Effect of Diversity Elements at Workplace: An Empirical Study

The objective of the research is to investigate diversity elements that are prominent at the 

workplace and its impact on employee satisfaction towards diversity at workplace in Malaysian 

hotel industry. There are several diversity variables that influence the employees’ satisfaction such 

as gender, age, ethnicity and educational background. Therefore, the research tests relationships 

between these four variables and the employee satisfaction which can affect employee turnover 

rate in the hotel sector. 

Tourism Malaysia’s aggressive promotional efforts and commitment from industry players have 

contributed to the continuous growth of the country’s tourism industry. In 2015, Malaysia is 

expected to see around 29.4 million tourists visiting the country and generating receipts up to 89 

billion ringgit and resulting into increasing number of hotels. However, the employees’ turnover 

rate in hotel industry is declining year by year. Thus, it becomes relevant to investigate related 

issues, particularly, issues that affect the employees’ satisfaction. One of such issues is diversity at 

workplace. 

In this study, self-administered questionnaires have been distributed to collect data from 150 

employees of various hotels in the Klang valley, Malaysia using convenience sampling. The data is

analyzed through SPSS and relationships between variables are tested by using Pearson 

Correlation Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis.

The findings show that gender and ethnicity has a significant impact on employees’ satisfaction 

while age and education has no positive significance that affects employees’ satisfaction in hotel 

industry.

Key Words: Diversity, Employee Satisfaction, Hotel industry, Malaysia