the supervisors and organization during working Communication appears as a key function in any organization which results in greater effectiveness (Bush & Frohman, 1991) From one conception, communication is the act of exchanging information among people about their needs, thoughts, knowledge, or affective states Interpersonal communication (Velentzas & Broni, 2014) Communication seems to appear in everywhere, either private life or work setting In respect of working, there is a assumption that the nature of an organization’s culture as well as its capacity to effectively respond significant is mainly based on the managers’communication practices (Brownell, 1992) Especially, in modern 21st workplace, communication among management team and their subordinates even matters in order to cooperatively enhance work performance This study will indicate some major factors relating to communication in the workplace affecting performance, including feedback and coaching

 Coaching

A managerial tool is coaching which has been appreciated by various scholars and professors as key to achieving higher performance levels (Ellinger & Bostrom, 1999; Richardson, 2009; Pousa, 2012) Coaching's appearance in organizations began in

journals in the late 1930s Then, the year 2000 witnessed a substantial increase in the number of publications regarding coaching (Grant, 2011) Workplace coaching is defined as a approach of learning and development enabling the learner or employees in this case at the center of the learning experience, in other words, this utilises a collaborative relationship to support the professional outcomes (Smither, 2011; Bozer & Jones, 2018) In other definitions, it is a evelopmental process offering new learning opportunities that help to gain a performance improvement (Ellinger & Keller, 2003) When it comes to outcomes of coaching, several researchers recognized the effects of coaching ranging from job satisfaction, employee commitment to their performance (Onyemah, 2009; Agarwal, Angst, & Magni, 2009; Pousa, 2012; Trépanier, 2010)

 Feedback

Feedback is another mechanism that various scholars have assumed to be vital to an employee’s motivation, satisfaction, and performance as well There are various definitions of the term feedbacks It could be stated as the comments provided by an agent to an aspect of person’s performance (Hattie & Timperley, 2017) In the light of an academic aspect, it is described as the kind of comments that are provided after such an action, encompassing advice and evaluation to demonstrate where and how we are once putting efforts to obtain a goal (Wiggins, 2012) Hackman and Oldham (1975) suggested that when an employee regularly gains feedback in the workplace, he or she will have the intention to perform the positive outcomes that have already mentioned Similarly, feedback is regarded as one of the most useful ways of providing insights stimulating positive performance (Ashford & Cummings, 1983) It is because feedback offers information about what behaviors are favorable or unfavorable for goal achievement; thus potentially enhancing performance

Factor 2: Participation in the Work 2.2.2.2.

The participation at workplace, in this case, mentions their perception towards the supervisors or the whole organization when performing the work There have been various conceptual definitions of participation According to a paper Work participation is described as the opportunity or capability of employees to participate in their work setting, which allows the fulfillment of one’s work role (Lagerveld, Bültmann, Franche, Van Dijk, Vlasveld, Feltz-Cornelis, & Nieuwenhuijsen, 2010) In other case, participation is defined as a process that allows hierarchically unequal individuals to share influence on each other (Wagner & J.A III, 1994) Specifically, participatory management practices can deteriorate the hierarchical structure between managers and their subordinates, leading to higher likelihood of participation level of subordinates,

which was demonstrated to exert a positive impact on the work efficiency

 Job involvement

There have been various ways of definitions of job involvement described by scholars According to Lodahl and Kejner (1965), job involvement is an extent to performance of an employee influences his or her self-esteem Over the years, there have been numerous researchers exploring the connection between job involvement organizational performance (Pfeffer, 1994) and employee motivation (Hackman & Lawler, 1971) Therefore, it is necessary for this study to re-exam the relationship between job involvement and behaviors as well as performance among millennials

Factor 3: Organization and Design of The Work 2.2.2.3.

