The Determinant of the Hospitality Industry's Unsystematic Risk: A Comparison Between Hotel and Restaurant Firms

ABSTRACT

Unsystematic risk is accepted as an important factor in stock valuation. Despite the importance, little has been done to study the relationship of unsystematic risk to stock values in the hospitality industry. This study attempted to advance the understanding of financial variables that could be related to unsystematic risk of hospitality firms. Regression models were developed for hotel and restaurant firms, using unsystematic risk as the dependent variable and financial variables as independent variables. The major findings of this study indicate: 1) more profitable hospitality companies have less unsystematic risk, 2) reducing reliance on debt financing could reduce unsystematic risk, 3) the positive relationship between operating leverage and unsystematic risk, suggesting that decreasing operating leverage could mitigate the stock price volatility of hospitality firms, and 4) large hotel and restaurant firms have less unsystematic risk than small firms. This study should help management of hospitality firms incorporate effects of shareholder expectations into their operational decision making as an integral part of long-range financial planning.     

The business case for diversity management in the hospitality industry

Societal and regulatory pressures increasingly encourage firms to invest in and manage workplace diversity. In service industries like hospitality and tourism (HT) where customer interface and service is salient, diversity management assumes even greater importance than compared to other industries. Yet the link between investment in diversity and its relationship with financial performance is not known. This study compares diversity management between HT and non-HT firms, and finds that HT firms manage diversity by taking more initiatives than other firms. More importantly, it finds that investment in diversity translates into superior financial performance when measured by Tobin's Q and firm credit rating.     

Why diversity management fails: Metaphor analyses unveil manager attitudes

Through analysing managers’ use of metaphorical images, this study is the first to reveal negative stereotyping of a senior hospitality workforce. In-depth analyses indicate that age discrimination exists towards seniors; managers seem to be biased. Some have positive experiences with a senior workforce, but when it comes to recruiting new employees, younger people are the first choice. There is a coexistence of positive and negative attitudes, where negative attitudes cohere with traditional stereotypes of ageing individuals in the society. This underlying prejudice is probably one of the reasons why diversity management, in terms of age diversity, has failed in the Norwegian hospitality industry.     

Hospitality managers' importance perceptions of human resource practices related to employment of foreign workers in the United States

ABSTRACT

Cross-border labor mobility of hospitality employees has resulted in an increase in illegal immigrants in the workforce. The purpose of this study was to generate a list of top legal issues associated with the employment of foreign workers in the U.S. hospitality industry and to identify factors defined by the importance ratings of these issues. Snowball sampling was used to collect data from hospitality managers. Findings reveal that respondents perceive document verification to be important but may not perceive knowledge of various visa types and employment termination reporting procedures associated with employing foreign workers to be important. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Avoiding the hospitality workforce bubble: Strategies to attract and retain generation Z talent in the hospitality workforce

Survival of the hospitality and tourism industry is highly dependent on a stable workforce to service the tourists and customers. In a shrinking workforce market faced with traditionally high staff turnover and increased departure of older workers, the key focus of this paper serves to provide practical recruitment strategies to attract the next Generation of hospitality talent – Generation Z. This opinion piece provides 10 key talent management strategies on how to appeal to Generation Z and entice them to join the hospitality sector. It presents practical solutions adopted by the industry and innovative recruitment strategies to address the war on talent in hospitality.     

Recruiting the Best

Abstract

This study investigates which workplace opportunities or offerings most influence hospitality studentss' likelihood of choosing and recommending a particular hospitality company. Data collected from hospitality management indicates that, consistent with previous research, Career Development and a Positive Work Environment continue to be important factors in influencing studentss' choice of employment. New for this study is the Quality of Life issue, a significant factor for this generation of hospitality management students. The study findings provide further recommendations for hospitality recruiters to attract and retain entry-level managers.     

Marketing Strategies for Last-Minute Travel and Tourism

Abstract

Travel and tourism arranged at the “last minute” has become a growing trend among consumers today. Responding to this trend, more and more travel/tourism firms are offering services catering to consumers seeking last-minute travel and tourism opportunities. Yet, clearly, not all last-minute travellers are alike. Variability in last-minute consumer characteristics such as motivations, lifestyles, and benefits sought suggests opportunities for astute marketers and revenue managers to collaborate in further segmenting the last-minute market and developing more effective marketing and revenue management strategies to potentially increase the firms' revenues, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Toward this end, this article evaluates and discusses marketing strategies, marketing mix elements, and segmentation approaches that may be most appropriate for more effective marketing and revenue management in the last-minute travel and tourism market.     

