How to fuel employees’ prosocial behavior in the hotel service encounter

With mounting customer expectation for excellent service, frontline service employees’ prosocial service behavior is of great importance since it helps enhance customers’ perceived service quality, which is critical for maintaining a hotel’s competitive advantage relative to its comp set. Regardless of the importance of prosocial service behavior, role clarity, perceived organizational support, and psychological empowerment in encouraging employees’ prosocial service behavior has not received much attention. This study examines the effects of the above three predictors on the prosocial service behavior of customer-contact employees. The authors developed a conceptual model of prosocial service behavior and empirically tested it using structural equation modeling. The findings suggest that role clarity and psychological empowerment have a direct influence on prosocial service behavior. Psychological empowerment partially mediates the relationship between role clarity and prosocial service behavior and fully mediates the relationship between perceived organizational support and prosocial service behavior.     

How emotional labor affect hotel employees’ mental health: A longitudinal study

The current study aims to examine the longitudinal effects of emotional labor on the mental health of hotel employees based on the Allostatic Load and Conservation of Resources theories. Four waves of data were collected from 534 hotel interns in an eight-month period. Latent growth modeling and lagged path analysis were used to analyze the time-series data. The study results indicated that hotel employees experienced increased anxiety and depression within the first three months of their new jobs. Surface acting increased employees' anxiety and depression. Interestingly, deep acting decreased employees' anxiety and depression in the short run but increased their anxiety and depression in the long run. Emotional exhaustion explained the double-edged effect of deep acting on mental health. The study results provide meaningful implications for hotel managers in workplace stress management and employees’ mental health improvement.     

The influence of service brand orientation on hotel employees’ attitude and behaviors in China

As foreign hotel brands continue to roll out their investment in China, the competitive landscape intensifies. Central to the success of these hotel brands is their ability to offer the unique features of their service offering, as reflected in the brand, in which employees play a key role. However, in the Chinese market, where the introduction of foreign hotel brands is in its initial stages, employee brand knowledge may be limited resulting in service behaviors that are inconsistent with the brand. Therefore, the adoption of a service brand orientation to guide employee attitudes and behavior is considered to be necessary. In an effort to realize productive service employees, this study examines the consequences of adopting a service brand orientation. Results suggest that a service brand orientation is imperative for positive employee brand-oriented behaviors as well as customer-oriented behaviors that are a consequence of an employee customer orientation.     

How do changes in human resource management practices influence employee engagement? A longitudinal study in a hotel chain in the Philippines

ABSTRACT

Drawing from social exchange theory, this study investigates how changes in human resource management practices influence and affect employee engagement in a hotel chain. Changes in human resource management practices were identified, and corresponding changes in the level of employee engagement were observed. One hundred forty-five employees from a hotel chain in the Philippines participated in a longitudinal study. Results show that improvements in human resource management practices, particularly in the areas of reward management and training and development, yielded positive and significant change in the level of employee engagement. Implications for human resource management, particularly in the hospitality and tourism context, are discussed.     

How do hotel employees’ feeling trusted and its differentiation shape service performance: The role of relational energy

Although prior literature has generally shown that feeling trusted plays a crucial role in boosting employee performance, little attention has been paid to exploring how and when feeling trusted promotes service performance. Borrowing from the Pygmalion effect and conservation of resources theory, we craft and scrutinize a cross-level framework elucidating why and when feeling trusted shapes service performance by pinpointing relational energy as a linchpin mechanism, and feeling trusted differentiation as a key contingency. A three-wave survey design is used to examine these assumptions with data culled from 505 hotel employee–leader dyads nested in 97 groups affiliated with 16 hotels in China. As anticipated, we found that feeling trusted can evoke high relational energy, which in turn improves service performance. In addition, these observed effects of feeling trusted become stronger when feeling trusted differentiation is low rather than high. Overall, we conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.     

What influences company attachment and job performance in the COVID-19 era?: Airline versus hotel employees

Airline and hotel employees are experiencing multiple forms of precariousness amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which have increased workers' distrust of their respective airline/hotel businesses and affected job performance and retention. This research builds and tests two sturdy theoretical frameworks to explain airline and hotel employees' job performance and behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. The frameworks, developed using a quantitative method, adequately account for employees' company attachment and job performance by using their perceived job insecurity, life satisfaction, and job satisfaction as the key antecedents; while employees' perceived job insecurity influences the formation of attachment to the company and job performance. The mediating nature of life and job satisfaction is also examined alongside the moderating role of two different industry types (airline versus hotel). The results show that the process of generating job performance differs between airline and hotel employee groups. The research implications and value are discussed.     