This factor refers to employees’ perception in terms of how the work itself is organized Work is considered as a core element among environmental factors that has a directly effect on employees’s perception or attitude toward their organization Based on various studies, work organization is more likely to indicate a variety of ranges To detail, work design and organization of these scholars consists of five dimensions including jon

demand, job control, job complexity, skill variet and supervisor support (Sherehiy & Karwowski, 2014) Meanwhile, applying this case, there will be certain different dimensions utilised to examine the relavance of this factor on employee perception and so then affecting behaviors as well performance, in particular work schedule, job design, tools, resources and training

 Work schedule

Another recent shift in expectations of Gen Y is the balance of work and work life Due to this concern, the flexibility of work schedule appears to be a favored characteristic by many employees Flexibilty, in this case, which refers to whether a worker has ability to be flexible regarding their working houes or not is simplistic (Saleh & Farrell, 2005). The reason for this is that beside employee role in an organization, they have to perform other obligations as a husband, a father or a son; therefore, they are highly sensitive to the level of the compatibility and the balance of different roles in life Allowing employees to design specific working time tends to go down role conflicts, so discourage stress for individuals and finally leading to work attitudes enhancement (Krausz, Sagie, & Bidermann, 2000)

non- Job design

Job design is generally defined as the construction of actual job structure and involves recognizing job tasks or activities relevant, then assigning them to employees in a mechanism that brings benefits for organizations thanks to specialization Following a study, specific jobs and goal-setting can help to enhance performance (Foss, Minbaeva, Pedersen, & Reinholt, (2009) For this reason, his study concentrates on improving performance via job design since the well-designed job can positively enhance either employee satisfaction or performance quality In fact, from the traditional viewpoint, job

design merely highlights the job itself rather than the specific individuals responsible for the job Yet, there have been various researchers gaining knowledge of motivational consequences brought from job design (Lawler et al., 1973)

 Training

Training is an organized facilitator for employees to achieve desirable performance (Ahmad & Bakar, 2003) Training is one of the key practices that managers employ to take control of products and services in hospitality It can not deniable that it plays a pivotal role in an organization, that is why training accounts for a considerable investment total in organizations The report experimented by Von Bergen and Mawer in 2007 is a prime example of this It demonstrates that organizations eager to spend a substantial amount of financial resources on training, and organizations have sought evidence that the expenditure on training is properly justified (Tracey & Tews, 1995) Positive effects of training can be seen observed in organizations, and a particular hotel is no exception, which was demonstrated in report of Kim in 2006

Factor 4: Characteristics of the Work Setting2.2.2.4.

The factor illustrates how employees gain perception and offer attitudes and ways to deal with characteristics of both the work structure or work policies via expectation or standard, and the work setting as a whole via the level of responsibility, job importance, group performance or familiarity of employees These dimensions would be regarded as major contributor to explore the relation among factors in work settings and perception as well as personal performance

 Group performance

Project groups or workgroups do not merely come together for an individual’s social reasons, however, to conduct a particular task Therefore, as a group member,

individuals tend to establish a group that they take belief to gain a higher probability of success For this reason, employees will opt to people who want to work within a group based on their characteristics that are perceived as a “good” group member (Hinds, Carley, Krackhardt, & Wholey, 2000) Hence, choosing potential performers as group members can increase the prospect of individual and group performance as well Specifically, the team-oriented perception is considered as one of the exclusive characteristics of the millennial generation (Jones III, 2017) Therefore, either attribute of every group member or performance of the whole group will be regarded as a crucial factor contributing to perception regarding the work environment of employees, especially millennials

 Familiarity

Another factor that affects the perception of employees about the work setting is the level of familarity The familaity, in this case, refers how surroudings are familiar to employees, encompassing colleages working as a team and working settings Without familiarity, it is challenging for group members to anticipate how the work behavior and coordination performed Meanwhile, people are more likely to want to work with coworkers whom they assume have decent performance Therefore, due to an increase in behavior and coordination costs, researchers assumed that people are inclined to cooperate with the familiar ones since a “sure thing” brings more pleasure instead of the working risk (Hinds et al., 2000)

 Expectation

The relationship between the individual’s perceptions of the surrounding and their expectations might be a crucial aim in the psychological field (Magnusson, 1981 & Caplan, 1987) and it exert a considerable influence on their behavior (Kyriakidou & Ozbilgin, 2004) Specifically, employees who placed in a "fit" work environment have more likelihood to intrinsically take an interest in their work The otherwise will be

accurate to not “fit” environment Every usual feature of work or issue arising appears to be unpleasant to them, and so these unexpected matters may be perceived more negatively; thereby, leading to countless undesired results including the lack of satisfaction or bad work performance It can be concluded that employee performance is the culmination of the mismatch between individuals’psychological expectations and truly work environment (Lubinsky, 2000)

