The Relationship Among Perceived Gender Discrimination, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Intention and the Moderator Role of Gender

Introduction

Perceived gender discrimination (will be stated as PGD from now on) is a concept related to employees' beliefs that they are limited or excluded in organizations because of their gender. Studies on the perception of gender discrimination focus on the employee's personal perception of discrimination rather than whether he or she is actually exposed to this situation (Foley et al., 2015, p. 652). The concept of discrimination is one of the interesting topics in the business literature. PGD has various negative consequences in terms of employees' work-related attitudes and behaviors (Foley et al., 2005). Policies and practices that discriminate against gender cause many negative consequences for both employees and organizations.

In studies examining the behavioral responses of employees to practices in the workplace that discriminate against gender, it has been stated that PGD causes conflicts with management, neglect of work, low motivation, less excitement towards work and work conflict. It has also been revealed that while PGD is negatively related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment and self-esteem, it is positively related to turnover intention (Jaffe, 2017; Channar et al., 2011; Kara & Yıldıran, 2011; Foley et al., 2005, pp. 421-423; Onay, 2009; Gutek et al., 1996; Kim & Park, 2018). Besides, women experience a higher level of perception of gender discrimination compared to men (Northcraft & Gutek, 1993; Gutek et al., 1996; Shaffer et al., 2000; Ngo et al., 2002; Foster et al., 2004; Foley et al.; Foley et al., 2006; Peng et al., 2009; Channar et al., 2011; Foley et al., 2015). If women perceive a higher level of gender discrimination than men, they will encounter more problems in the workplace compared to men and they will react more negatively to the work and the organization (Foley et al., 2005, pp. 421-423).

Tourism, which takes part in the service sector, is an industry that provides high employment opportunity due to its structure open for improvement, labor-intensive character and interaction with other sectors. In the tourism industry, hotels that need a high number of employees due to their manpower-based production structure are also enterprises with a high labor turnover rate (Lam et al., 2002, p. 218; Aydın, 2005, p. 265). Women in the workforce of tourism have equal capacity with their male counterparts, besides they have better skills to be more effective in the industry. They communicate better, they are careing and nurturing, and they adopt supporting behaviors that make them advantageous in the service industry (Marinakou, 2014). However women in the working life face gender discrimination because of the preference of men in recruitment, wage inequality, the recognition of career opportunities to male employees, harassment, the fact that women with young children are not preferred in recruitment, and women who work part-time are chosen in case someone is fired. In the study of Marinakou (2015) it is stated that in hospitality industry only few women are found in high managerial positions and they are mainly found in positions that are stereotypically ascribed to their gender, such as housekeeping, sales and marketing. Campos-Soria et al. (2009) stated that women in hospitality industry take part in jobs that are less paid and earn less than men. Similarly Thrane (2008) stated that male employees receive about 20% more wages annually than their female colleagues in the tourism industry.