Shared leadership and intrinsic job motivation in the hotel industry: Mediators of organizational conflict and cynicism

The purpose of this study is to examine structural relationships among shared leadership, organizational conflict, organizational cynicism, and intrinsic job motivation in the hotel industry. To achieve this objective, this study investigated the effect of shared leadership on intrinsic job motivation as perceived by hotel employees. In particular, it examined the mediating effects of organizational conflict and cynicism. A survey was conducted among five-star hotel employees in South Korea. Structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the hypotheses. Shared leadership was factorized as information sharing, and consideration and development. Consideration and development positively impacted intrinsic job motivation, but negatively influenced organizational conflict. Information sharing negatively influenced organizational cynicism. Organizational conflict positively affected intrinsic job motivation, but organizational cynicism negatively influenced it. Finally, organizational cynicism mediated the relationship between information sharing and intrinsic job motivation. This study confirmed structural relationships among shared leadership, organizational conflict, organizational cynicism, and intrinsic job motivation. A key contribution of this study is that it revealed the significant role of shared leadership in the hotel industry. The findings can help hotel operators develop human resource management strategies to manage organizational conflict and cynicism, and this study provides valuable insights and implications for effective human resource management.