Investigating the moderating effects of service climate on personality,motivation, social support,and performance among flight attendants

As service work becomes more complex and diversified, proactive behaviors become even more critical as determinants of organizational success. This study investigates the moderated mediation and three-way interaction effects that exist in the relationship between the variables ‘proactive personality’ and ‘service performance’. A self-administered questionnaire collected data from 205 flight attendants. Using hierarchical regression analysis, the results show that the relationship between ‘proactive personality’ and ‘service performance’ is moderated by other variables, namely ‘social support’ and ‘service climate’. Another variable ‘intrinsic motivation’ is found to be important when a low ‘service climate’ would otherwise inhibit service performance. The implications of the research findings are provided and discussed.     

Paradoxical leadership and hospitality employees’ service performance: The role of leader identification and need for cognitive closure

Based on the social identity theory, this study examined the relationship between paradoxical leadership and employees’ service performance in the hospitality industry. Data were collected from a multisource, time-lagged survey of 72 leaders and 556 employees in eight full-service hotels in China. Using hierarchical linear modeling, paradoxical leadership was found to be positively related to employees’ leader identification, which consequently enhanced their service performance. Furthermore, the level of an employee’s need for cognitive closure moderated the relationship between paradoxical leadership and leader identification such that paradoxical leadership exerted a stronger positive influence on leader identification for those employees with a lower need for cognitive closure. These findings have implications for both paradoxical leadership and hospitality management practices.     

The better I feel,the better I can do: The role of leaders’ positive affective presence

This study adopts the affect theory of social exchange to examine the influence of leaders’ positive affective presence on employees’ service performance via employees’ energy at work and the moderating role of service climate. Based on 383 dyads of leaders and their employees in the hospitality industry, the results reveal that leaders’ positive affective presence has a positive effect on employees’ service performance. Employees’ energy at work mediates the relationship between leaders’ positive affective presence and employees’ service performance. Service climate enhances the relationship of employees’ energy at work and service performance, which in turn strengthens the indirect effect of leaders’ positive affective presence on employees’ service performance via employees’ energy at work.     

How does career future time perspective moderate in the relationship between infection anxiety with the COVID-19 and service behavior among hotel employees?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts on the hospitality industry and its employees. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of infection anxiety with COVID-19 (IAWC) on employee motivation and work behaviors. This study proposes and examines a model predicting that IAWC has indirect effects on service and helping behaviors via intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, we expect that career future time perspective mitigates the harmful effects of IAWC on service and helping behaviors. We tested our moderated mediation model using data collected from multiple time points and multiple resources (i.e., hotel employees and their corresponding supervisors). The results show that IAWC indirectly influences service and helping behaviors via intrinsic motivation. In addition, career future time perspective moderated the effects of IAWC, such that the indirect effects of IAWC were weakened when employees' career future time perspective was high. This study extends our understanding of the impacts of IAWC on hospitality employees and the buffering effects of career future time perspective. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.     

Customer mistreatment and service performance: A self-consistency perspective

The service encounter is an important social context for hospitality service providers who strive to satisfy their need for job competence by delivering excellent customer service. Customer mistreatment may be perceived as a sign of work-related goal failure by hospitality service providers. Building on the literature of goal attainment and failure in the workplace, we propose that hospitality employees, who experience customer mistreatment, undergo diminished organization-based self-esteem (OBSE), decreasing service performance. Moreover, employees’ locus of control is proposed to interact with customer mistreatment and predict service performance through the mediation of OBSE. The results of a multi-wave and multi-source survey, administered to a sample of hotel frontline employees (N = 180) and their direct supervisors (N = 38), show that customer mistreatment has a negative influence on service performance through OBSE, but only among employees with an external locus of control.     

Procedural justice,ethical climate and service outcomes in restaurants

The literature suggests that ethical climate may actually contribute to organizational success by enhancing employee performance. Ethical climate is considered to be highly relevant to the hospitality industry, since it enhances service-providers’ contact with customers. This study reinforces previous researches by exploring the relationships between ethical climate, service, and customer satisfaction in restaurants. We have also examined the relationship between ethical climate and the fair treatment of employees by an organization. The study was conducted in 20 restaurants, with 171 employees and 103 customers. Data were obtained from employees, customers, and “mystery shoppers”. As expected, ethical climate was found to be related to service performance which, in turn, was found to fully mediate the relationship of ethical climate with customer satisfaction. Ethical climate was also found to correlate positively with procedural justice. Our results indicate the benefits of the ethical message conveyed through consistent managerial practices in service organizations.     