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.     

When and how does leader humor promote customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior in hotel employees?

This study explores whether leader humor can encourage staff to exceed job expectations in their positive behavior toward customers, even in the notoriously stressful context of the hospitality industry. Based on our findings, leaders who use humor are more likely to prompt employees to engage in customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Leader humor affects customer-oriented OCB through the mediating effect of relational energy. In addition, employee traditionality and relational energy differentiation moderate the process. Using time-lagged data collected from 456 employees in 71 teams in China’s hotel industry, this study adds significant knowledge to the under-researched area of humor and leader humor in the hospitality industry. The findings suggest that hospitality leaders can implement humor to obtain positive effects by raising relational energy and triggering customer-oriented OCB, particularly among less-traditional workers and in situations of low relational energy differentiation.     

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.     

What determines multinational hotel groups’ locational investment choice in China?

China's hotel industry has been developed quickly from a small number of 137 only in 1978 to 14,237 in 2009. One of the main drivers of the rapid development of the hotel industry has been the expansion of multinational hotel groups (MHGs) into China. The purposes of this study are to analyze the factors that determine the location strategies of MHGs and to assess what factors determine MHG's investment strategies in regard to choice of location. The study finds that the market demand and market size measured by number of inbound tourists, tourist spending, and actual foreign direct investment, the business environment measured by GDP per capital, and dummy variables measured by policy and mega events are all significant factors in affecting MHG's locational choices for investment. These findings may provide some insights for MHG's future investment strategies in regard to location choice.     

What explains differing holding periods across hotel investments? A hazard rate framework

We explain the variation in hotel holding periods (HP) based on liquidity needs, owner type, acquisition conditions and timing of hotel renovation. Contrary to popular belief, properties owned by listed companies tend to have longer HPs due to lower liquidity constraints. REITs sell heterogeneous hotels sooner to strengthen their focus whereas REOCs keep such assets longer for diversification benefits. Moreover, we document that higher quality hotels tend to have longer HPs, and that capital expenditure employed in renovating an acquired asset prolongs the HP whereas assets renovated before acquisition experience shorter HPs. Finally, we show how our model can be used in practice to predict the median HP based on a given hotel characteristics, and present a method to adjust the DCF discount rate according to the selected holding period.     

What do tourism students know about sustainability and sustainable tourism? An exploratory study of Latin American students

While research has started to pay attention to the content and delivery of sustainable tourism education, little is known about what students actually know and feel with respect to sustainability. This preliminary study explores students’ knowledge of and attitudes toward sustainable tourism as well as their sense of competence and empowerment to make sustainability-related decisions. The focus was on Latin America, where tourism has caused severe negative impacts and where sustainability knowledge and skills are most needed to protect fragile natural and cultural resources. Results show that although most tourism students think sustainable tourism is important, they have limited knowledge of sustainability principles and technical aspects related to sustainable tourism. Implications for teaching are discussed.     

A review of the literature on culture in hotel management research: What is the future?

This paper aims to provide insights into the development of research on culture in the hotel industry by reviewing the existing literature. A total of 107 journal articles published between 1985 and 2010 were retrieved from 12 refereed journals, all of which could be accessed online. The papers were categorized into six major groups according to Pizam's (1993) hierarchy of cultures, and were further sorted by year of publication, source, subject area, region of focus, and the nature of the research. National culture, organizational culture, and cross-cultural comparison were found to be the most popular research topics. In contrast, few studies have investigated industry, occupational, and corporate cultures in association with hotel management studies, prompting concern for future research. In summary, this review paper offers a first and important attempt to understand the development of research on culture in the hotel management field and identifies future research opportunities.     

What can big data and text analytics tell us about hotel guest experience and satisfaction?