 Standard

It is vital to have high standards for the most part of people’s life It is acknowledged that the definition of high standard is general, and difficult to describe, however, its significant effect on performance in organizations can not be agruable The majority of the successful people who have the most achievement in the world set incredibly high standards Applying the context of businesses, organizations tend to establishes principle or codes of conduct to reach a high volume in terms of quality,

productivity, and service as well Accroding to Harrison Barnes, the level of standards

can distinguish the exceptional people from the ordinary It is because people who set high standards hold the belief that everything matters rather than just trivial so it drives them forward to get better Especially, working in law organizations or with medicine and finance, employees need to follow the high standards in order to be successful In a

new from Forbes, Bezos’s annual letter to shareholders recognizes the importance of having high standards in an organization Organizations with high standards not only affect directly to organizational performance by generating better products and services for customers, but also create such high requirements of recruiting and retention for their employees

 Responsibility and Job importance

Two other significant variables contributing to the perception of employees regarding the work environment are the levels of job importance and responsibility As mention above, participation practices help employees to play a more crucial role in an organization by gaining more influence as well as access to work activities It, also, means that it brings a higher level of responsibility for employees, and the indication that the organization identifies and appreciate vital contributions of that employee to the organization (Luthans, 1995) Hence, fortifying the link between an individual’s contributions and whole organization performance lets employees perceive that their job is such importance, which drives as an intrinsic motivation for working (Wright & Kim, 2004) Therefore, it can be concluded that job importance is in line with a worker’s performance In addition to the experience of meaningfulness, Pooja Garg and Renu Rastogi (2006) also mentioned another critical cognitive state, it is responsibility Responsibility refers the extent to which the workers personally have a sense of accountability for the work results that they perform It is originated from the level of autonomy that employees experience at work, and couped with the experienced meaningfulness, leads to various desirable outcomes and work performance is amongst them

Factor 5: Personal Fit of Employees, the Work, and Work 2.2.2.5.

Setting

The above mentioned variables mentioning the specific perception of the traits of work itself and work setting, meanwhile, this factor would highlight the personal capacity of fit between employees and those ones This is their personal perception in regard to attitude towards colleagues as well as organization

 Attitude

The concept “Happy worker is a productive worker” has been widely deemed by numerous researchers since the description relating to it had been supposed by Hawthorne studies in the 1930s It makes scholars increasingly concern about the impacts of employee attitudes on performance as employees have been regarded as an important element for an organization’s success and competitiveness The studies relating to employee attitudes have been conducted for many years To exemplify, at the employee level, it is demonstrated that employee attitudes and performance have a positive relationship (Judge, Timothy, & Joyce, 2001) Other studies have reported the correlation of organizational practices assessed by employee attitude surveys with organizational performance as a whole (Wiley, 1996) or the economic benefits of employee attitudes for organizations As a result, the relationship between employee attitudes and employee performance can not be underappreciated

 Adaptability

In recent times with increasing complication and diversity, the level of adaptability appears as significantly crucial Individual adaptability is defined as the ability to adapt to changed circumstances or challenges arising Career construction theory conducted by Savickas (2002) helps to respond to these switchings, and demonstrate the ceaseless adaptation to the work setting is extremely vital to gain a development or positive performance (Savickas, 2013) The research of career adaptability has attracted an array of attention over the years and they mention that career adaptability can be considered as a predictor of desirable work performance (Zacher, 2014) More importantly, applying to this case, in the informational technology society, Gen Y must absorb state-of-the-art equipment as well as dynamic work diversity to perform favorable results so adaptability should be included to forecast employee performance

 Likes job

Furthermore, Ripley et al (2006) suggested that the work environment involved in both the physical setting for work and the aspects of psychology and society available in that setting For instance, a study by Dr Abraham H Maslow suggested in 1956 that work surroundings can give psychological effects on employees For example, an office was regared as “beautiful”, which offered a comfortable environment with warm colors, soft seating, and a wooden bookshelf, and an ‘ugly’ office which was filled with some items such as boxes, tools, and jun in a smaller size As a result, all participants in the beautiful room assessed the subjects in the photographs as being energetic, while ones in the urgly room judged those in the same picture to be fatigued or sick These results instantly depict that if employees feel interested in the surrounding work environment, it can have a drastic impact on their perception or job satisfaction, which then affects their behaviors in the workplace