How and when servant leadership promotes service innovation: A moderated mediation model

Based on social learning theory, the current study examined how and when servant leadership could promote employee service innovative behavior (SIB) in the hospitality setting. Survey data collected from 1021 service employees and their 229 direct supervisors at 54 hotels showed that servant leadership was positively related to employee SIB, and employee customer orientation mediated such effect. Results also showed that employee age moderated the effect of servant leadership on customer orientation, as well as the indirect effect of servant leadership on SIB via customer orientation, such that these effects were stronger for younger employees. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Is career adaptability a double-edged sword? The impact of work social support and career adaptability on turnover intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitality organizations are trying to help their employees overcome various challenges. Career adaptability has proven to be useful in helping employees handle challenges, while proactive personality is a critical factor affecting the formation of career adaptability. However, career adaptability can be a double-edged sword, and it is unclear how it may impact employees’ turnover intentions. Drawing on social exchange theory, the current study reconciles mixed findings in the literature by proposing a moderated mediation model suggesting that work social support moderates the indirect relationship between proactive personality and turnover intentions through career adaptability. Results based on data collected from 339 hotel employees in the United States indicate that proactive personality is positively associated with employees’ career adaptability. More importantly, work social support significantly moderates the relationship between career adaptability and turnover intentions. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

The impact of exploitative leadership on frontline hospitality employees’ service performance: A social exchange perspective

Based on social exchange theory, we investigate the impact of perceived exploitative leadership on frontline hospitality employees’ service performance. A three-phase analysis of 207 supervisor–subordinate dyads from three hotels in China demonstrates that exploitative leadership has a negative effect on frontline hospitality employees’ service performance. Furthermore, leader−member exchange (LMX) plays a mediating role in the relationship between exploitative leadership and employee service performance. Moderated path analyses indicate that traditionality weakens the direct influence of exploitative leadership on LMX and an indirect influence of exploitative leadership on employee service performance through reduced LMX. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

Stay away from fickle supervisor! Supervisors’ behavioral fluctuation diminishing the effect of job embeddedness on employees’ service behavior

This study examined how hotel employees’ job embeddedness influences their in-role and extra-role service behaviors, and under what boundary conditions this influence can be magnified based on the psychological ownership and information-processing theories. Using longitudinal data from a matched sample of 163 hotel employees and their supervisors in China, the moderated mediation analysis revealed that affective commitment mediated the effect of job embeddedness on in-role and extra-role service behaviors, while a supervisr’s behavioral fluctuations moderated the mediation of affective commitment between job embeddedness and in-role and extra-role service behaviors; this mediation effect was stronger for employees with a supervisor exhibiting stable behaviors. These findings provide theoretical and managerial implications for tourism researchers and practitioners.     

The effects of service climate and internal service quality on frontline hotel employees’ service-oriented behaviors

When employees in a service profit chain receive quality internal services, they provide quality services to external customers, but extant research does not address what connects internal and external services. This study espouses service climate as an integral part of the service profit chain by exploring its role in linking internal service management and external service performance, and the boundary conditions in which it operates. Data collected from 538 employees of 81 department managers in 24 Chinese hotels were examined using hierarchical linear modeling. Results suggest that managers’ commitment to service quality affects service climate through empowering leadership, service climate links empowering leadership and employee service-oriented behaviors, and external departments’ internal service quality strengthens the positive effect of service climate on service-oriented behaviors. This study advances the literature by integrating service climate and internal service quality into the service profit chain, helping hospitality managers understand how to foster service-oriented behaviors.     

Dual-focused transformational leadership and service innovation in hospitality organisations: A multilevel investigation

Service innovation from hospitality employees can contribute to improving service quality and further facilitating hospitality organisations to gain competitive advantage and maintain prosperity. Drawing upon social exchange theory and social cognitive theory, we developed a multilevel model of the relationships between dual-focused transformational leadership (TFL) and service innovation at the team and individual levels, as well as mediating and moderating mechanisms behind the relationships. Data were collected from team leaders and their employees from hospitality organisations in Henan Province, China. Multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM) was employed to validate the model. The results showed that team-focused TFL promoted team service innovation via developmental culture while individual-focused TFL promoted employee service innovative behaviour via creative self-efficacy. Group openness diversity concurrently moderated the relationship between developmental culture and team service innovation, and the relationship between individual-focused TFL and creative self-efficacy. Enlightened by the research findings, theoretical and practical implications are drawn.     

The influence of exploitative leadership on hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior: A moderated mediation model

Growing awareness of environmental sustainability in the hospitality sector has made employee green innovative behavior an important element of their establishment’s performance. Drawing from ego depletion theory, this paper aims to study how and when exploitative leadership influences hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior. We collected data from 467 full-time hospitality employees and their direct leaders in 96 teams, and examined a cross-level moderated mediation model employing multilevel path analysis. The results showed that exploitative leadership in the hospitality sector negatively associates with hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior, mediated by their emotional exhaustion. The results further showed that perceived organizational support moderates the influence of exploitative leadership on emotional exhaustion and subsequent green innovative behavior. Implications for theory and practice in the hospitality sector are discussed.     

