Effects of a partial smoking ban on employees' post-implementation perceptions and job satisfaction in cafes vs. restaurants in Croatia

Purpose – While a large body of literature has sought to determine whether smoking bans help or hinder the tourism and hospitality sectors, the corpus of research literature in this area has centered on localities with a blanket ban on smoking including all hospitality workplaces. Much less is known about the effects of smoking bans in areas where bar smoking is partially allowed while smoking in enclosed restaurants is illegal. Hoping to assist in filling this void, this research empirically compares cafés and restaurants in terms of employees’ attitudes, demographics, work-related variables (WRV), and job satisfaction after the introduction of a partial smoke-free legislation in Croatia. Methodology – A two-page anonymous self-administered questionnaire written in Croatian was administered to 149 café and 37 restaurant employees in Croatia’s second largest city (Split). Statistical methods include frequency analysis, Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests, and Binary logistic regression. Findings – Results reveal some differences and similarities between café and restaurant employees in terms of their attitudes, demographics, WRV, and job satisfaction. Practical implications and opportunities for future research are further discussed. Contribution – While Croatia has a total smoke-ban in enclosed restaurants, it allows smoking in cafés with proper ventilation (cafés with areas up to 50m2) or those with separately ventilated smoking rooms (cafés with areas greater than 50m2). Given Croatia’s unique smoking legislation, this research offers important policy implications in Croatia and elsewhere by providing valuable yet underresearched insights into the effects of a partial smoking ban on café and restaurant staff.