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The main aim of the present research is to investigate the role of sense of calling (SOC) in the relationships between human resource practices (HRP), turnover intention (TI) and employee satisfaction (ES) in the hotel industry. Moreover, it also examines whether the relationships between these variables are different for city and resort hotel employees.

Quantitative research was employed to test the proposed hypotheses, and the survey technique was used to collect data. The participants of the research consist of 432 hotel employees who work in Antalya, Turkey. The hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM) analyses.

The results of the analysis have shown that SOC significantly impacts the ES and TI, and HRP could be a new antecedent of SOC. On the other hand, while ES is positively affected by HRP, the SOC has a moderating role in the relationship between these variables.

Hotel authorities' understanding of the SOC’s role in employee attitudes and behavior would be a significant factor not only in retaining them but also in reducing employee turnover. They should consider increasing employees' SOC by focusing on HRP.

Besides being one of the few studies that have discussed SOC in the hospitality literature, the current study also contributes by examining the role of SOC in the relationships between HRP, ES and TI. It also adds value to the calling literature by revealing whether the relationship between these variables differs for city and resort hotel employees.

This study aims to explore the impact of board size, board gender diversity and federation age on the likelihood of having a female chair in National Sports Federations (NSF).

A quantitative methodology compares 300 sports boards in five countries (Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the UK), using data collected from NSF’s websites.

The board size and federation age have no significant impact on having a female board chair when the countries and the percentage of female directors are included in the model. When the number of women is measured in absolute value rather than in relative terms, the only variable that predicts a woman chair is the country. When the model does not include country differences, the percentage of female directors is key in predicting a chairwoman, and when the number of women is used as a variable instead of the percentage, a board’s smaller size increases the odds of having a chairwoman.

There are some limitations to this study which we believe provide useful directions for future research. Firstly, the authors have not considered the role of gender typing in sports activities which explains the extent that women participate in specific sports (Sobal and Milgrim, 2019) and the related perception of such sports in society. The social representation of sports activities classified as masculine, feminine or gender-neutral can hypothetically influence women’s access to that specific federations’s leadership. The authors included the country factor only partially, as a control variable, as the social representation of sports usually goes beyond national boundaries.

This study has implications for sport policymakers and stakeholders, and for institutions such as the IOC or the European Union that implement equality policies. If the aim is to increase female presence in the highest position of a sports board and to achieve gender equality more generally, other policies need to be implemented alongside gender quotas for the sports boards, namely, those specifically related to the recruitment and selection of the sports board chairs (Mikkonen et al., 2021). For example, given the implications of critical mass and its ability to increase more female’s engagement then the role of existing chairs acting as mentors and taking initiative in this objective may be warranted. Furthermore, attention should be paid to the existing gender portfolio of each board and its subsequent influence on recruiting a female chair, regardless of the organization’s age. Knoppers et al. (2021) concluded that resistance to gender balance by board members is often related to discriminatory discourses against women. The normalization of the discourses of meritocracy, neoliberalism, silence/passivity about the responsibility of structures and an artificial defence of diversity emphasise that equality should not only be determined by women (Knoppers et al., 2021).

When countries are included in the model, the results suggest that the social representation of a female board member is different from that of a female board chair.

The originality of the study is that it shows the factors that constrain women taking up a chair position on NSFs. Theoretically, it contributes to existing literature by demonstrating how a critical mass of females on boards may also extend to the higher and most powerful position of chair.