A systematic literature review of research on diversity and diversity management in the hospitality literature

With demographic shifts, international labor mobility, and the blurring of geographical boundaries, workforce diversity and diversity management have assumed an important role in hospitality operations. More importantly previous research has established the role diversity plays on outcomes such as innovation and firm performance. Yet reports of research on diversity and its management in the hospitality industry are fragmented, underdeveloped, and inconsistent. To assess the current state of this research, we provide a systematic review of the available research on the different dimensions of diversity, and on topics related to diversity management. Using articles found in hospitality journals, we identify current themes explored by scholars as well as gaps and limitations. We provide suggestions for topics, themes and methodologies for future research and highlight the importance of research that can inform managerial practice. Our review indicates that there is greater need for theory development, empirical data-driven research, and expansion of contexts in hospitality-diversity research, especially in terms of geographical regions covered by extant studies.     

Retaining students as employees: Owner operated small hospitality businesses in a university town in New Zealand

This study provides insight into employee retention issues in owner-operated small hospitality businesses in a university town. The study found that even though employee retention represents a managerial issue for the small hospitality businesses, it is not of significant importance to them. The restaurant managers/owners did employ various retention strategies for providing a good organizational culture but still accepted the transient nature of the student workforce. The findings suggest employee retention strategies to keep student employees while they study in the town's university. The paper also recommends the need for small hospitality businesses to work closely with hospitality education institutions to form a closer link between study and part-time employment, for example through internship, to alleviate the inherent problems of the transient nature of the student workforce. The paper provides the first major study in the New Zealand context, providing new insights into understanding employee retention among student workers in small hospitality businesses.     

Turnaround strategy: A study of restaurant firms

This paper uses a case study approach to analyze the turnaround actions of two restaurant firms and compares them to the model of Robbins and Pearce [1992. Strategic Management Journal 9, 287–309]. The objective of this study is to scrutinize why these firms were unsuccessful in turning around and identify gaps between the firms’ actions and the empirical model of turnaround proposed by Robbins and Pearce. Two key turnaround measures, i.e., retrenchment and recovery are explored in detail and discussed in the context of the firms. The need for studying turnaround strategies is warranted as the number of hospitality firms that perish because of unsuccessful turnaround strategies is on the increase. Since turnaround strategies have not been pursued vigorously as a stream of research within the hospitality industry context, this approach would provide a framework for hospitality researchers to initiate similar future research efforts, which in turn would help the industry cope with turnaround.     

Workforce diversity and hotel performance: A systematic review and synthesis of the international empirical evidence

The purpose of this study is to synthesize the international empirical evidence concerning the impacts of workforce diversity (as mediated by management and a number of other organizational and environmental factors) on hotel performance. To clarify the complexity in the studied relations, we develop a conceptual framework and consolidate the key (qualitative and quantitative) evidence, which we discuss in the context of the wider human resource management hospitality literature. The findings indicate that the aforementioned factors are often neglected and that workforce diversity unmediated by management can have negative impacts on hotel performance. On the basis of the critically reviewed evidence we conclude that staffing initiatives, and especially recruitment policies, have the widest reaching positive effects on hotel performance. Respective policy implications are provided cautioning the need for further research in most of the above areas.     

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.     

The Effects of Music on Room Attendants' Work Performance — An Exploratory Study

Abstract

In recent years, the hospitality industry has become increasingly concerned with environmental sustainability. This trend has been apparent mainly in traditional areas of the industry such as hotels and restaurants. In universities, there have been moves to develop environmental policies, which have impacted on those sectors of the hospitality industry involved with foodservice and student residences. This study investigated the implementation of waste management policies and practices within twenty-seven university residences in Ontario and Quebec. Despite the small size of the sample, this study found a significant variance between the location of the university residence and the existence of a written waste management policy and waste management practices. University residences in Ontario were more likely to have a written policy, although the differences in the number of practices implemented by universities in Ontario and Quebec were not significantly different.

In this paper it is argued that universities are in a strong position to influence consumers of the future through their procedures and practices. This is supported by the findings of the research, which indicate that response to the needs of students is one of the main reasons given for developing waste management policies.     

MOOCs in tourism and hospitality: a review

ABSTRACT

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have grown significantly and globally in less than ten years. However, practices and research in tourism and hospitality MOOCs remain nascent. This study proposes the MOOC Components Framework with six groups of course components: scaffolding, lectures, networking, collaboration, assessment, and affirmation. Drawing on this framework and a case study method, the study analyses 18 tourism and hospitality MOOCs from higher education institutions. The results highlight that: tourism and hospitality MOOC offerings lack diversity; the forum is the preferred communication tool; social media are comparatively underused; the discontinuity of MOOC instructors needs attention; and finally, littless multilingual support is available.     

