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.     

Enhancing employee creativity in the Chinese context: The mediating role of employee self-concordance

This study applies the theory of self-concordance and adopts the multi-level analysis approach to examine the mediating effect of employee self-concordance, a core component of intrinsic motivation, on the relationship between social-contextual factors and creativity using hotel industry data obtained from Mainland China. The hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) results from a multisource sample reveal that the three social-contextual variables (i.e., organizational modernity, empowering leadership, and coworkers support and helping) were associated with employee self-concordance, which in turn was associated with employee creativity. Moreover, employee self-concordance fully mediated the three social-contextual variables and creativity. This study shows that organization environment plays a significant role in predicting employee creativity. The implications of the findings for future research and their practical applications in the hotel industry are discussed.     

Servant leadership,social exchange relationships,and follower's helping behavior: Positive reciprocity belief matters

This study examined how leader-member exchange (LMX) and team-member exchange (TMX) mediate the relationship between servant leadership and helping behavior. The bootstrapping results involving 300 five-star hotel employees and their 80 immediate supervisors revealed that (1) LMX and TMX respectively mediated the relationship between servant leadership and helping behavior, (2) positive reciprocity belief moderated the relationship between servant leadership and LMX, (3) positive reciprocity belief moderated the relationship between servant leadership and TMX. Furthermore, moderated mediation analysis demonstrates that (4) the mediated relationship linking servant leadership with helping behavior via LMX is stronger when positive reciprocity belief is high, and (5) the mediated relationship linking servant leadership with helping behavior via TMX is stronger when positive reciprocity belief is high. We discuss theoretical and practical implications and recommend future research.     

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.     

Linking transformational leadership and employee creativity in the hospitality industry: The influences of creative role identity,creative self-efficacy,and job complexity

Integrating transformational leadership, creativity and social cognitive theories, we explore the relationships among transformational leadership, creative role identity, creative self-efficacy, job complexity and creativity. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with bootstrapping estimation was conducted using data from 395 supervisor–employee dyads from international tourist hotels in Taiwan. The results show that supervisors' transformational leadership positively influenced employee creative self-efficacy and creativity. Moreover, creative role identity was found to mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and employee creative self-efficacy, while both creative role identity and creative self-efficacy were found to mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity. Specifically, job complexity was found to moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and employee creative role identity, the relationship between employee creative role identity and creative self-efficacy, and the relationship between employee creative self-efficacy and creativity. We discuss the implications of these results for research and practice in hospitality context.     

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.     

Leadership styles,motivating language,and work engagement: An empirical investigation of the hotel industry

This study examines the relationship between leadership style (servant and transformational leadership), motivating language and work engagement. A sample of 391 lower and mid-level Bangladeshi hotel employees, selected via simple random sampling, participated in a cross-sectional survey. The mediating effects of motivating language regarding the association between the two leadership styles and work engagement were examined using partial least square-structural equation modelling. Both leadership styles and three types of motivating language have positive relationships with work engagement. Even though all three types of motivating languages mediate the link between servant leadership and work engagement, the link between transformational leadership and work engagement is only mediated by direction-giving and empathetic language. This study is novel in its application of the speech act theory to the investigation of the mediating effects of motivating language on the relationship between the two leadership styles and work engagement. Practical and theoretical contributions are also discussed.     

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.     

CEO servant leadership and strategic service differentiation: The role of high-performance work systems and innovativeness

We develop and test a moderated mediation model in which CEO servant leadership is anticipated to be a positive for the adoption of service differentiation as a strategic choice. Using a sample of 34 Spanish hotels, two complementary methods of data analysis, ordinary least squares (OLS) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA), yielded robust support for our hypotheses. As expected, OLS analysis revealed that hotel CEO servant leadership had a positive indirect effect, via high performance work systems (HPWS), on service differentiation. Moreover, the indirect effect was stronger in hotels with a culture supportive of innovativeness. Fs/QCA revealed that CEO servant leadership was sufficient to account for successful implementation of strategic service differentiation; HPWS combined with a culture of innovativeness was also associated with service differentiation. Our findings provide valuable guidance concerning the conditions that are likely to foster the successful implementation of service differentiation in the hotel sector.     