 Social climate

The theory of social climate is investigated universally and demonstrated to be fruitful in the formation of perceptions regarding work setting (Ostroff, Kinicki, & Tamkins, 2003) Climate is defined as a description of the work environment based on experience, in particular perceptions of employees in terms of formal or informal policies and practices (Schneider, 2000) Besides, organizational characteristics (size and structure), the level of consistency and clarity in practices or social interactions among individuals in an organization tend to bring to experience and perception of the work environment (Payne & Mansfield, 1973; Bowen & Ostroff, 2004; Morgeson & Hofmann, 1999) Regarding the result of in research, there is a positive between organizational climate and and employee performance (Ostroff et al., 2003)

Factor 6: Personal Fit of Work Group, Work, and Work 2.2.2.6.

Setting

 Coworker

Coworker support is considered one of the environmental factors at work that lead to individual work performance, either positively or negatively Especially, social support seems to be common to be taken account for stress research, since it may calm for employees, hence, scholars deem that support is conversely pertained to strains (Beehr, 1995; Kahn & Byosiere, 1992) The result is that social support from coworkers has certain relationship with job performance, in particular in a highly stressful profession, depending on what types of support According to Cohen and Wills (1985), there are two functions of coworker support The first one is instrumental support, which refers to helping employees to get tasks completed in the workplace Another is emotional support, involving in the provision of sympathy via communication, for example, asking employees whether one listens to their problems Hence, the study concludes that the conversation relating positive things of job among coworkers have strong influence on their job performance (Beehr, Jex, Stacy, & Murray, 2000) Besides, there have numerous surveys showing the level of relation between coworker support and job performance with the diversity in demographic characteristics in 2008, 2009, and 2010 (Nagami, Tsutsumi, Tsuchiya, & Morimoto)

 Cohesive

Researchers have offered an array of definitions as well as conceptual models of group cohesion over the decades It can be assumed as the whole of forces that make members keep staying in their group” (Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950, p 164) In another definition, group cohesion refers a group resisting to any disruptive forces happening (Gross & Martin, p.553, 1952) Although notions of group cohesion vary, the impact of this variable on both group performance (Mullen & Copper, 1994) and individual performance (Wech, Mossholder, Steel, & Bennett, 1998) Because

cohesiveness mentions the level of commitment of such group member to his or her tasks individuals (Hackman, 1992), there is an assumption that employees working in cohesive

groups tend to be directed toward group tasks (Stogdill, 1972) Also, Mullen and Copper (1994) proposed that one the components of cohesiveness is task commitment contributes to the individual performance of employees From another opinion, it also directly affects performance as members work in a cohesive group would likely feel committed to highly challenging tasks, therby, culminating in more positive performance (Klein & Mulvey, 1995)

 Aptitude

Aptitude is a widely-used term in various science and profession Its definition and construction vary depending on the context of application The term "aptitude" originated from Latin via French, meaning "apt, appropriate, and suitable" Then, numerous early writings clarified the framework of a person-situation interaction, and especially in English, aptitude became synonymous with intelligence and capacity at previsous time (Snow, 1992) Nowadays, aptitude has become dominant in goal-directed human activities, especially once considering the antecedents of observed individual differences It is because this concept can contribute to the different-response tendency of such person to situations arising they face (Snow, 1992) Aptitude is assumed as an initial state affecting developments of people later so significantly relates to both learning and propaedeutic to learning Therefore, it is more likely to be a central concept of educational psychology in countless papers In light of business, the paper implemented by Hunter (1986) explored how general cognitive ability rather than aptitude interact with job performance In this case, general cognitive ability is developed in adult employees or job applicants in the work setting It is measured by sequences of tests pertaining to aptitudes, including technical aptitude, quantitative aptitude or verbal aptitude Hence, many organizations have taken account of aptitude elements for recruiting new personnel

2.3 Perception of Work Environment, Behavior and Performance

Behavior is defined as a total of both visible and invisible actions of a person, a group of people or a whole company Performance is described as the result of all efforts,

although desired or undesired results (Webers, 2012, p.12) It is believed that the job

performance of each job and each place may differ To examplify, for some organizations, job performance determines further promotion, additional responsibilities, or decision whether being laid off Relating to this field, Motowidlo (2012) explained clearly the different definitions of three terms: behavior, performance, and results Behavior relates to what thing individuals tend to do, whilst performance is the expected value from which they do It can be implied that supports and constraints from the environment affecting the tendency of an individual’s behavior, and are instrinsive contributor to their performance Following Olson and Borman (1989), there are 2 different ways that environmental variables affect work performance at workplace This assumption was explained through the study of Naylor, Pritchard, and Ilgen in 1980 First, they can have an impact on performance through constraints Specifically, the environment can interfere with the range of employee behaviors displayed that directly determine the task performance of employees Second, the environment can potentially influence employee performance through responses in regard to the work setting For instance, if the work environment can provide information relating to the reward system, employees will gain more motives, then show affective reactions, as well as perform desired behaviors

