Sustainability awareness,management practices and organisational culture in hotels: Evidence from developing countries

The subject of sustainability and it its management in the hotel context is somewhat volatile with varied evidence in support of different viewpoints. This study, adopting Situated Cognition (SC), explores the role of organisational culture in sustainability practice and awareness among hotel practitioners. The findings from this study reveal that management practice of sustainability has strong relationship with both organisational culture and employees’ sustainability awareness. However, organisational culture only mediates the relationship between sustainability awareness and management on country to country basis. The study recommends that owner-managers need to realise the importance of building up a robust organisational culture particularly in support of their sustainability management and empowerment of their staff.     

Knowledge transfer effects of clustering in dual configuration MNEs

‘Clustering’ is widely held to positively influence workgroup identity, which in turn, is widely held to positively affect knowledge sharing behaviours and outcomes for an organisation. This paper does not dispute these findings, indeed in many ways, it supports them but it also opens an anomaly, or contradiction to the mainstream perceptions in terms of the value that a strong cluster identity may produce for organisational knowledge sharing. Situated within a hospitality multinational hotel company, the research finds that where hotels are clustered, organisational identity becomes second to cluster identity. Cluster identity is therefore seen to drive an institutional deficiency whereby organisational knowledge in terms of innovative or value added knowledge is most unlikely to be shared with the organisation even where defined knowledge management strategies exist. Drawing data from 32 interviews with managers, this paper enriches understanding of organisational learning by introducing the role of ‘cluster identity’ in a dual configuration multinational hotel organisation.     

Hotels' environmental policies and employee personal environmental beliefs: Interactions and outcomes

Recent trends in green consumerism are leading the hotel industry to assume corporate social responsibility that may place the industry at the forefront of green innovation. Research reveals that adopting green practices is beneficial for the hotel and tourism industry. Nonetheless, a corporation's success in adopting green practices depends not only on corporate attitudes towards environmental issues but also on its employees' personal beliefs and everyday actions. This study fills the gap in existing research by adopting the concept of a “green organisational climate” and using personal belief variables to explore the contextual and individual variation in hotel employees' environmental behaviour. The results from two-level linear hierarchical models (HLM) show that individual- and group-level factors are significantly associated with the employees' environmental beliefs and behaviour. In other words, personal environmental norms explain within-hotel variance, but green organisational climates explain between-hotel variance and moderate the effect of personal environmental norms on employees' environmental behaviour. Greater emphasis on intense corporate engagement in incorporating environmental policies, human resources management and provision of environmental education for employees should be introduced and implemented.     

The determinants of hotels' marketing managers' green marketing behaviour

Little is known about the factors underlying the pro-environmental behaviour of marketing managers. This paper explores the determinants of green marketing practices in the Red Sea hotel sector in Egypt. The research model assesses green marketing practices against the personal and organisational values of the marketing managers, together with a range of organisational and demographic variables expected to influence hotels' environmental behaviour. From a valid sample of 89 marketing managers responsible for 194 hotels, it was found that organisational contextual variables, and in particular targeting Western tourists, being affiliated to an international hotel chain and the marketers' own demographics, including age, academic subject studied and gender, were the best predictors of more proactive green marketing. Personal environmental values did not explain the pro-environmental behaviour of marketers, and the organisational environmental values that had explained part of their ethical behaviour had resulted from voluntarism rather than utilitarian or conformance-based values. Government policies also appeared to be ineffective determinants. The implications for green marketing practices are also discussed.     

Quality clusters: Dimensions of email responses by luxury hotels

A growing body of research investigates hospitality Internet use, but usually focuses on websites rather than the most popular Internet application, email. This study uses cluster analysis and the SERVQUAL-P service quality (SQ) model to help address gaps in both academic and applied research of email use in the hospitality industry. The cluster analysis of email responses to a mystery guest survey by luxury hotels identified four hotel clusters. The clusters showed significant differences across all 24 email response variables and support four dimensions of email SQ corresponding to SERVQUAL-P's four dimensions.     

