An investigation into the motivational power of corporate hospitality events from employee perspectives.

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the effect of Corporate Hospitality events on employee's motivation. This study aims to explore employee's perceptions of incentive events and their effect on motivation. Motivation is a highly complex issue which has been investigated by a number of academics. Although there has been extensive research conducted on employee motivation and corporate hospitality, there is little research carried out in regards to the motivational attributes of employee corporate hospitality events. Therefore there is a gap within the existing literature leading to the rationale for this study, which is to broaden and extend the knowledge on employee incentive events. This study took a mixed methods approach in order to gain further understanding of the research problem, as both qualitative and quantitative data support and complement each other to achieve a complete analysis. Online questionnaires were designed using a cloud based development platform, Survey Monkey, to collect, store and analyse primary data. Questionnaires consisted of open ended and closed questions to gather statistical data and deeper insight into the subject area. Questionnaires were distributed to twelve companies to circulate to their employees. Data was then analysed through Survey Monkey and for common themes identified in the literature, in order to prove the study's hypothesis. This study revealed that corporate hospitality events are an ideal incentive in motivating employees. The results indicated that corporate hospitality events are an effective motivational tool increasing employee's loyalty, trust and belongingness towards the company and in turn increasing productivity and the overall success of the business. The results are also comparative with previous research on employee motivation and effective motivational tools. The findings revealed that clear obtainable performance objectives, high valance rewards and recognition are important factors in encouraging employee motivation. However the researcher found that motivation is a complex issue with no one strategy satisfying everyone.