Exploring the relationship between employee creativity and job-related motivators in the Hong Kong hotel industry

The purpose of this research is to determine if there is any relationship between employee creativity and job-related motivators, using a case study of hotel employees in Hong Kong. From a sample of 983 employees, canonical correlation indicated there is a relationship between creativity and job-related motivators. Furthermore, the risk-taking dimension under creativity was found to be more correlated to the intrinsic job-related motivators. Intrinsic job-related motivators which include opportunity for advancement and development, loyalty to employees, appreciation and praise of work done, feelings of being involved, sympathetic help with personal problems and interesting work, are found to encourage the hotel employees’ risk-taking behavior. A “See-Saw” model is presented to show the relationship between the two opposing sides: intrinsic motivators and extrinsic motivators versus creativity and risk-taking factors.     

Green human resource practices and organizational citizenship behavior for the environment: the roles of collective green crafting and environmentally specific servant leadership

Green behavior among employees can contribute to the green performance of organizations. Regardless of the salience of human resource (HR) practices in translating organizational strategy into employee behaviors, this role of green HR practices in shaping employee green behavior has been under-explored. Through surveys of the participants from tour operators in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, our study seeks to investigate how green HR practices impact organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE) at team and individual levels as well as the mechanisms underlying such effects. The results demonstrated the positive relationships between green HR practices and collective as well as individual OCBE. Collective green crafting was found to mediate these relationships. Besides, environmentally specific servant leadership served as a moderator to strengthen the effects of green HR practices on collective green crafting as well as OCBE at team and individual levels. We anticipate our research to solicit further investigations into mechanisms underlying the nexus between green HR practices and employee green behavior. Discussion on the implications for tourism practitioners is presented.     

Transformational leadership,innovation climate,creative self-efficacy and employee creativity: A multilevel study

Highlighting the implications of transformational leadership, the study examines the role of transformational leadership in predicting employee creativity. The study also investigates the mediating role of innovation climate and moderating role of creative self-efficacy. A study was carried out on a sample included a dyad of 372 employees and their immediate supervisors. The findings indicate that transformational leaders can foster a climate for innovation that promotes employee creativity. Further, a significant moderating role of creative self-efficacy was found in the relationship between innovation climate and employee creativity. The findings reveal that employees with high creative-self-efficacy resort to creative behavior when they receive a supportive innovation climate.     

Transformational leadership and employee performance: The role of identification,engagement and proactive personality

This study investigates the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions that explain the relationship between transformational leadership and frontline employee performance. Specifically, it explores the mediating role of organizational identification and work engagement in the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance and organization-directed citizenship behaviors. Additionally, it examines whether proactive personality moderates the effect of transformational leadership on identification and engagement. Data from 323 frontline hotel employees were analyzed using partial least square regression. Results show that identification and engagement fully mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors, whereas engagement partially mediates the link between transformational leadership and job performance. Results indicate a sequential mediation effect of identification and engagement on employee performance. Finally, findings show that proactive personality strengthens the effect of leadership on identification and engagement. The study provides information for hotel managers about why and under what circumstances employees perform the way they do.     

Do green HR practices enhance green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity in hotel industry?

The devastating effects on the environment have raised many questions on the environmental performance of an organization. As the environment is severely affected by the operations of giant businesses, i.e. ‘hotel industry.’ There is a need to explore the factors that influence employee environmental performance by incorporating green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity as mediators. The data are collected using the survey method. The statistical techniques applied to the dataset were confirmatory factor analysis and partial least square structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that green HR practices positively and significantly related to green intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and proactive environmental management maturity. Similarly, green motivation is significantly and positively linked with employee environmental performance. In contrast, proactive environmental management maturity is positively and insignificantly linked with employees’ environmental performance. In contrast, mediation analysis reveals that green motivation, i.e., intrinsic and extrinsic, partially mediates the association between green HR practices and employee environmental performance. However, no mediating effect of proactive environmental management maturity is found between the proposed associations. The paper contributes to the literature in many ways. Firstly, it explains the role of Green HR practices in forming green motivation among employees of the hotel industry, and previously no researchers studied this combination in the context of the hotel industry. Secondly, green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity are incorporated as mediators to have in-depth knowledge about the employees’ environmental performance.     