Environmental Tactics Used by Hotel Companies in Mexico

Summary

The impact which environmental law and management has had in the hospitality industry is substantial. Hotels have begun conservation and recycling programs as a means of reducing energy cost and solid waste. A significant number of environmentally related regulatory and consumer pressures are being imposed upon the hospitality industry. The purpose of this study is to begin to explore the environmental programs that hotel corporations in Mexico are adopting. Eight managers at eight hotel corporations in Mexico were included in the study. The corporation hotels located in Mexico started to implement environmental strategies in 1995, and the most common reason was because of the legal pressures they faced. Efficient use of lighting and eliminating use of diesel in the boiler were the most frequently sited strategies. Seven hotel managers benefitted from the application of these strategies, while one indicated he did not benefit. The hotel managers feel social, legal, and political pressure in Mexico to implement environmental strategies but consider consumer pressure unimportant. They believe these strategies are not very important when facing competitors, and only one manager mentioned that in the future the competitive threat will be important in developing environmental consciousness.     

Recent Tourism and Hospitality Research in China

ABSTRACT

Although China's tourism has become a vital part in the world tourism market, little is known internationally about tourism and hospitality research in China. This study reviewed 500 articles published from 2000 to 2005 in China's leading tourism research journal, Tourism Tribune, and provided an overview of China's recent tourism and hospitality research. Content analysis results showed that tourism research themes in China primarily focused on tourism attraction/resources development and management, tourism planning, and tourism industry development issues. Most research under review used a qualitative approach, while 15% of the articles employed some quantitative methods. Articles using advanced statistical techniques were scarce.     

Maximizing the Success of Balanced Scorecard Implementation in the Hospitality Industry

Abstract

The balanced scorecard (BSC) is increasingly being adopted by firms in the corporate sector, with some studies estimating that more than 40% of the Fortune 100 companies will implement the BSC by 2001. Analogous to the instrument panel of a plane, the BSC provides management with a holistic view of what is happening inside and outside the organization. A well-designed BSC can help management to translate the organization's mission into goals, actions and performance measures, align individual and organizational goals, and measure/guide progress towards goal attainment. However, the BSC is not without its share of pitfalls and problems. This article discusses how hospitality establishments also can reap the benefits from implementing the BSC while avoiding its pitfalls. We provide an overview of the nature of the BSC, and review two case studies from the hospitality industry. Findings from discussions with hotel general managers also are reported. These managers strongly support the potential usefulness of the BSC in their industry. Then we draw on examples and experiences of organizations that have implemented the BSC to provide a comprehensive discussion of the pitfalls to avoid in BSC development and implementation.     

Technology

Abstract

The presence of technology in the hospitality industry is increasing at a rapid rate. Technology has had an effect on the efficiency of many facets of the hospitality industry. Despite the growing number of meetings, conventions, and conferences, there has not been a published needs assessment study of training needs-especially technology needs-of hospitality sales managers. This paper presents the results of the first part of a study that examined technology training needs for hospitality sales managers and meeting planners. The top three technology skills training needs that surfaced in the 1996 study included advertising/marketing on the Internet, developing request for proposals, and meeting planning/sales management systems.     

The Use of Importance Performance Analysis in the Hospitality Industry

ABSTRACT

Increased demands placed by consumers, competition, and shrinking management teams has resulted in the need for hospitality professionals to use effective tools to improve the changing situation. The Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) was a tool first introduced by Martilla and James (1977) to assist professionals in evaluating the effectiveness of various agency issues and attributes. Hospitality researchers have used this technique in at least forty-two studies since then. The purpose of this study was to compare the use of IPA in hospitality related research and compare historical use of IPA to a recent study in a private club setting.     

Analysis of Hoteliers' E-Commerce and Information Technology Applications

ABSTRACT

Numerous research studies are being conducted that are related to e-commerce and information technology (IT) applications in the hospitality industry with regard to operational, profitability, productivity, and management perspective. The focus of this study is to examine current e-commerce and IT applications in the hospitality industry and to identify the business travelers' needs relative to advanced e-commerce and IT applications to improve customer service. Hoffman and Chung (1999) stated that what customers want most is not what restaurants and hotels are necessarily implementing. This study discusses the typical problems and obstacles of implementing e-commerce and IT applications in hospitality, using the lodging e-commerce and IT applications to satisfy customers, and developing the lodging e-commerce and IT applications as a corporate competitive advantage. Moreover, this study investigated a variety of e-commerce and IT applications related to customer service, satisfaction, and retention as well as e-commerce and IT applications as a distribution channel for receiving travelers' information and accommodation booking. This study provides valuable implications for the hospitality practitioners about customer needs relative to e-commerce and IT applications.