Applying this study, literally, work environment-related perception of individuals regarded as subjective factor is collected Also, the data regading to behaviors as well as performance is rooted from them Although these are generally defined, and usullay are accumulated from managers who have the rights to officially assess the behaviors and performance in the workplace, in this study, these would be based on the self-evaluation of participants who are employees being directly involved in the work Adopting model of Ripley (1998 & 2003), study also investigates what environmental variables affecting

the perception of employees, in particular Gen Y employees and the extent to the impact of its on their performance is an important question for the organizations in order to design a performance improvement intervention To sum up, Ripley (1998) assumed that reasons that employees’ perceptions of the environment should be on top of mind for organizations since they will behave as if those perceptions were real Also, tons of papers researching the influence of employee perception on their behavior fortify this premise

2.4 Conceptual framework

Based on those theoretical backgrounds, previous related theories, and chapter of literature review, the conceptual framework is put forward Study aims to investigate numerous variables of perception relating to the work environment, as well as the causal relationships among employee behavior, and employee performance These environmental elements are followed by the scale and model, the relationships of formed perception, behaviors, and performance are based on the model of Ripley (1998 &

2003) Figure 1 will illustrate the hypothetical model of this study

Figure 1: Conceptual Research Model

Table 2.1: Independent and Dependent Variables in the research

2.5 Operationalization

Table 2.2: Operationalization Table

Communication in the WorkParticipation in

the WorkOrganization and Design the

WorkCharacteristics

of the Work SettingPersonal Fit of Employees, the Work, and Work

SettingPersonal Fit of the Work Group, Work, and Work

H4

Variables Definitions Dimensions Sources

in the Work"

their relationship with the supervision in their work."

- Coaching

- Feedback Bell (2008)

the Work"

their relationship with their supervisions in work."

work of itself organized."

- Work Schedule - Job design

- Tool and Resources - Training

Bell (2008)

of Work Setting"

general practices and procedures related to the overall work setting."

- Group performance - Familiarity

- Expectation - Standard - Responsibility - Job importance

Bell (2008)

Employees, Work, and Work

perceive they fit with their work and work setting

- Attitude - Adaptability - Likes job - Standard - Social climate

Bell (2008)

Work Group, Work, and Work

of the overall work group’s fit with the work and work setting."

- Coworker - Aptitude - Cohesiveness

Bell (2008)

Employee Behavior

Behavior is defined as a total of both visible and invisible actions of a person, a group of people or a whole company

- Punctuality - Commitment - Work concerntration

Webers (2012), p.12

Employee Performance

Performance is the result of all efforts, although desired or undesired results

- Work effectiveness - Work efficiency

Webers (2012), p.12

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

3.1.Research Hypothesis

After acknowleging the important role of employee performance as well as its definition relating to behaviors in the workplace, the question relating behaviors apprears: ‘What determines behavior in the workplace? One of the objectives of this study is to demonstrate that millennials’ perception about work environment can influence their behavior in the work settings Besides, based on performance environment perception Scale developed from Ripley (1998), there are totally 6 variables of work environment

proposed to test the extent of relationship with the variable of behavior as follow:

Hypothesis 4 (H1.4): Characteristics of the Work Setting has an impact on Employee Behavior

Hypothesis 5 (H1.5): Personal Fit of Employees, Work, and Work Setting has an impact on Employee Behavior

Hypothesis 6 (H1.6): Personal Fit of the Work Group, Work, and Work Setting has

Performance involves behaviours and accomplishments and is defined as a compromise of individuals, the work environment and interaction between them according to Gilbert (1996) and Ilgen and Favero (1985) Therefore, individual’s behavior on the job already affected from the environmental factors is regarded as direct contributors to job performance (Carson, Cardy, & Dobbins, 1991) Then, the study proposes: