Job Satisfaction,Organizational Commitment,and Internal Service Quality

Abstract

The purpose of this study, was to create a case study in employee attitudes on job satisfaction, in a major Las Vegas, Nevada hotel/casino. To accomplish this, the authors specifically investigated the discrete level of their job satisfaction, internal service quality, and organizational commitment. They also explored the overall impact of job satisfaction and internal service quality on employee organizational commitment. Currently there is no reported research on the simultaneous examination of these three variables. The results of this study have practical applications given the size and the nature of the casino business, in which a large number of employees may be assembled in a single location, and where employees may move easily from one property to another.     

The Impact of Employee Training on Job Satisfaction and Intention to Stay in the Hotel Industry

ABSTRACT

Training has been found to link with improving job satisfaction and employee intention to stay. The purposes of this research were to investigate the expectations and perceptions of training quality between hotel managers and employees, and to suggest implications for improving training quality and increasing training satisfaction, job satisfaction, and intention to stay among employees in the hotel industry. The conceptual model of this study was developed based on SERVQUAL and the ServiceProfit Chain model. T-test showed that employees perceived low training quality, which suggested employees were not satisfied with training quality and that training quality needed improvement. Results of regression analysis showed that training was positively related to training satisfaction and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction led positively to intention to stay. The indirect effect of training quality on intention to stay was mediated by job satisfaction. This study suggests more understanding of the importance of training quality and its consequences, and to pay more attention to employee training.     

An Empirical Study of the Effect of Customer Participation on Service Quality

Abstract

Using 185 completed surveys from hotel customers in Tianjin, China, the authors conducted a multiple regression analysis of the effects of information collection, participation in service design and standard build-up, interaction with employees, and “word of mouth” communication with hotel customers. It was found that these four dimensions of customer participation had a direct relationship with service quality.     

Job standardization and service quality: The mediating role of prosocial service behaviors

Service quality has been recognized as a major topic in the tourism and hospitality industry. Although previous literature has examined the relationship between job standardization and service quality, the mechanism underlying this relationship remains a black box. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between job standardization and service quality, and to clarify the role of prosocial service behaviors. Survey data from 336 customer-contact employees and 404 customers in Taiwan indicate that job standardization positively affects role-prescribed service behavior and extra-role service behavior of customer-contact employees, in addition to the service-quality perception of their customers. Extra-role service behavior also positively affects service quality. By contrast, the effect of role-prescribed service behavior on service quality is not significant. In addition, prosocial service behaviors mediate the relationship between job standardization and service quality. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed in this study.     

Perceptions of restaurant employees in Asia Pacific on sexual harassment in the hospitality industry

A major issue facing all of the hospitality industry is that of sexual harassment and the explosion of the number of sexual harassment lawsuits being filed. According to the National Restaurant Industry (U.S.) in 1998, in certain states there are more sexual harassment lawsuits than slip and fall cases filed within the restaurant industry. With the cost of litigation and the dollar amount of settlements both increasing substantially, it is with a pro‐active view to look at the perspective of sexual harassment by restaurant employees. The purpose of this study was to measure the perceptions and attitudes of service personnel, specifically restaurant employees in Hawaii on sexual harassment.     

Hourly Employee Retention Factors in the Quick Service Restaurant Industry

Abstract

Hourly employee retention in the quick service restaurant industry has long been a major area of concern for both operators and multi-unit restaurant decision makers. While numerous studies concentrated on managers' perceptions on why employees leave, few have explored the employees' perceptions on employment characteristics that kept them from changing jobs. The study employed a self-administered questionnaire and asked 233 quick service restaurant employees in the Midwestern region of the United States to rate the importance of and their experience with 20 employment characteristics of their job. The findings revealed that the most important employment characteristics were nice people to work with, humane approach to employees, and hourly wages. In addition, the study showed statistically significant differences between the level of importance and the level of experience attached to 18 out of 20 employment characteristics, which could explain the high turnover and low retention of employees in the industry. Implications for management are discussed.     

Relationship Management

Abstract

Total quality management (TQM) is an organizational culture that emphasizes internal integration at the same time that it demands innovation in the marketplace. TQM effectively integrates the internal and external activities of an organization. In business to business marketing, the role of relationship management is to bridge internal quality management with external quality management. In a hotel, the convention services manager must be sure that the promises made by external marketing activities can be fulfilled through interactive marketing activities. Internal marketing processes which enable employees to fulfill marketing promises are an equally important part of the service quality equation.     

