Marital Status Diversity and Organisational Performance in Star-rated Hotels in Coastal Kenya: A Mixed-methods Study

Abstract

This study examined the association between employees’ marital status diversity and their ratings of organisational performance in star-rated hotels in Kenya’s coastal region. A mixed-methods design was adopted, drawing on questionnaire responses from employees and semi-structured interviews with operational managers in 11 hotels in Kilifi, Mombasa and Kwale counties. Of 201 questionnaires distributed, 197 were completed (98.01%); 13 managers were purposively selected for key-informant interviews. A five-item, four-point agreement scale assessed perceived contributions associated with marital and family circumstances, and a six-item questionnaire scale assessed respondent-rated organisational performance. The five-item perception scale had a reported Cronbach’s alpha of .781, and the organisational-performance scale had an alpha of .910. Pearson correlation and simple linear regression showed a positive association between the two questionnaire scores (r = .713, p < .001; B = .859, standardised β = .713; R² = .509). Interviews illustrated managers’ and employees’ reported views concerning dependability, scheduling flexibility, resilience, teamwork and occasional family-related strain. The results describe an association between self-reported perceptions; they do not establish an impact of objectively measured marital status diversity on verified hotel performance. Given the cross-sectional design, shared-source measurement and unassessed within-hotel clustering, causal and hotel-level interpretations are not warranted. The findings suggest the value of fair scheduling and non-discriminatory consideration of individual circumstances rather than assumptions about workers based on marital status.