Hotels in contexts of uncertainty: Measuring organisational resilience

The tourism industry faces multiple changes (economic crises, climate change, technology innovation…). Because of this vulnerability, as evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the study of hotel resilience is a key issue for the survival and competitiveness of organisations and destinations. Therefore, this paper proposes a holistic model to measure organisational resilience. To that end, it aims to analyse the determinants of organisational resilience, i.e. predictors of resilience (strategy and change), and to assess how they contribute to hotel resilience and performance. Firstly, the hotel context in the Canary Islands is examined to identify the level of impact, frequency and predictability of each type of change. Secondly, scales development and validation were conducted. Finally, the proposed model is validated. Findings confirm that the strategy and change dimensions have a considerable effect on hotel resilience, which positively influences hotel performance. Discussion provides hotel managers with guidelines to improve organisational resilience and performance.     

Barriers affecting organisational adoption of higher order customer engagement in tourism service interactions

In this study, consumer engagement was examined from a service-dominant logic perspective in tourism service interactions. Extensive field interviews and focus groups in the context of three upscale hotels in Hong Kong identified numerous barriers towards successfully engaging consumers, extending from consumer, technological, and strategic cases to organisational cases. In all, a firm's overall strategy, organisational structure and culture are the most important barriers determining whether consumer engagement as depicted in the literature can be successfully deployed within hotel organisations. Implications call for a more intensive study of engaging consumers from an organisational context with a reassessment of progressive stages that include leadership interventions and the incorporation of consumer feedback at all stages of the firm's value-creating network.     

The effects of mentoring on role stress,job attitude,and turnover intention in the hotel industry

In response to a dearth of mentoring studies in the hospitality literature, this study develops and tests a research model to investigate the influence of mentoring functions on role stress, job attitude, and turnover intention in the hotel industry. The data were collected from employees who had experienced mentoring programs at super-deluxe hotels in South Korea. This study conceptualized mentoring activity as having three main functions, including career development, psychosocial support, and role modeling. Structural equation model (SEM) analyses were used to explore the statistical significance of the paths between these functions and the main outcome variables. The psychosocial support function showed a significant relationship with all variables in the model (i.e., a positive effect on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, but a negative effect on role conflict, role ambiguity, and turnover intention). The relationships were not significant between the career development function and role ambiguity, between role modeling and role ambiguity, or between role ambiguity and turnover intention. The results will enable a better understanding of the effects of hotel mentoring programs and indicate directions for improving their outcomes. The findings can help hotel managers in developing more effective mentoring programs.     

Ethical contexts and employee job responses in the hotel industry: The roles of work values and perceived organizational support

The hotel industry faces continual ethical dilemmas that present important, interesting and complex challenges. This study had two objectives. The first was to investigate the relationship between ethical context and job satisfaction and to examine the moderating role of work values and the mediating role of perceived organizational support in the relationship between ethical context and job satisfaction. The second objective was to examine the influence of these same variables on turnover intention. A survey of Taiwanese hotel employees showed that ethical context was a significant predictor of job satisfaction and turnover intention and that work values and perceived organizational support moderate and mediate respectively the relationship between an ethical context and job responses. These data suggested ways by which hotels can deal with ethical context, perceived organizational support, and employee work values to increase job satisfaction and decrease the turnover intention of employees.     

Investigating emotional commitment towards a region and a hotel brand

This study examines emotional commitment, brand identification and place attachment’s role in hotel brand loyalty and subsequent behavioral intentions. Data for the study stemmed from 823 quantitative and qualitative responses to an online questionnaire by Finnish customers of a Finnish hotel chain. K-Means cluster analysis identified three customer commitment levels, which along with qualitative comments enhance understanding emotional commitment and its role in hotel brand loyalty. A specific place, Lapland, in the hotel’s brand name helps extend place attachment and introduce the concept of brand identification with Lapland’s geographic region. The customer cluster most emotionally committed to the hotel brand also reported the strongest commitment to the Lapland region.     

