Staff turnover in the Greek tourism industry A comparison between insular and peninsular regions

Purpose - This paper aims to explore the occurrence and implications of staff turnover in the Greek tourism industry as well as looks into the current and future strategies adopted by Greek enterprises for addressing this unavoidable and unpredictable phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach - A survey research instrument was distributed both online as well as through e-mails over a period of four weeks for collecting primary data from a convenience sample of Greek tourism enterprises. This process yielded 63 usable responses. Findings - The findings revealed that the Greek tourism industry faces similar staff turnover impacts that are also found in other countries. Enterprises reported to experience similar staff turnover levels irrespective of their tourism sector, i.e. travel agents, hotels etc.; staff turnover levels were not found to be homogeneous across organizational hierarchical levels; respondents claimed that staff turnover is mainly instigated by factors that are beyond management control and that staff turnover negatively affects service quality levels, costs and time related to staff recruiting and training, while it enhances idea generation. Strategies reported to be used by the respondents for managing staff turnover demonstrate a shift from people retention strategies to knowledge retention strategies. Research limitations/implications - The small number of responses suggests that the findings should be treated with caution. New research approaches for studying staff turnover, such as social network analysis, are recommended for future research. Originality/value - The paper contributes to the international hospitality literature by providing primary data about the level, the type and the consequences of staff turnover in the Greek tourism industry.