An expectancy theory model for hotel employee motivation

The purpose of this study is to apply expectancy theory to employee motivation in the hotel setting and confirm the validity of expectancy theory. The proposed expectancy theory model for motivation was tested using data from 289 hotel employees. The results show that a modified expectancy theory with five components (expectancy, extrinsic instrumentality, intrinsic instrumentality, extrinsic valence, and intrinsic valence) best explains the process of motivating hotel employees. This study also indicates that intrinsic motivation factors are more influential than extrinsic factors for hotel employees, suggesting that hotel managers need to focus more on intrinsic factors to better motivate employees.     

Can innovative behavior be led by management? A study from the lodging business

This study examined the effects of hotel management leadership on employee innovative behavior in Chinese hotel organizations. Using a dyadic sample of 164 hotel supervisors and 603 service employees at 23 four-star and five-star hotels in 11 Chinese cities, we investigated whether organizational commitment mediated the effects of leadership on employee innovative behavior. We also examined how organizational tenure moderated leadership and innovative behavior through organizational commitment. Findings from our moderated-mediation model revealed that organizational commitment mediated the relationship between leadership and innovative behavior. Similarly, organizational tenure moderated the relationship between leadership and organizational commitment: there was a stronger relationship for long-tenured employees and a weaker relationship for short-tenured employees. However, the effect of higher leadership on organizational commitment was stronger for short-tenured employees than long-tenured employees. Our results spotlight the importance of fostering organizational commitment, which directly affects innovative behavior and through which supervisors can influence individual innovative behavior.     

Motivational drivers that fuel employees to champion the hospitality brand

Many hospitality organizations have recognized the significance of having strong brands in the marketplace. Given that customers’ brand experiences are greatly affected by frontline service employees, it is crucial that service employees are capable and motivated to transform brand promises into brand realities. This study seeks to build on the emerging Internal Brand Management (IBM) research, by examining employees’ internal drive to go above and beyond their formal job requirement to benefit the brand. Based on motivation theories and the empirical data from 202 hotel employees, we examined the impact of employees’ pro-brand motivation (an internal motivation that is engendered from extrinsic stimuli) and their intrinsic motivation to work on their brand performance. In particular, we identified two significant motivational drivers for employees’ pro-brand motivation namely, employee perceived brand meaningfulness and employee perceived brand value fit. Based on the synergy between employee pro-brand motivation and intrinsic motivation to work, we further proposed an Employee Brand Motivation Matrix reflecting four types of employee motivation that underpins the rationale for employee brand performance. Organizations can use this matrix as a diagnostic tool to segment their workforce, gaining a true appreciation for the extent to which their workforce is willing and able to champion the brand.     

Reducing Employee Turnover Intention Through Servant Leadership in the Restaurant Context: A Mediation Study of Affective Organizational Commitment

Building on a social exchange theory, our model explains how an employee’s perception of servant leadership affect frontline restaurant employees’ turnover intention. Data were collected from 213 frontline restaurant employees in United States. The structural equation modeling findings support our hypothesized model and indicate that affective organizational commitment fully mediated the relationship between the employee perception of servant leadership and turnover intention. This article includes discussions of the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings.     

When competency-based pay relates to creative performance: The moderating role of employee psychological need

Although competency advocates argue that competency-based pay (CBP) can facilitate the implementation of business strategies and improve organizational performance, few empirical studies on the effectiveness of CBP have been conducted in the workplace. This study examines employees’ perceptions of CBP and their creative performance, along with the moderating role of psychological needs in this relationship. A survey design with a sample of 219 Hong Kong Chinese employees from the hotel and service sectors was adopted. The results support that employee creativity is predicted by both CBP (reward for knowledge and reward for skill) and individual characteristics (need for achievement, need for power). In addition, need for power moderates the relationship between CBP (reward for knowledge and reward for skill) and employee creativity. The implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

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.