The tremendous growth of social media and consumer-generated content on the Internet has inspired the development of the so-called big data analytics to understand and solve real-life problems. However, while a handful of studies have employed new data sources to tackle important research problems in hospitality, there has not been a systematic application of big data analytic techniques in these studies. This study aims to explore and demonstrate the utility of big data analytics to better understand important hospitality issues, namely the relationship between hotel guest experience and satisfaction. Specifically, this study applies a text analytical approach to a large quantity of consumer reviews extracted from Expedia.com to deconstruct hotel guest experience and examine its association with satisfaction ratings. The findings reveal several dimensions of guest experience that carried varying weights and, more importantly, have novel, meaningful semantic compositions. The association between guest experience and satisfaction appears strong, suggesting that these two domains of consumer behavior are inherently connected. This study reveals that big data analytics can generate new insights into variables that have been extensively studied in existing hospitality literature. In addition, implications for theory and practice as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

How should I respond to a complaining customer? A model of Cognitive-Emotive-Behavioral from the perspective of restaurant service employees

Many studies on coping have been conducted in diverse industries but within the hospitality industry, studies on how employees cope with customer complaints have only just begun, despite the task being one of the most significant stressors amongst service employees. The aim of this paper was to explore the cognitive appraisals, emotional elicitations, emotional coping behavior and complaint handling behavior of service employees. In-depth interviews were conducted with a total of 26 frontline restaurant employees. The results show that service employees engaged in different cognitive appraisals and emotional reactions in response to different customer complaints. Subsequently, they engaged in different emotional coping behaviors including both positive and negative of avoidance and approach. Theoretically, a model was developed to depict a holistic picture of Cognitive-Emotive-Behavioral in a complaint-handling context. The findings might assist industry practitioners to devise better complaint handling and coping strategies to enhance both customer and employee satisfaction.     

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.     

What is happening in Paris? Airbnb,hotels, and the Parisian market: A case study

Airbnb has been the subject of heated discussions among tourism and hospitality scholars. In order to understand the true impact of P2Psharing on the tourism and hospitality landscape, it is important to understand that market in detail first. Therefore, in this paper, we explore the development of the Airbnb market over the last seven years in Paris, the most popular destination for Airbnb guests with more than 40,000 accommodation rentals. This research note is a summary of our findings on the Paris market. Our study shows different growth and seasonality patterns for Airbnb and hotels and dissimilarities in the geographical location of the offers. The findings indicate that the two products are not in direct competition and that their relationship might be more complex than previously thought. We trust that exploring the nature of the competitive relationship would be a valuable avenue for further investigation.     

Managers from “Hell” in the hospitality industry: How do hospitality employees profile bad managers?

This study aimed to explore the perceived characteristics of “bad” managers working within the hospitality industry. By employing a grounded theory approach, 72 hospitality employees were interviewed and asked to describe the attributes and behaviors of a current or past bad manager. In addition, the respondents were asked about the root cause/s of the undesirable qualities described in the study. The research findings identified six themes relating to the attributes of bad managers: unprofessional, autocratic management style, poor leadership skills, unethical, poor operational and technical skills, and poor decision and delegation skills. In addition, perceptions of the root causes of bad managers were categorized into four themes: company culture and structure, personal characteristics, unqualified, and tenure and comfort zone. This is one of the first studies in the hospitality field to address bad managers’ attributes and why and how managers became bad managers. Specific theoretical and practical implication are provided.     

How do people negotiate through their constraints to engage in pro-environmental behavior? A study of front-country campers in Alberta,Canada

This study examined structural models of associations among constraints to pro-environmental nature-based tourism behavior, negotiation through these constraints, motivations to engage in pro-environmental behavior, and knowledge of pro-environmental activities. Three types of constraints (i.e., intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural) were investigated to obtain a detailed understanding of barriers to pro-environmental tourism behavior. Structural models were tested using data obtained from front-country campers (n = 1009) in Alberta, Canada. Results showed that constraints negatively and directly influence intention. Negotiation and knowledge positively and directly influenced intention. Motivation and knowledge directly and negatively influenced constraints, and directly and positively influenced negotiation. The mitigating effect of negotiation on the association between constraints and intention was supported by the data. The theoretical and practical implications relating specifically to constraints to engaging in pro-environmental nature-based tourism activities are emphasized.     

Does workplace fun matter? Developing a useable typology of workplace fun in a qualitative study

A fun work environment is a positive atmosphere for organizations to attract and retain employees. This study identifies the significant factors of workplace fun and develops a useable typology of workplace fun activities in the hospitality industry. A qualitative case study with grounded theory approach was used by conducting interviews with ten hotel human resource (HR) practitioners in the People's Republic of China. The results identified four “S”s of workplace fun factors, namely: (1) Staff-oriented workplace fun, (2) Supervisor-oriented workplace fun, (3) Social-oriented workplace fun, and (4) Strategy-oriented workplace fun. This study provides a roadmap to guide future hospitality management research in workplace fun domain.