Entrepreneurial Characteristics,Motives, and Business Challenges: Exploratory Study of Small- and Medium-Sized Hotel Businesses

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to gather information about the determinants and characteristics of the owners/managers of small- and medium-sized hotels (SMSHs) and identify various issues in starting up and operating businesses in the United Arab Emirates. The results of this study reveal that the majority of the owners/managers of SMSHs in the United Arab Emirates are male, young and middle age, and relatively new to the tourism industry. The motivations for the business ventures of the entrepreneurs include wanting to be financially independent, become one’s own boss, involvement in family business and the opportunities of the hotel business. Among the key business challenges highlighted by the owners/managers of SMSHs are stiff competition in the hotel industry, increased operating costs, reduced demand, and lack of skilled employees. Several key strategies have been employed to face these challenges. These include offering competitive pricing, improving the marketing and channels of promotion, enhancing the quality of service and providing superior customer service.     

The development of an evaluation scale for B2B service quality: The case of the Korean convention industry

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop scale dimensions for evaluating professional convention organizers (PCOs) from the perspective of conference hosts. Based on a literature review of B2B service quality and convention service quality, and in-depth interviews with host organizers in the Korean convention industry, five quality dimensions were identified: potential, process, personal, technical, and outcome qualities. The reliability and validity of the five dimensions were verified using empirical data. The results show that service quality between PCOs and hosts should be considered to be a holistic experience rather than a set of separate factors as discussed in previous studies. This paper also contributes by proposing that the five scales serve as a managerial tool for PCOs to evaluate their own performance and as criteria for hosts to develop effective business relationships with service providers.     

How servant leadership and self-efficacy interact to affect service quality in the hospitality industry: A polynomial regression with response surface analysis

This paper aimed to investigate how perceived servant leadership and employees' self-efficacy interact with each other to affect employees' service quality in the hospitality industry. We methodologically employed polynomial regression equation with response surface analysis. There were two studies in this paper. The data of the first study were obtained from front-line employees at a restaurant chain. A total of 673 employees provided valid data. The data of the second study were collected from front-line employees at five-star hotels. The sample consisted of 317 participants. Both studies yielded similar patterns and results. It was demonstrated that self-efficacy moderates the relationship between servant leadership and service quality, and employees' service quality was higher when both perceived level of servant leadership and self-efficacy were higher. The resulted also showed that the larger the difference between perceived level of servant leadership and self-efficacy, the higher employees' service quality.     

An Application of the Critical Incident Technique in Gaming Research

Abstract

This paper discusses using the critical incident technique (CIT) to identify perceptual gaps in service quality in the gaming environment. The qualitative nature of the CIT allowed the gathering of detailed perceptions of service quality that could not have been captured using a more quantitatively focused survey. The incident classification scheme of Bitner et al. (1990) was extended with the addition of supplementary categories specific to gaming. The findings indicate the need to consider aspects of service successes and failures in the gaming industry as unique compared with traditional services and to develop specific approaches to enhance gaming service quality.     

Skills and Competencies Needed for the Hong Kong Hotel Industry

ABSTRACT

The tourism industry is one of the main sources of income to Hong Kong. If qualified employees provide better service, Hong Kong can potentially attract even more visitors. The training of new recruits and existing staff is therefore vital, but views on the value and the type of training vary amongst the stakeholders. This study of the views of hotel human resources managers revealed that they considered that people who were interested in developing their career in the hospitality industry must be prepared to start at the bottom. The hotel human resources managers strongly believe that employees must have a positive service-mind and commitment to the industry with a certain degree of working experience. Employers perceived these were important components to success for every member of staff, rather than having a good educational background. Such qualifications will raise the status of the hotel industry in general and enhance the status of the service providers as professionals.     