Transformational leadership and service recovery performance: The mediating effect of emotional labor and the influence of culture

The current study examined the relationship between transformational leadership and service recovery performance and the mediating effect of emotional labor. To uncover potential cross-cultural differences, a sample of 217 front-line hospitality employees from the United States (Study 1) and 219 front-line hospitality employees from China (Study 2) were used. The results demonstrate transformational leadership was positively related to deep acting and negatively related to surface acting emotional labor strategies. Additionally, deep acting was positively related to service recovery performance, while surface acting was negatively related to service recovery performance. These findings were consistent between the U.S. and Chinese sample; however, the mechanisms and paths between transformational leadership and service recovery performance differed between the two samples suggesting culture influenced how transformational leadership is related to service recovery performance through deep acting (Study 1) or surface acting (Study 2) emotional labor strategies.     

Does customer incivility undermine employees’ service performance?

This study extends the growing body of research on customer incivility by examining its impact on employees’ in-role and extra-role service performance in the hospitality industry. Using a sample of 307 employee–supervisor dyads in nine hotels in Zhuhai City, China, this research examined the impact of customer incivility along with negative affectivity and hostile attribution bias on in-role performance and extra-role performance, particularly proactive customer service performance (PCSP). The results demonstrate that, while customer incivility negatively influenced PCSP, it did not impact in-role performance. Furthermore, the effect of customer incivility on PCSP was mediated by negative affectivity. Additionally, hostile attribution bias significantly moderated the relationship between customer incivility and negative affectivity, as well as the indirect relationship between customer incivility and PCSP through negative affectivity.     

Psychosocial work environment,work engagement,and employee commitment: A moderated,mediation model

This paper contributes to the growing body of literature on the wellbeing of hospitality employees from a perspective of strategic human resource management. The role of high performance work systems (HPWS) in enhancing the affective commitment of hospitality employees is examined. The study found work engagement to mediate the relationships between HPWS, perceived organizational support, and affective commitment. Workplace bullying, a highly prevalent phenomenon in the hospitality sector, was found to mediate the relationship between HPWS and affective commitment, while psychosocial safety climate moderated this mediating impact. We will suggest the implications for managing psychosocial work hazards in hospitality organizations.     

How do empowered employees engage in voice behaviors? A moderated mediation model based on work-related flow and supervisors’ emotional expression spin

The study examines the impact of empowerment on promotive and prohibitive voice behaviors in a moderated mediation model, suggesting work-related flow as a mediator and supervisors’ emotional expression spin as a moderator for hospitality employees based on affective event theory. The proposed model was tested using longitudinal matched data collected from 142 restaurant employees and their supervisors across multiple time stages in China. Analysis found that work-related flow mediated the relationships between empowerment and employee promotive and prohibitive voice behaviors, and supervisor emotional expression spin moderated these mediation links. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for hospitality researchers and industry practitioners are discussed.     

Assessing the effectiveness of empowerment on service quality: A multi-level study of Chinese tourism firms

This study tests relationships among three levels of empowerment—organizational, departmental, and individual—and simultaneously their cascading effects on frontline employees' service quality. Drawing on data from 1566 employee-supervisor pairs from 123 departments in 53 Chinese hospitality and tourism enterprises, results reveal a cascading mechanism across three levels of empowerment. Organizational empowerment climate influences employees' psychological empowerment through department psychological empowerment, and department psychological empowerment influences employees' service quality through individual psychological empowerment. Cross-level moderation analysis suggests that only within a high degree of organizational empowerment climate and service behavior-based evaluation does employees' psychological empowerment have positive effects on service quality. In response to the debate on the merits of empowerment programs in organizations, this study supports the usefulness of a cascading, contingency model of empowerment, and demonstrates full delineation of how and when empowerment across three levels influence frontline employees’ service quality.     

An examination of the progressive effects of hotel frontline employees’ brand perceptions on desirable service outcomes

The present study scrutinizes how hospitality firms’ internal branding influences the service performance of frontline employees in a progressive way. More specifically, based on social influence and social exchange theories, this study examines if organizational commitment mediates the link between hospitality frontline employees’ perceptions of brand authenticity (BA) and brand-value fit (BVF) and their service-related behaviors such as generating ideas for service improvement (GISI) and service-oriented citizenship behavior. With a matched sample of 286 customer-contact frontline employees and 33 of their supervisors from five-star hotels in South Korea, this study found that the higher employees’ perceptions of BA and BVF, the more likely they were to generate ideas for service improvement and engage in service-oriented citizenship behavior, as they were more likely to be committed to the firm. Based on the findings, implications are discussed for hospitality practitioners and researchers alike in terms of internal branding with frontline employees.     

Workplace ostracism and proactive customer service performance: A conservation of resources perspective

This study tests the impact of workplace ostracism on hospitality employees’ proactive customer service performance (PCSP). Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, we investigate the effects of two sequential mediators (i.e. job tension and customer orientation) and the moderating effect of need for affiliation. Using a time-lagged research design and the data from 16 hotels in China, we find that workplace ostracism positively influences job tension; job tension decreases customer orientation, which in turn undermines employees’ PCSP. Moreover, we find that need for affiliation exacerbates the effect of workplace ostracism on job tension such that the effect is stronger when employees’ need for affiliation is high rather than low. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications subsequently.