The Job Embeddedness Nomological Network in Tourism: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents, Outcomes, and Boundary Conditions

Abstract

Recent systematic reviews show that one in five job embeddedness studies were conducted in hospitality settings. This meta-analysis offers the first quantitative synthesis of job embeddedness in hospitality. Integrating 120 studies (N = 44,091), this study maps the antecedents, outcomes, and boundary conditions that explain how job embeddedness develops and what it yields in hospitality contexts. The results indicate that organizational factors—including organizational support, distributive justice, and high-performance work practices—exert the strongest influence on job embeddedness, followed by leadership and job-related characteristics. Job embeddedness demonstrates strong positive associations with key attitudinal and behavioral outcomes, including engagement, life satisfaction, and innovative behavior, alongside moderate negative relationships with withdrawal tendencies. Moderator analyses reveal systematic variation by culture, tenure, gender, measurement type, and publication year. By delineating job embeddedness’s nomological network, this study clarifies its key antecedents and consequences and provides an empirical foundation for workforce sustainability research and practice in hospitality.