Exploring Talent Management Strategies and Psychological Contract Fulfillment for Enhancing Employee Engagement in the Middle Eastern Hotel Industry

The hospitality industry faces increasing challenges in retaining employees, enhancing employee engagement, and ensuring long-term organizational sustainability. There is ample quantitative research regarding employee engagement and talent management; however, there is a lack of qualitative evidence demonstrating how employee engagement can be sustained in the Middle East’s hospitality industry through the fulfillment of the psychological contract. This study examines how talent management and the fulfillment of the psychological contract contribute to the employee engagement of hotel organizations within the Middle East. The study was designed with an inductive qualitative methodology based on the Psychological Contract Theory and utilized semi-structured interviews with 37 hotel managers, human resource directors, chief executive officers (CEOs), and general managers of four- and five-star hotels from nine Middle Eastern countries. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis with the support of NVivo software. Participants identified psychological contract fulfillment as a primary relational mechanism supporting employee engagement, organizational commitment, and workforce retention. They identified that organizational support, transparent communication, responsive leadership, development opportunities, and employee-focused HRM practices strengthened trust and organizational commitment. The findings reconceptualize talent management as a relational and psychologically embedded organizational mechanism supporting employee engagement and workforce sustainability.