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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 1370 – 1374

2nd World Conference On Business, Economics And Management- WCBEM 2013

The Effect of Employee Relationships and Knowledge Sharing on

Employees’ Performance:
An Empirical Research on Service Industry

Ömür Hakan Kuzua *, Derya Özilhan

a
Selçuk University, Beyşehir A. A. Faculty of Tourism, Beysehir/Konya 42700, Turkey
b
SelçukUniversity, Faculty of Business, Beysehir/Konya 42700, Turkey

Abstracts

The businesses may catch some opportunities in competition area with the satisfaction of both internal customers and the external
customers and they can increase their profitability. In today, the businesses know that employees are the major assets of an
organization. It is essential that the employees perform together as a collective unit and contribute equally towards the realization
of a common goal. Therewithal if the relationship between employees and sharing of the knowledge is good the employees’
performance can be good in businesses. The aim of this study is to make an attempt the service employees’ performance in
hotels. Hereby this study has been conducted in a five star hotel. Surveying method has been used in order to collect data. The
employees of this hotel participated in the survey. Finally the results and suggestions related to the analysis results have also been
introduced in the study.

© 2014 The
Selection andAuthors. Published
peer review underby Elsevier Ltd.of Prof Dr Gülsün A Başkan
responsibility
Selection and peer review under responsibility of Organizing Committee of BEM 2013.
Keywords: Employee performance, employee relations, knowledge sharing;

1. Introduction

The firms attach importance customer or supply relations for the satisfaction these and the success of the business.
But it is not only enough for the business to satisfy the external stakeholders (Wang, 2002). Employee-employer and
employee-organization relationships are part of a business’s internal relationship management. Much research
regarding this internal relationship management has focused on organizational behavior/theory and human resource
management (Liao et al., 2004). In human resource management, social exchange theory suggests that human
resource activities affect the development of employee trust. Good design of human resource activities to build trust
can improve organizational effectiveness (Whitener, 1997).
Knowledge sharing is an important activity that enhanced an individual capability to retrieve new data and
resources for the purpose of learning, problem solving, and self-improvement (Din and Haron, 2012). The success of
knowledge sharing in business is not only technological but also related to behavioral factors. Businesses need to



 
 


Ömür Hakan Kuzu. Tel: +90-332-512 05 15-8932.

E-mail address: ohkuzu@selcuk.edu.tr

1877-0428 © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Selection and peer review under responsibility of Organizing Committee of BEM 2013.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.639
 Ömür Hakan Kuzu and Derya Özilhan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 1370 – 1374 1371

create open environments and incentive/reward systems to motivate members to share their knowledge positively
and voluntarily (Whitener, 2001). Knowledge, compared to data and information is closer to the action, and
therefore it is considered more valuable than others (Davenport and Prusa, 1998).
Employee performance can be effected by some conditions like job satisfaction, working environment, motivation
and stresses (Kakkos et al., 2010). The strategic management of human resources is considered crucial for the
achievement of the various organizational and individual outcomes including employee job satisfaction (Ooi et al.,
2007). This point is the intersection of the employee relations and employee performance and is named “Employee
Relationship Management (ERP)”. ERP includes job satisfaction of employees and the protection of the dignity of
employees (William and Cusack, 2003).

2. Conceptual Model and Methodology

2.1. Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses

This study is aimed at the evaluation of the relationships of the employees and knowledge sharing of the
employees in hotels by the views of employees. Also this study explores the correlations between knowledge
sharing and employee relationships with employee performance. The conceptual framework developed to describe
the relationships between these variables is shown in Figure 1.

Employee Relationships
- Working environment
- Conditions of respect
- Conditions of support
- Justice perception
- Relationships with superiors
- Self-satisfaction
EMPLOYEE
- Self-learning
PERFORMANCE
Knowledge Sharing
- Voluntarily sharing
- Conditionaly sharing

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

The following hypotheses have been developed within the framework of the study model:

H1: Employee relationships have a significant positive association with employee performance.

H2: Knowledge sharing has a significant positive association with employee performance.

2.2. Research Method

This study is exploratory in nature, aiming to develop a better understanding of the employee performance based
on employee relationships and knowledge sharing. The study was carried out in 2012 on a convenience sample of 80
respondents who work in a five star hotel in Antalya, Turkey. The questionnaires were implemented via interview
and for being a pilot sample 80 responses were collected in this study. The questions 1-5 referred to demographic
characteristics. Section B of the questionnaire consists of 20 questions. Questions 1-14 and 16-19 are regarding the
respondents’ general view on the employee relationships and 15th and 20th questions are regarding their general view
on the knowledge sharing at hotel. The last section of the questionnaire (named C) consists of 19 questions and deals
1372 Ömür Hakan Kuzu and Derya Özilhan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 1370 – 1374

with employee performance. The statistical package SPSS was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis
was used to determine the statistical analysis included estimation of frequencies, percentages and means, reliability,
correlation and regression analysis.

