Am I choosing the right career? The implications of COVID-19 on the occupational attitudes of hospitality management students

The hospitality industry is under threat from COVID-19 and the possibility of future crises remains very real. To improve understanding of how such a crisis impacts the attractiveness of pursuing a career in the hospitality industry, this study examines the effects of negative emotions invoked by COVID-19 on hospitality management students’ occupational attitudes. Using a sample of 425 students, we find that in addition to diminishing their occupational identification and in turn, job choice intentions, that the effects of these negative emotions are channeled through three salient motivational pathways, namely self-efficacy, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and passion. Thus, the study not only advances theory by providing a more nuanced conceptualization of the effects of negative emotions on occupational attitudes but it identifies important leverage points that can be harnessed to help mitigate the harmful emotional effects of a crisis, such as COVID-19, important and timely contributions that the authors hope will benefit aspiring hospitality industry talent and help restore the attractiveness of careers in the hospitality industry. Future research directions and implications to theory and practice are discussed.     

Attracting and retaining food servers: How internal service quality moderates occupational stigma

This study examines the abilities of internal service quality (ISQ) to moderate occupational stereotype for restaurant food servers. Food servers at restaurants responded to two surveys measuring ISQ and occupational stereotype. It was concluded that ISQ overcomes occupational stereotype to attract and retain food servers in the hospitality industry. This investigation contributes to the hospitality literature and to a better understanding of the world of waiters, especially in reference to employee turnover, employee retention, and motivation to work in the food service industry. This research used an integrative model which may be applied to service sectors outside hospitality.     

A thematic analysis of crisis management in tourism: A theoretical perspective

The hospitality and tourism industry for a variety of reasons is vulnerable to crises of various origins and scope. Thereby, research regarding crises in this industry has received significant attention among scholars. This study presents the results of a qualitative thematic analysis (TA) of the literature concerning crisis management in hospitality and tourism. A total of 207 research publications from 1986 to 2019 were analyzed. The findings revealed eight major themes that emerged in the literature over time. We critically discuss these themes with suggestions and directions for future research in this area. The study also identifies a shortage of scholarly attempt to conceptualize crisis management and thus explores the sensemaking perspective to shed further light on explaining the themes that emerged in the analysis.     

Does cultural value exacerbate or mitigate the effect of perceived compensation gap between locals and expatriates in hotel industry?

Within the expatriation system in the hospitality industry, a large compensation gap exists between expatriates and local employees. Drawing upon equity and social exchange theories, this paper examines the relationship between the perceived reasonableness of the expatriate–local compensation gap and workplace deviance behaviors (organizational and interpersonal). Moreover, the paper discusses the moderating effect of power distance and traditionality as important cultural boundaries in this relationship. Results of a survey among 46 expatriates and 297 local employees in the Chinese hotel industry indicated that the perceived compensation gap is positively related to the organizational and interpersonal deviance of local subordinates. High traditionality mitigates the effect of the compensation gap on deviance. However, contrary to our expectation, high power distance exacerbates such effect. The paper likewise discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.     

Using segmentation to compete in the age of the sharing economy: Testing a core-periphery framework

Airbnb has emerged as a credible competitive threat to the hotel industry. Consequently, hotel brands are having to rethink the experiences they provide to customer in an increasingly competitive environment. Despite these trends in the industry, experience-related research that examines and informs these developments remains under-represented in the hospitality and tourism literature. The present study offers a systematic approach to examine the potential differences in experiential consumption in the accommodations industry. Using a multiple-group analysis approach, it examines the moderating effects of individual characteristics and situational factors on the nature and dynamics of experiential consumption in the accommodations industry. The findings of the study culminate in the core-periphery framework of the hospitality consumption experience that can provide a relevant theoretical lens for future research into the different sectors and types of experiences within the hospitality and tourism industry. The study also outlines important implications for the hotel industry’s strategic experience design initiatives, from the standpoint of product development, the segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) process, and marketing communications.     