Determining factors in entry choice for international expansion. The case of the Spanish hotel industry

The hotel sector, as a service industry where it is possible to separate capital investment from management skills, is a clear example of how internationalisation can be modelled without shareholding involvement through foreign direct investment. This paper is an empirical examination of the key factors influencing the decision process carried out by Spanish hotel companies in choosing an entry mode for international expansion. The main objective is to verify whether the concepts derived from the transaction-cost, agency and the strategic theories of organisational capability and knowledge in companies can really explain the mode of foreign expansion employed by the Spanish hotel sector. This study will allow comparison of findings on holiday resort hotel chains with other analyses on the international hotel industry.     

A Factor−Cluster Approach to Understanding Hong Kong Hotel Employees' Symptom-management-related Coping Behavior Towards Job Stress

Job stress is widespread within the hotel industry, given its people-orientation and long working hours. This study used a factor?cluster approach to investigate how hotel employees cope with job stress. Cluster analysis identified distinct groups within the sample, and the relationships between demographic factors and coping behavior were then examined. Exploratory qualitative in-depth interviews were used to develop an instrument for measuring job stress and coping behavior, after which a survey was conducted to discover the underlying dimensions and types of those behavior. One hundred and eighty-five staff from 15 hotels in Hong Kong responded to the questionnaire. Factor analysis identified four types of coping behavior: (1) organizational initiatives, (2) sharing with people, (3) personal behavior, and (4) emotional release. Several demographic factors showed significant correlations with some of these four types of behavior. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct groups: (1) aggressive reactors, (2) medium reactors, and (3) mild reactors. Aggressive reactors were found to score higher than mild reactors for all types of coping behavior. However, no significant correlations were found between the demographic variables and the three clusters. The implications of the study for hotel owners and managers are discussed.     

Clusters of topics and research designs in peer-to-peer accommodation platforms

This article is a literature review exploring academic papers focused on peer-to-peer accommodation platforms (P2P APs). The sample includes 189 published works indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, identified using 72 queries. The research question underlying the study is centered on clusters of topics and their research designs. Using a cross-citation approach, nine clusters are identified, and a research map is proposed structured around six blocks. These include i) conceptual papers analyzing the sharing economy (cluster 1); ii) demand-side papers based on the consumer behavior approach (cluster 2); iii) host papers exploring spatial patterns (cluster 3) and researching determinants of performance (cluster 4); iv) host-guest relationships, based on Airbnb (cluster 5) and on noncommercial platforms (cluster 9); v) social impact of P2P APs (cluster 6), and vi) effects generated on hotels, including economic impact (cluster 7) and comparison of Airbnb and hotel strategies (cluster 8).     

The Relationship Between Demographic Characteristics and Socialization Outcomes Among New Employees in Hong Kong Hotels

Abstract

High turnover among new hotel employees has become a major concern for Hong Kong hotel managers. Previous studies have shown that the demographic characteristics of employees are related to their subsequent behavior and attitude. However, there is little vigorous discussion on new employees in particular. This study examines the relationship between the demographic characteristics of new employees and their socialization outcomes in the Hong Kong hotel industry. Its findings show that there are significant differences between the effects of certain demographic characteristics on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Some recommendations for maintaining new employees' productivity and minimizing turnover intentions are made for hotel managers' consideration.     

Exploring the antecedents of intentions to leave the job: The case of luxury hotel staff

The aim of this study is to assess the antecedents of employee’ intentions to resign from their jobs in luxury hotels in India. Two aspects are considered in this context: firstly, the employees’ enthusiasm for the profession and organisation, the nature of the work and its impact on social and family life. Secondly, their level of satisfaction with the job in terms of organisational loyalty, relationship with supervisors, job security, earnings and additional benefits. A theoretical model (see Fig. 1) and seven hypotheses are tested to indicate whether the employees’ level of agreement with statements about the job and their level of satisfaction with the job will impact their intentions to quit. The study further examines if any current employees intend to leave their job. The term luxury hotel is used to represent 5 star and 4 star hotels of India.Findings from the analyses of 884 responses suggest that, when considering intentions to resign from the job, a negative relationship is found between professional and organisational enthusiasm and perceptions about the work being stimulating. No support was found for a positive relationship between the extent work impacted social and family life and the intention to quit. However, results supported the notion that the employee's organisational loyalty has a negative effect on his/her intention to resign from the job. Our findings contradict several other studies in that they suggest the employee's intention to resign from the job increases as job security and earnings improve. The study is distinctive as it explores intentions luxury hotel employees in India to leave their jobs; three is little evidence in the wider literature of similar attempts in the context of the Indian hotel industry. The outcomes have implications for both theory and practice as this is the first such major study in the context of the hotel industry in India where there is a population of over a billion people and an expanding hotel industry.     

