From Fairness to Fit: Exploring Antecedents of Job Embeddedness and Employee Engagement

employee engagement; hospitality employees; job embeddedness; job crafting; organizational justice.

This study investigates the organizational and individual antecedents that shape job embeddedness and employee engagement among hospitality employees in India. Drawing from Social Exchange Theory and the Job Demands–Resources framework, the study examines how fairness, organizational support, leadership, empowerment, job crafting, career growth, and work–life balance affect employee outcomes within hotel settings. Data were collected from 431 employees working in hotels across four major Indian metropolitan cities. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test the proposed relationships. Results indicate that fairness, empowerment, job crafting, and leadership support significantly predict job embeddedness and engagement. Psychological empowerment and leadership support emerged as the most influential predictors. Job embeddedness has a strong mediating effect on engagement, demonstrating its role as a mechanism linking organizational practices to employee motivation. The findings offer hospitality-specific managerial, operational, and policy recommendations that can help hotels strengthen employee retention and engagement by fostering fairness, empowerment, and supportive leadership climates. This study integrates relational and motivational antecedents in a single hospitality-focused model, advancing theoretical and practical understanding of employee embeddedness and engagement in emerging economies.