The effect of COVID-19 pandemic on domestic tourism: A DEMATEL method analysis on quarantine decisions

Countries' most effective methods to reduce the impact of outbreaks are quarantine the regions during the pandemic periods. Quarantine decisions during a pandemic directly affect the hospitality industry. There is no universal guideline regarding the quarantine decision during a pandemic. There is a gap in the literature on making the right quarantine decisions to decrease the negative effect of a pandemic on the hospitality industry. To fill this gap, this study uses a decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to help countries for quarantine decisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the critical hospitality industry indicators is the inter-regional travel flow between regions for local tourism. Data from the household domestic tourism survey obtained from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) is used to acquire the number of people entering and exiting among regions. This study's findings indicate that Istanbul has an essential impact on Turkey's rest. The results also demonstrate that the DEMATEL method provides convenient solutions for quarantine decisions during a pandemic. The DEMATEL application results concerning the COVID-19 pandemic effect might shed light on the hospitality industry’s prospects and challenges. This study's findings might be adopted to prepare the hospitality industry for the COVID-19 pandemic and similar pandemic.     

Hospitality management graduates’ perceptions of career factor importance and career factor experience

The purpose of this research was to examine the perceived importance and perceived experiences of career factors for hospitality management graduates and to examine differences in perceptions of hospitality graduates who left the hospitality industry with those who stayed. In addition, differences in perceptions between hospitality graduates and hiring managers were examined. Compared to those who had left the industry, hospitality graduates working in the hospitality industry indicated 11 factors were more important to them. Examples of these factors included having a career where graduates use their degree and a career with good promotion prospects. Graduates who left the hospitality industry indicated it was more important to have a career where they could contribute to society as compared to graduates that stayed in the industry. Hiring managers perceived their organizations offered more in a career than the graduates expected or deemed important which contradicts the findings from the graduates.     

Learn from the past and prepare for the future: A critical assessment of crisis management research in hospitality

Given the substantial impact of crisis on the hospitality industry, crisis and crisis management have drawn attention from scholars. While each study makes a significant contribution to the existing knowledge of crisis management in hospitality, the fragmented perspective of each study makes it difficult to identify the key findings and unsolved problems. This paper presents a synthesis and critical assessment of state-of-the-art crisis management research in hospitality. It categorizes articles based on a three-stage framework covering pre-crisis planning, mid-crisis management, and post-crisis recovery. Two main perspectives in the literature are identified: one from hospitality service providers and one from stakeholders. Core research topics and concepts in each stage and perspective are reviewed. In addition, this paper proposes four major directions for future research: crisis management from stakeholders’ perspectives, integrative research, causal and behavioral research, and theoretical enhancement. It discusses the theoretical and practical implications of this study.     

Understanding corporate philanthropy in the hospitality industry

This study makes a unique contribution to the corporate social responsibility literature, both from a theoretical perspective and corporate philanthropy (CP) perspective that has been under-researched so far. Specifically, it extends the investigation of the motives of CP to the hospitality industry in the emerging country of Taiwan and is the first examination of the determinants of CP in the hospitality industry based on the value enhancement (VE) and agency cost (AC) theories. Previous studies found that either AC or VE determinants, not both, play a major role in making philanthropy decisions. This study reveal new and interesting findings using the data from 13 publicly traded hospitality companies in Taiwan collected between 1996 and 2011. Panel regression test results show that both VE determinants (labor intensity and profitability) and AC determinants (board size and the ratio of independent directors to total directors) were found to be significant factors in explaining the discretionary behavior of CP in the hospitality industry. Furthermore, the lagged philanthropy-to-sale ratio was also significantly related to CP decisions in the hospitality industry in Taiwan, suggesting that the behavior of CP in the Taiwanese hospitality industry is persistent. The possible explanation is that changing philanthropy pattern may lead to market-adverse expectations and reactions and damage the reputation of companies.     

State-of-the-art social customer relationship management

The rise of social media challenges the traditional notion of customer relationship management (CRM) and has led to the emergence of social CRM. This study collected and content-analyzed recent literature along the intersection between social media and CRM, to present an overview of the social CRM research in tourism and hospitality. Findings indicate that most studies focus on the context of hotel and restaurant. These studies lack a solid theoretical underpinning and tend to adopt qualitative research methods. Five research themes are identified from supply-focused research, while two themes are observed from demand-focused research. Overall, uneven attention has been paid by researchers in the field, with more emphasis on supply than on demand sides. According to the findings of the literature review, a conceptual framework and a research agenda are presented. Theoretical and practical implications to the tourism and hospitality industry are also discussed.     

