The influence of employee mental health on sustainable corporate practices among starred hotels: the roles of marketing performance and stress management

Abstract Despite growing recognition of the role of employee well-being in organisational outcomes, limited empirical research has examined how employee mental health covaries with corporate sustainability through marketing performance in the hospitality sector, particularly in emerging economies such as Ghana. Grounded in the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) Model and the Theory of Constraints (TOC), this study addresses this gap by investigating the mediating role of marketing performance and the moderating role of stress management in the relationship between employee mental health and sustainable corporate practices. A cross-sectional quantitative design was employed, drawing data from employees of all eight officially starred hotels in Ghana’s Central Region. At the organisational level, a census approach was adopted by including the entire population of starred hotels in the region. In contrast, at the individual level, respondents were selected using simple random sampling from permanent employee lists to ensure equal probability of selection. Data was collected in two stages to reduce common method bias: the first stage captured employee mental health and stress management measures. In contrast, the second stage (three weeks later) collected marketing performance and sustainability data. Validated measurement scales were used, and the hypothesised mediated moderation relationships were analysed using SmartPLS 4. The findings reveal that employee mental health positively predicts both marketing performance and sustainable corporate practices, with marketing performance partially mediating this relationship and stress management strengthening these effects. The study contributes to theory by extending the JD-R and TOC frameworks to the context of hospitality sustainability. It offers practical guidance for hotel managers to invest in employee well-being and stress management as strategic levers to achieve both competitive and sustainability goals, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 3.