Analyzing Hotel Customers' E-Complaints from an Internet Complaint Forum

SUMMARY

Recent web technology advancement has enabled online customers to express their concerns and negative experiences about the hotel services over the Internet. This exploratory study attempts to provide some insights into this recent phenomenon by analyzing self-selected hotel customers' online complaints recorded on a specialized complaint forum, eComplaints.com. A content analysis of those e-Complaints in 18 problem categories revealed that online customers were mostly unhappy with fundamental service failures (i.e., declined service quality and rude employees) in the hotel service encounter. Surprisingly, only one in every five e-Complaints received a response from the hotel company in the identified top-five complaint categories. The authors further used text-mining software to identify most frequently complained keywords and examine their relational associations. Business implications of the research findings were also discussed.     

The Effect of Length of Stay on Travelers' Perceived Satisfaction with Service Quality

SUMMARY

Consumer satisfaction related to service quality during the vacation experience is of paramount importance to the travel and tourism industry. This study tests empirically the effects the number of nights spent on a vacation have on the levels of satisfaction recent travelers report for three service aspects of the travel destination: perceived satisfaction with tourism service providers; perceived “freedom from defects” of tourism services; and perceived reasonableness of the cost of tourism services. Differentiation in satisfaction scores between “short-term visitors” (i.e., those who stayed from one to six nights) and “long-term visitors” (i.e., those who stayed seven or more nights) were examined. Significant differences between the two groups of visitors were present for (1) perceived satisfaction with industry professionals delivering the service experience at the travel destination, (2) perceived satisfaction with “freedom from defects” of the actual services at the destination, and (3) perceived reasonableness of the cost of services at the travel destination. Suggestions for how tourism industry professionals can make use of this information are presented.     

The effect of psychological empowerment climate on restaurant food safety,food quality,and financial performance

ABSTRACT

Consumer food safety incidences that result from employee accidents and behaviors can be detrimental and costly to a restaurant organization. Restaurant organizations and hospitality researchers have sought multiple methods of increasing food safety performance through training and intervention, but this study suggests that shared agreement of psychological empowerment may be a key factor in improving food safety performance, and in turn, food quality and store revenues. Using data from a national chain of quick service restaurants, this study used groups of restaurant employees’ psychological empowerment as an antecedent to food safety performance, measured in a food safety audit, and found significant support. Moreover, using consumer evaluations of food quality and the organization's store revenue records, indirect and direct relationships among psychological empowerment, food safety performance, food quality, and revenues were found. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Hospitality,Tourism, and Lifestyle Concepts

ABSTRACT

This article provides an overview of the significance of the lifestyle concept for the management of service quality and customer satisfaction in the hospitality and tourism industry. It discusses aspects of its continuing evolution and outlines the contents of articles relevant to this volume, providing a brief summary of the articles collected. It concludes by identifying a number of opportunities for further research into hospitality and tourism lifestyle concepts.     

The U.K. Conference and Meetings Industry

Abstract

During the last ten years, the U.K. meetings industry has developed rapidly. Regard for the industry and competition amongst venues is growing. The industry is attracting increasing levels of attention, while an intensified incidence of venues other than hotels are competing within this sector. This progressive expansion of demand experienced by the industry heightens the importance of the quality provision for customers when differentiating between venues. The ultimate aim of the research is to determine whether gaps exist between the attributes employed to assess the quality and desirability of a U.K. conference venue-firstly by conference organizers and conference delegates and secondly between their perceptions and the characteristics of the product provided. This paper presents an approach to the development of a research instrument to measure and compare an inventory of service quality attributes as perceived by meetings organizers and delegates.     

The Effect of Trust on Quality in the Culturally Diverse Tourism Industry

Abstract

Tourism can be interpreted as a system of different companies, which are often situated in different regional, geographical, political, economic and cultural backgrounds. Because of the tense interaction between customers and employees in tourism firms, understanding of the system plays a significant role to establish a high service quality. Furthermore customers have to offer trust to tourism firms, since the tourism product is characterized by high intangibility before consumption. Additionally trust building is hampered due to the diversity of people in tourism and the different firms in tourism, which have to cooperate. This paper analyzes trust building in tourism and presents strategies to improve trust.     

Study on the Degree of Importance of Convention Service Factors

ABSTRACT

As customers come to understand that service is one of the most important industry products, identifying customer needs and providing what they want will be essential to a successful approach in service-related industries. In consideration of the increased importance of service in the convention industry, this article identifies convention service factors and provides statistical analysis based on data from the actual industry. The results of this research will enhance an understanding of the factors used by customers to evaluate the quality of convention service and help planners improve their performance in the planning of conventions.