Values as determinants of motivation: Tourism and other career choices

Neuman, Yoram, Abraham Pizam and Arie Reichel, Values as Determinants of Motivation: Tourism and Other Career Choices. Annals of Tourism Research 1980, VII (3): 428–442. This study examined the predictive validity of work values in explaining motivational patterns of three groups of career preparation differing in their occupational specificity: Tourism/Hospitality, Management, and Liberal Arts. It was found that the higher the occupational specificity of a career preparation the higher is the predictive validity of work values in explaining work motivations. As predicted, the best relationships between values and motivation was found in the maximally specified occupation, namely: tourism/hospitality students, followed by management students with the liberal arts students — the most flexible occupational group — having the lowest relationship between values and motivation. The implications of the findings for employee selection and motivation prediction in the tourism/hospitality industry are discussed.     

The asset-light business model and firm performance in complex and dynamic environments: The dynamic capabilities view

Although academic research examining the effects of the asset-light business model continues to grow in the tourism and hospitality literature, the extant studies lack comprehensive theoretical foundations to develop and establish clear quantitative models of analysis. Inconsistent findings from these studies call into question the issue of their exploratory nature. Using the dynamic capabilities view, this study provides a solid conceptual framework that recognizes the asset-light business model as an industry-specific dynamic capability for lodging firms. Furthermore, this study extends recent theoretical accounts on the moderating role of environments in the dynamic capabilities-performance relationship by focusing on the service-oriented and cyclical nature of the tourism and hospitality industry. Incorporating industry-specific performance measures, the current study suggests an alternative approach to the analysis of performance of a lodging firm. The findings also provide important implications to help lodging owners, managers, and investors to strategically cope with complex and dynamic environments.     

Influence of institutional economics on firm birth and death: A comparative analysis of hospitality and other industries

This paper investigates how public policies, such as taxes and regulations influence firm formation (birth) and closure (death) in the hospitality and other industries in the United States (US), using an institutional economics approach and the dimensions of the Economic Freedom of North America (EFNA) index. The literature has been scant when it comes to examining the effects of policies of formal institutions on firms’ birth and death in the hospitality industry, and whether these effects in hospitality differ from those of other sectors. The study uses panel data from government sources and the EFNA dimensions and applies cross-sectional dependence and unit root tests, followed by a panel generalized least square approach for the analysis. Our findings show that components of economic freedom have varying effects on firms’ birth and death. The study provides practical contributions for policymakers and managers by improving the understanding of firm births and deaths in the US.     

The failure of ‘control’ in the hospitality industry

This paper explores the relationship between the literature on the issue of control and the realities of the hospitality industry. Management control is related to the unsanctioned entrepreneurial activities of operatives (illustrated by the ‘taxi scam’), the failure of computer systems used to control operatives, and the failure of the hospitality industry to exploit the potential of the new technology. The paper suggests that management's (and a significant part of the literature in this area) failure within hospitality is linked to the perception of the role of the hospitality manager as one of policing the industry.     

Commercial hospitality in tourism: A global comparison of what culturally matters

As the hospitality academy matures it has worked towards bespoke theory development. Emerging literature has attempted to quantify, and develop measurements for, the intangible and situationally variable dimensions of hospitality and/or hospitableness. This paper aims to explore whether the importance tourists place on various aspects of ‘hospitality’ differs according to their culture, using country/region of origin as a proxy. A cross-national survey was conducted across multiple destinations in the Asia-Pacific and Europe. Data captured the importance 2248 tourists placed on 12 facets of hospitality. Results indicate that tourists’ nationality influences the importance they place on all facets of the hospitality experience. The study contributes to theory by advancing our understanding of how different cultures evaluate the importance of the multiple aspects of commercial hospitality. Practically, the study challenges hospitality industry conventions, which standardize rather than personalize guest-host interactions.     