The respected manager… the organisational social capital developer

While ‘labour cost management’ is the main reason for the significant use of contingent labour in hotels, it needs to be managed differently from full-time labour. This research sets out to identify who, in a hotel context, manages the organisation's contingent labour, their managerial style and associated challenges. Results indicate that it is middle managers who are responsible for this workforce (the majority of hotels’ employees), with themselves usually being the least experienced managers in the hotel. The major challenge for managers is the continual labour turnover and the pressure to choose between a rationalistic or humanistic managerial approach, with an implied bias to that of rationalism. However, the most successful manager (defined in this research as the ‘respected manager’) uses a humanistic managerial approach with elements of rationalism, one which encourages the development of organisational social capital. Yet, humanism struggles to fit into rational, system-based organisations like hotels, and is often so stressful for managers taking this approach that it leads to the manager resigning.     

Effect of hotel employees’ workplace friendship on workplace deviance behaviour: Moderating role of organisational identification

This study aims to explore the effect of friendships at workplaces (including friendship opportunities and friendship prevalence) on the workplace deviance behaviour (including production deviance, political deviance, property deviance, and personal aggression). This study included an examination of organisational identification for moderating relationships. The surveyees were employees and supervisors in five-star hotels in Taiwan who were willing to cooperate with the survey; each supervisor managed ten employees. A purposive sampling method, a non-probability sampling method, was employed. A total of 600 employee questionnaires were distributed, and the number of valid questionnaires was 357. The results reveal the following: (1) the friendship opportunities and friendship prevalence of hotel employees negatively influenced production deviance and (2) friendship prevalence of hotel employees negatively influenced political deviance, property deviance, and personal aggression. Moreover, organisational identification moderates the relationship between hotel employees’ workplace friendship and deviance behaviour. Management implications and follow-up suggestions are proposed based on the study results.     

Justice perceptions and drives of hotel employee social loafing behavior

Justice perceptions, justice-related satisfaction, employee commitment, and turnover intention are several positive or negative factors influencing employee social loafing behavior. This study analyzed the relationships between these variables in the context of China's hotel industry. A total of 585 valid responses were collected from employees within different departments at 43 hotels in mainland China. Lisrel 8.80 software was used to test structural equation models and hypotheses in this study. Results show that employee commitment is an important mediator, while turnover intention is the main drive of employee social loafing behavior, and justice-related satisfaction significantly influences employee commitment. Findings of this study can be instructive to hotel managers to improve service quality and guests’ satisfaction with hotels.     

Management of the change process in hotel companies: An investigation at unit level

The management of change has become an organisational necessity in the 1990s and will continue to be a major factor in the management of hotel companies in the future. This article investigates and evaluates management of the change process at unit level in hotel firms. The data was gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews with ten hotel managers in the UK. Lewin's three-stage model was found to be of limited use in practice. A five-stage model of the change process emerges from the research findings. This model reflects a more practical view of the management of change as an on-going, continuous process. Finally, the limitations of the research are discussed and further research areas identified.     

Work-Family conflict and turnover intentions: A study comparing China and U.S. hotel employees

Employee turnover continues to be a major problem within the hotel industry. This survey-based study examined the relationship between work-family conflict and turnover intentions among hotel employees in both China and the U.S., with an additional emphasis on female employees. While the results do confirm that work-family conflict is positively related with turnover intentions, work-family conflict is more strongly related to turnover intentions among males than females. The relationship is also stronger in Chinese hotel female employees than their U.S. counterparts. Results demonstrated that neither marital status nor parenthood influences the relationship between work-family conflict and turnover intentions among hotel female employees. Management implications and future research directions are provided.