Pygmalion leadership: Theory and application to the hotel industry

ABSTRACT

This research investigates the role of Pygmalion leadership and the influences of employees’ trust in a leader, trust in an organization, and job engagement on task performance in the hotel industry. Through examining Pygmalion leadership, trust, and engagement in the literature, this research establishes and tests a model to identify the interrelation among four dimensions of Pygmalion leadership (e.g., climate, output, input, and feedback), trust in a leader, trust in an organization, job engagement, and task performance. Using data collected from hotel employees, this study finds that climate, output, and feedback are critical for nurturing two dimensions of trust that enhance job engagement and task performance.     

National culture,leadership and citizenship: Implications for cross-cultural management

Continued globalization is raising the level of diversity within hospitality organizations as well as the likelihood that leaders will manage those from varying national cultures. Previous research has found that cultural congruence between leaders and stakeholders (i.e., from the same or different national cultures) impacts a variety of variables including perceived leadership style, satisfaction and trust. This study extends this line of research by investigating the relationship between cultural congruence, perceived leadership style, leader–member exchange (LMX) and employee citizenship behaviors. Using a highly diverse sample of 520 members of congruent and incongruent dyads from 66 countries working for 2 large cruise lines and 2 subsidiaries, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to test the relationships. It was determined that cultural similarity impacted employee perceptions of LMX relations and organization citizenship behaviors, but not leadership style. The results of the study provide strategies for cross-cultural management in the hospitality industry.     

Why does empowering leadership occur and matter? A multilevel study of Chinese hotels

To address the question of why empowering leadership occurs and matters, this study develops an integrated model including both antecedents and consequences of empowering leadership in hospitality organizations. Drawing on data from 558 employees and 86 department managers in 24 Chinese hotels, results of hierarchical linear modeling support person–situation interactionist theory by suggesting that top-level empowering leadership and middle-level leaders’ self-efficacy have main and interaction effects on middle-level empowering leadership. Main and mediation effect results support service profit chain theory and motivational and exchange-based models by demonstrating that middle-level empowering leadership has positive effects on employees’ service-oriented behaviors directly and indirectly, and employees’ psychological ownership mediates these indirect effects. This study is among the first to explore antecedents of empowering leadership from both personal and contextual perspectives, and mediation by psychological ownership in the relationship between empowering leadership and employee service-oriented behaviors.     

The trickle-down effect of servant leadership on frontline employee service behaviors and performance: A multilevel study of Chinese hotels

This study tests a trickle-down effect regarding how servant leadership flows from top-to middle-level leaders, resulting in frontline employees' service-oriented behaviors and service quality. Using multiple validations, we develop and test a measure of servant leadership at various levels in the hospitality industry. Drawing on data from 325 employee–supervisor pairs of workgroups in 9 Chinese, star-level hotels, results from hierarchical linear modeling support the service profit chain theory and trickle-down model of leadership by demonstrating influence of top- and middle-level servant leadership on frontline employees. Cross-level moderation analysis suggests service climate moderates the effect on service-oriented behaviors, but in an inverse direction.     

Can newcomers perform better at hotels? Examining the roles of transformational leadership,supervisor-triggered positive affect,and perceived supervisor support

Tourism literature has presented the effects of leadership style on staff efficiency yet few have examined the causal relationship between leadership style and newcomer outcomes at the hotel workplace context. This study examined the underlying mechanism regarding how transformational leadership can facilitate hotel newcomers to exhibit better performance and retention. Using the structural equation model, this study tested research hypotheses using valid data collected from 234 hotel newcomers with their supervisors from 63 tourist hotels rated above four-star in Taiwan. Based on emotion in feedback system theory, this study noted that hotel newcomers displayed higher supervisor-triggered positive affect due to the transformational leadership of their supervisors. In turn, this led to newcomers' high performance and motivation to continue working. Adapting social exchange theory, this study found that transformational leadership has led to the development of a higher perceived supervisor support, which facilitated better performance among newcomers at hotel organizations.     

An exploratory study of managerial compensation in the restaurant industry

ABSTRACT

Set within the human capital framework, the focus of this exploratory study is to investigate how individual and industry attributes affect the earnings of salaried restaurant managers in the United States. Previous compensation studies in the restaurant industry have almost exclusively focused on executive compensation and its relationship to a firm's financial variables. Given the size of the industry, it is important to investigate compensation practices at various levels of its leadership. The findings show that relevant work experience, gender, education, race, and property size are significant attributes effecting restaurant managers’ compensation. Practical implications are provided.     

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.     

