Abstract:
Tourism is one of the largest and rapidly developing industries in the world. In Sri Lankan context,
the hospitality and tourism industry plays a significant role in the economy and labor market. As far
as the hotel sector is concerned, it is one of the highly people oriented businesses that largely depends
on the quality of the services provided. Thus, employee development has been recognized as one of
the most vital aspects in the hospitality industry. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the impact
of HRM practices on career succession planning in the hotel industry. In particular, the study limited
its focus to the operational level employees occupied in 4-star and 5-star hotels in Colombo district.
Further, the study adopted a mix-methods approach to in-depth analyze the scenario. For the
quantitative analysis study collected primary data from 100 operational level employees while
employing convenience sampling and structured questionnaire methods. Qualitative data were
collected from 40 respondents and a semi-structured interview method was applied in data collection.
Finally, quantitative data were analyzed while using descriptive analysis; Pearson coefficient
correlation, regression analysis and the qualitative data were analyzed with the thematic analysis
method. Accordingly, the findings of the study reveal that there is a strong positive relationship
between HRM practices and Career succession planning. Further, it was evident that training and
development, job rotation and empowerment and compensation schemes have a positive impact on
career succession planning. The findings depict that unique HRM practices are one of the key success
factors in employee development, retention and long term sustainability. Study recommendations will
be useful for the hotel industry specifically, HR managers and government policy makers and the
business organizations to recognize and facilitate for employee development and to achieve business
success.
Keywords: Career Succession Planning; Hospitality Industry; Human Resources Management
Practices; Operational level Employees
