Why Some Stay and Others Leave? A Comparative Study of Retention Factors Affecting Ground-Level Housekeeping Staff among 3-Star Hotels in Finland and Sri Lanka

The tourism & hospitality industry is one of the largest service-based sectors, contributing significantly to the global economy. The hospitality industry is an exciting business that provides a high-quality experience to guests when they visit particular destinations. Tourists expect a higher level of cleanliness and a better housekeeping atmosphere during their stay at hotels. Therefore, housekeeping services are critical and play a significant role in rendering high-quality service, ensuring guest satisfaction. Housekeeping is the largest workforce in the hospitality industry, with the lowest-paid employees. Housekeeping is regarded by lodging operators as one of the toughest roles in the hospitality sector, resulting in a persistently high turnover rate. While employees are concerned about low pay and bad working conditions, management faces challenges related to rising labour costs resulting from frequent staff turnover. Accordingly, it is important to understand the factors that influence employee retention in hotel housekeeping. However, there is limited research on the retention of ground-level housekeeping employees, particularly in 3-star hotels. Most of the exciting studies have concentrated on luxury hotels, managerial-level staff, and general labour issues in the hospitality sector. This leaves a notable gap in understanding factors that affect the retention of housekeeping staff in mid-range hotels. Although employee retention has been widely studied separately in developed and developing countries, it has not been extensively compared across different socio-economic and cultural settings. This study aims to address this gap by comparing a developed country (Finland) with a developing country (Sri Lanka). The objective of this study is to identify key factors influencing the retention of ground-level housekeeping staff in 3-star hotels and to examine how these factors vary across different contextual settings. This study involved eight 3-star hotels, with four selected from each country to ensure balanced representation. The study adopted a mixed-methods and deductive approach. Likewise, the study followed a cross-sectional time horizon. The total population for this study was 140 participants, comprising 120 for the quantitative approach and 20 for the qualitative approach. A sample size consists of 100 for the quantitative analysis and 10 for the qualitative analysis. 61 survey responses were received from the quantitative analysis, and 6 individuals were interviewed as part of the qualitative approach. Data were analysed using SPSS and thematic analysis. Main hypotheses were developed based on identified key organizational factors influencing retention, including remuneration & rewards, training & development, work-life balance, supervisory support, and work stress (H1-H5). To examine contextual influences, sub-hypotheses were also developed (H1a-H5b). In the primary model, training & development emerged as a significant predictor of retention. In the contextual models, remuneration & rewards were the only significant positive predictors in Finland, whereas in Sri Lanka, training & development had a significant impact. These findings suggest that the factors influencing housekeeping staff retention vary across contexts, reflecting variations in socio-economic and cultural conditions.