Characteristics of small business leadership from employees’ perspective: A qualitative study

Leadership is a much-studied topic, and yet, the topic still attracts researchers. As an essential factor in every organization, however, leadership contributes significantly to a business failure, especially in small independent restaurant businesses and this could be due to the unique operations of the industry and the lack of leadership studies on small hospitality businesses. This study aims to fill the gap by exploring the ideal characteristics for small independent restaurant leaders to become an effective leader using a qualitative approach from their employees’ perspectives. Qualitative data were collected through four focus groups and one dyadic interview. The findings of the qualitative data analysis revealed nine themes: respectful, compassionate, effective communicator, experienced, effective delegator, gives recognition, sociable, emotionally controlled, organized. The paper discussed implications of the findings for small independent restaurant businesses and the hospitality industry in general as well as implications for theory.     

What is professional attire today? A conjoint analysis of personal presentation attributes

Personal presentation attributes have long been understood to affect perceptions of competence and capabilities. To that end, this study investigates seven attributes associated with favorable interview presentation, including overall physical attractiveness, neatness and grooming, clothing color, conservative versus trendy attire, professional versus casual attire, and body modification (including tattoos and piercings). Participants (n = 108), including students, faculty, and hospitality industry professionals, sorted an orthogonal array of 16 full-color, laminated cards that contained photos so that respondents could see levels of clothing color, clothing conservativeness, and degree of professional attire. The remaining attributes and their corresponding levels were shown on respective analog indicators. The conjoint analysis results indicate that grooming and professional attire are the most important attributes in shaping favorable perceptions. Furthermore, faculty perceived conservative clothing to be better while students and industry professionals indicated that trendy clothing creates a more favorable presentation on the part of a job candidate.     

Professionalism: A contemporary interpretation in hospitality industry context

Professionalism is traditionally associated with classic professions such as medicine and law. With the growth of consumerism, numerous industries and occupations are striving for professionalism to enhance their status. This study addresses the conceptual ambiguity of professionalism by identifying the elements or criteria to achieve it in the hospitality industry. The perceptions of hotel practitioners from various work levels including junior staff, middle managers, and senior executives are explored through focus group interviews. Findings identify eight elements of professionalism, namely, passion, sensitivity, and open-mindedness to new trends, team-oriented attitude, competence and skills, emotional self-control, professional ethics, leadership by example, and perfectionism.     

To be true or not to be true: authentic leadership and its effect on travel agents

This study examines authentic leadership and its impact on employees in the travel industry. Based on previous studies, the study proposes and tests a framework, in which four dimensions of authentic leadership influence two types of trust (supervisor trust and organizational trust), which in turn affect employee burnout. The data were collected by using a survey on travel agents in South Korea. The study finds that not all four dimensions of authentic leadership influence trust and that supervisor trust affects organizational trust. Trust is found to mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and employee burnout. The study offers theoretical implications and practical suggestions.     

Consumer Perceptions and Behavior

Abstract

The primary objective of this article is to highlight the importance of consumer perceptions in strategic airline alliance settings. Previous research on strategic alliances, both in the service and manufacturing sector, has mainly focused on issues relating to the organization. Consumer perceptions have generally been ignored-in view of the pivotal role of the consumer in service settings a surprising neglect. The paper focuses on the airline industry, an industry with a high service element, to illustrate how positive results eventuating for partners in a strategic alliance may cover slow shifts in consumer attitudes, and behavior. If not carefully monitored, these shifts may adversely affect performance measures of individual alliance partners in the long-term.     

Hospitality Managers' Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility: An Explorative Study

In recent years, many factors have influenced the hotel industry to identify areas of social concern most beneficial to it. Staff incentives, rewards, community involvement, and charitable activities, coinciding with increased management and staff education concerning internal and external social responsibilities, have increased. The objective of this study is to investigate how hotel leaders from Hong Kong in high-tier and medium-tier hotels attempt to influence employees' behaviour to act in a more socially responsible manner towards their companies and communities. It highlights both leaders' perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviour of their employees and the instruments used to influence that behaviour. As a first step, this study aims to determine hotel managers' perception of leadership styles and their interpretation of the CSR role in the industry and community. Managers differ in leadership styles, thereby influencing their employees' perception of the CSR role in industry and community. Findings have shown that CSR awareness is deeply incorporated into high-tier Hong Kong hotels where community involvement is particularly strong.     

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.     

