Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to analyse how talent management practices in family-owned hotels contribute to their employees’ fulfilment of their psychological contract.

Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 employees working at three different family business hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Moreover, thematic analysis was undertaken on the collected data resulting in four major themes.

Findings: The findings revealed that stimulating employees to fulfil their psychological contract towards their family-owned hotels leads to several benefits. First, it leads to talent management practices that support crisis management, sustainability and resilience. Second, it contributes to empathy towards or at least a deep concern for the future of work in the hospitality sector. Third, to fulfil their psychological contract, employees, particularly non-family members, require inclusive talent management and ongoing training programmes tailored to prepare them to meet current and future challenges in the hospitality sector.

Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study is the first study to empirically investigate the relationship between talent management practices and the psychological contract of employees in family-owned hotels, especially in developing economy context of Egypt. Also, it is one of the pioneering studies to unpack these dynamics for family as well as non-family employees.