Linkages between creativity and intention to quit: An occupational study of chefs

Human resource issues persist as a vexation for tourism managers. Foodservice is a core component of many tourism destinations and attractions yet the foodservice labour market is historically volatile. This article reports on the findings of a job satisfaction survey of chefs working in Australia's tourism and hospitality industry. This study's aim is to determine empirically whether there is a positive relationship between creativity and job and occupational satisfaction. A customised instrument is designed to mitigate the shortcomings of generalising scale items and findings of generic job satisfaction surveys to a single occupation. This paper focuses on identifying a range of dimensions of job satisfaction and occupational attributes connected to creativity and its associated dimensions. Reliability and data reduction analyses were conducted to validate the construction of composite ‘creativity’ variables for the basis of further comparisons. The findings indicate that the sample ranks creativity more highly than working conditions and that there is a clear relationship between creativity and both organisational and occupational satisfaction. Results vary as a function of gender. In conclusion, theoretical and practical implications for occupational and tourism management are discussed.     

Customer Satisfaction,Training and TQM

Abstract

Managers within the hospitality industry make frequent reference to TQM principles. The extent to which these principles are applied effectively within the human resource management area of hospitality however remains under-researched. By applying TQM principles, this paper focusses on the relationship between customer service and training drawing upon comparative data from Western and Thai hotels. The paper also examines the perceptions of staff towards of hotels' guest-orientation and the provision of quality guest services. The researchers found that guest assessments of the performance of hotel frontline staff depend on their services function (e.g., front-office, housekeeping). The service quality skills needed by frontline staff were also found to differ in the case of Western and Thai hotels. Such differences merit proper consideration on the part of managers within the major hotel chains. The various findings may assist hospitality managers to determine appropriate strategies for the enhancement of guest services particularly in cross-cultural settings.     

The Hospitality Culture Scale: A measure organizational culture and personal attributes

The hospitality industry has a unique and specific culture when compared to other industries. Because of this, not everyone will want to make this industry a career, as evidenced by the high turnover. Yet, the hospitality industry needs to attract and keep motivated and dedicated employees. This study set out to discover attributes that are unique to hospitality organizations as well as the characteristics and values of a person who would be successful in a work environment that exhibited this culture. This includes determining if a person is a match to the culture of the hospitality industry. In order to identify the variables of hospitality culture, an extensive review of the literature and a panel of industry experts were consulted. The items identified from both groups were used to establish the constructs for a scale, which is called the Hospitality Culture Scale. Seven hundred and forty one hospitality professionals rated the attributes. Principal component analysis determined the final factors for the organizational culture and personal attributes. These constructs included: management principles, customer relationships, job variety, job satisfaction, principles, propitiousness, leadership, risk taker, accuracy, and composure.     

Deal characteristics and M&A performance: How do hospitality firms fare?

The global hospitality industry has experienced significant consolidation in the past several decades. While evidence in the general business literature suggests that the target firm shareholders gain instead of the acquiring firm shareholders, some studies in the hospitality industry have suggested that mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are also beneficial to acquiring firms. Using a comparative study design and a comprehensive sample over 41 years, we empirically examine whether M&As create more value in the hospitality industry than in other industries and whether certain deal characteristics may explain the potential performance differential. Overall, we find that M&As in the hospitality industry outperform M&As in non-hospitality sectors. When examining deal attributes, we find that relative size of target, cash method of payment, and an unlisted target are characteristics positively related to merger performance and help explain some of the performance differential. We contribute theoretically and empirically to the literature by demonstrating that industry and deal effects play an important role in M&A performance.     

The repercussions and challenges of COVID-19 in the hotel industry: Potential strategies from a case study of Indonesia

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the tourism and hospitality sector hard. Hotel managers face uncertainty in this environment in order to survive. This study explores the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry, particularly hotels in Indonesia, one of the largest developing countries. It examines the challenges faced by hotel managers and the strategies used to survive. Through the lens of complexity theory, we discuss whether the strategies being deployed are beneficial, redundant, or detrimental for hospitality businesses. Based on semi-structured interviews with 13 hotel managers in Jakarta, Bandung, and Bali, the findings shed light on the various challenges to hotels. We also highlight which challenges could turn into opportunities. The findings show that the strategies that managers are deploying could be detrimental in the future. Potential future research directions are also discussed.