Using ethical leadership to reduce job stress and improve performance quality in the hospitality industry

Given an increased call for examining ethics in the hospitality industry, this research examines how ethical leadership influences the job stress and performance quality of customer-contact employees in the hospitality industry. Results indicate that customer-contact employees’ views of their supervisor’s use of ethical leadership behaviors is related to lower levels of ethical ambiguity and job stress. Ethical ambiguity is positively associated with job stress, which is negatively associated with customer-contact employees’ performance quality. Perceived ethical leadership behaviors positively influence performance quality. Based on the findings, implications are provided for both theory and management, and directions for future research are offered.     

Educators' Perceptions of Business Ethics in Hospitality

ABSTRACT

Business ethics has become a popular topic in both the academic arena and the business setting within the hospitality industry. This research investigates the perceptions of hospitality educators regarding business ethics in contemporary hospitality programs and the hospitality industry (Damitio & Schmidgall, 1993; Dunfee & Donaldson, 1999). This study provides some pivotal educational findings as to how hospitality educators perceive the preparation of hospitality students relative to business ethics. There are three distinctive findings. Female educators have a significantly higher level of agreement toward statements about business ethics in the hospitality industry than do male educators. Educators whose own level of education was a doctorate degree were significantly less concerned about ethics education than educators whose own level of education was a two-year college degree or a master's degree. And, educators who were employed in institutions offering graduate degrees were significantly less concerned about ethics education than educators who were employed in institutions offering undergraduate degrees. In addition to those three significant findings, this study also showed that educators perceive that organizations should not only practice business ethics with customers but also with employees. Additionally, this study showed that educators are concerned about multinational companies (MNC) and students' ability to understand ethical issues while operating businesses in foreign countries. Educators are also concerned about the strong influence of business organizational leadership and management on business ethical practices.     

How human resources management best practice influence employee satisfaction and job retention in the Thai hotel industry

Human resources management (HRM) practices are hotel management tools that contribute to organizational success. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how soft HRM practices in the Thai hotel industry affect job satisfaction and job retention. This study focuses on soft HRM practices, which draws on theories of commitment and motivation. Soft HRM refers to human relations between staff and the hotel organization. A quantitative approach was employed using multiple regression technique with a stepwise method for data analysis. It was found that employee satisfaction is not fostered by increasing remuneration, but is more related to the quality of working life, good leadership style, regular training, employment security, the hotel's brand image, and employees' personal traits, a most important aspect. The findings from this study provide a comprehensive framework for both academic and managerial responses to resolve the labor and skill shortage crises. Equally important is the extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and personal attitude theory that underpins employee job satisfaction in this study.     

Ethical leadership and its impact on service innovative behavior: The role of LMX and job autonomy

This study examined the effect of ethical leadership on service innovative behavior of employees at small and medium sized tourist hotels in Uttarakhand, India. It has forwarded an integrated model that highlights the relationship between ethical leadership and employees' service innovative behavior while interacting through leader-member exchange and job autonomy. Using a sample of 468 customer contact employees and their 117 supervisors, hierarchical regression was conducted to establish the relationship. Findings of the study revealed that ethical leadership promoted service innovative behavior of the hotel employees mediated through leader-member exchanges. Further, it was also found that the level of service innovative behavior was commensurate to the perception of employee job autonomy. Based on the study findings, implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Improvising resilience: The unfolding of resilient leadership in COVID-19 times

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy has had disastrous effects on the national economy. The hospitality sector has experienced a significant impact from the crisis: starting from March 2020 it has literally collapsed. Experts believe it will take three years for the sector to recover. Confronted with a dramatic uncertainty, which imposed rapid action, hospitality leaders need to nurture resilience. To enrich current understanding of the way resilient leadership unfolds to respond to jolts, we draw on an exploratory qualitative research involving Italian hotel managers. Following in-depth interviews, we show that resilient leadership and improvisation are deeply interconnected. Their interdependence entails two practices, namely gardening and learning. This suggests a paradoxical tension: to exercise resilience, leaders need to be at the same time in the system, by actively learning from events, and outside the system, by zooming out as they focus on ongoing planning for the next move.     

Leadership,Innovation Outputs,and Business Performance: A Mixed Methods Study of Senior Managers in the Attractions Industry

ABSTRACT

This mixed-methods study responds to the need for empirical studies of innovation in the experience industry context. A multisource approach was used to gather data from 189 attractions across the United States. The relationships between strategic leadership practices and various innovation output dimensions were examined at the organization level. Qualitative data in the form of innovation output examples complemented the quantitative results. Findings provide a snapshot of innovation in the attractions industry and reveal some of the “tensions” of leading innovation in organizations whose main economic offering is an experience. A list of context-specific leadership practices and innovation activities provide a starting point for self-assessment and integration of experience-economy concepts at the business unit level.