3. Research Results

The reliability of the construct, Employee Relations and Knowledge Sharing, is 0.934 (Cronbach’s α) on 20
questions and Employee Performance is 0.956 (Cronbach’s α) on 19 questions.
The demographic characteristics of the respondents are shown Table 1.

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of respondents

Gender f % Income status f %

Female 63 78,8 0-999 30 37,5
Male 17 21,2 1.000-1.999 44 55,0
Total 80 100,0 2.000-2.999 5 6,3
Marital Status f % Over 3.000 1 1,2
Married 45 56,2 Total 80 100,0
Single 35 43,8
Total 80 100,0 Education f %
Age f % Primary school 8 10,0
18-25 15 18,8 Secondary school 13 16,2
26-35 41 51,3 High school 38 47,5
36-45 17 21,2 Bachelor’s degree 19 23,8
46-55 4 5,0 Master’s degree 2 2,5
56-65 3 3,7 Total 80 100,0
Total 80 100,0

The descriptive statistics of the survey is also shown in following Table 2.

(5. Strongly agree, 4. Inclined to agree, 3. Neither, 2. Inclined to disagree, 1. Strongly disagree).

Table 2. Descriptive statistics

Variables N Mean Std. Deviation

Working environment 80 3,69 1,05
Conditions of respect 80 3,46 0,92
Conditions of support 80 3,56 1,17
Justice perception 80 3,39 1,09
Relationships with superiors 80 3,56 1,24
Self-satisfaction 80 3,47 1,04
Self-learning 80 3,70 1,16
Knowledge sharing 80 4,48 0,92
Employee performance 80 4,13 0,82

The correlations are of the survey is also shown in following Table 3 and Table 4.
 Ömür Hakan Kuzu and Derya Özilhan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 1370 – 1374 1373

Table 3. Correlations between employee relationships and employee performance

Employee relationships Employee performance

Correlation Coefficient 0,602(**)
Sig. (2-tailed) 0,000
N 80

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 3 indicates that employee relationships have a mid-level positive association with employee
performance (H1is accepted).

Table 4. Correlations between knowledge sharing and employee performance

Knowledge sharing Employee performance

Correlation Coefficient 0,592(**)
Sig. (2-tailed) 0,000
N 80
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 4 indicates that knowledge sharing have a mid-level positive association with employee performance
(H2 is accepted).

The following tables show the regression analysis:

Table 5. Anova table of the variables: employee relationships and employee performance

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F p

Regression 24,035 7 3,434 8,512 0,000
Residual 29,042 72 0,403
Total 53,078 79
a:Predictors (Constant) : Employee relationships
b:Dependent Variable : Employee performance

Employee performance = 2,022 + 0,308Working environment + 0,259Conditions of respect + 0,076Conditions

of support – 0,304Justice perception + 0,122 Relationships with superiors + 0,166 Self-satisfaction – 0,039 Self-
learning.

The following table shows that the constant predictors explain the 45% of employee performance.

Table 6. Model Summary (Regression Analysis)

Std. Error of the




Adjusted R Square Estimate




 



Predictors (Constant) : Employee relationships

1374 Ömür Hakan Kuzu and Derya Özilhan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 1370 – 1374

Table 7. Anova table of the variables: knowledge sharing and employee performance


Sum of
Model df Mean Square F p
Squares
Regression  

 



Residual   

 





Total









a:Predictors (Constant) : Knowledge sharing
b:Dependent Variable : Employee performance

The following table shows that the constant predictors explain the 35% of employee performance.

Table 8. Model Summary (Regression Analysis)

Std. Error of the





Adjusted R Square Estimate





 



Predictors (Constant) : Knowledge sharing

4. Conclusions and Recommendations

The major purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of employee relationships and knowledge sharing to
employee performance in hotels as service enterprises. In this pilot study the effect degree of employee relationships
to employee performance has been found 45% and the effect of knowledge sharing to employee performance has
been found 35% by the structured questionnaire data. Our findings are based on case studies and only one hotel
employees (80 pilot replies). As a result, the generalizability of our findings is so limited. However, our findings can
serve as a starting point for other researchers exploring measures for the effective points of employee performance
and ERP systems. Future researches can enhance and validate measures for the evaluation of employee
performance.

References

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