Supply management practices and performance in the Canadian hospitality industry

As the competition to gain customers becomes more intense, the hospitality industry has faced increasing pressure to find new approaches to create and deliver value to customers through supply chain management (SCM) practices. Over the past decade there has been a growing realization of the important contribution that purchasing and supply management can have on an organization's performance. This paper addresses SCM practices, with an emphasis on strategic purchasing (SP), in one sector of the Canadian hospitality industry. Using data collected from 105 Canadian hotels, this study tested seven hypotheses of the impact of SP on SCM practices and verified the impact on the hotel's performance. All of the hypothesized relationships were supported. The results indicate that SP is positively related to the relationship with the supplier (SR), communication (COM), service quality (SQ), financial performance (FINP), and customer satisfaction performance (CUSP). The managerial and research implications of these findings are discussed in the paper.     

Employment experiences of Polish migrant workers in the UK hospitality sector

The research explores the experiences of Polish migrant workers in the UK hospitality sector. It reports quantitative and qualitative empirical data on the migrants’ reasons for entering the hospitality workforce and their subsequent employment experiences. The findings reveal the main motive for entering employment in hospitality is for self development as migrants wish to use and learn foreign languages, gain work experience and receive other benefits that the sector provides. These self development opportunities are viewed as a means to improve career prospects in the UK or upon return to Poland. Once in the sector, positive experiences associated with hospitality employment include opportunities to meet people and work in a lively environment. Negative aspects relate to working conditions, low pay, physically demanding jobs, discrimination and management behaviour. The research suggests that certain practices and working conditions in the sector pose an obstacle to the long-term commitment of migrant workers. Suggestions for the management of migrant human resources are outlined.     

Employee responsibility and basic human values in the hospitality sector

This study attempts to investigate the connection between the personal value profile of different groups of hospitality employees (i.e., restaurant managers, chefs/cooks, waiters/bartenders, and kitchen helpers) and the magnitude of authority and responsibility in their positions using the analytical aspect of Schwartz’s (1992) theory in basic human values as the basis. A set of logistic regression models are created to provide support for the hypotheses related to such jobs with self-transcendence, self enhancement axis, and openness to change-conservation axis of Schwartz’s theory of basic human values and to achieve the objectives of the study. Our findings generally supported the hypothesized relationships between personal values and professional status of hospitality employees. Distinct relationships are manifested in jobs with higher professional status such as restaurant managers and chefs/cooks. The study aims to expand on the existing literature by exploring the human values in the hospitality sector.     

A review of the business case for CSR in the hospitality industry

Despite prolific research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in its various forms in the hospitality industry, there is no consensus regarding the business case for CSR initiatives. Using a stakeholder lens, we review the research on CSR and its rationale by analyzing its impact on the environment, employees, customers, community, and investors in the hospitality industry. Our review analyzes 170 articles published between 1990 and 2017 covering different conceptual frameworks, measures, and samples to evaluate the current state of the field, integrate findings, identify gaps, and suggest avenues for future research. Our review calls for a) more studies that examine hospitality-specific CSR initiatives to examine impact on firm performance, b) greater theory-driven research, and c) expansion of contexts both in terms of different sectors of the industry and geographical locations, than is covered by existing studies. Future research directions are provided.     

Gender wage inequality and labour mobility in the hospitality sector

The main aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly we analyse the effects of educational mismatch on workers’ occupational mobility and secondly, we quantify the contribution of educational mismatch and labour mobility on gender wage inequality. The decomposition of the gender wage gap was controlled by different types of gender segregation. We use matched employer-employee data from 302 hotels in Andalusia. The evidence suggests that not only is external mobility far higher than internal mobility in this sector, but also that it is the main cause of wage inequality. The reason for this is the existence of labour discrimination against women, which manifests as a lack of access to labour improvements under the same conditions as men. Educational mismatch has a limited effect on internal and external mobility. Finally, gender discrimination is the overall cause of gender wage inequality and is mainly due to horizontal segregation and external mobility.     

A bibliometric analysis of trust in the field of hospitality and tourism

The emerging field of trust has evolved dramatically with an increasing number of academic publications in this area. However, there is a lack of better clarification to draw a global picture of scientific knowledge, from a statistical perspective, using the three structures of knowledge: conceptual, intellectual, and social, to obtain a structured overview of its characteristics, identify dynamic aspects and find intellectual representations. This paper presents a new insight into scientific production through bibliometric (Bibliometrix) and network (VOSviewer) analysis, not previously fully clarified in hospitality and tourism. A total of 305 articles published between 2004 and 2020 were analyzed, covering 580 authors, 19 journals, and 43 countries. This research’s main findings showed that trust is one of the most decisive variables in the digital market, and keywords such as satisfaction, loyalty, service quality are closely related. The results provide clues for further investigation in this field.     

Enhancing hospitality business performance: The role of entrepreneurial orientation and networking ties in a dynamic environment

Utilizing a sample of 192 hospitality firms, this study investigates the moderating role of a dynamic environment, coupled with business and social networking ties and technology resources, on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and organizational performance in hospitality firms. This research is novel in that we adopt business network ties and social network ties as two moderating variables along with technology resources between entrepreneurial orientation and business performance, providing evidence on a topic which has received little attention to date. The results posit that in an uncertain, dynamic environment a higher level of risk and entrepreneurial orientation benefit business performance especially when coupled with strong business and social networks.     

The appeal of sustainability in luxury hospitality: An investigation on the role of perceived integrity

This research investigates the effect of a luxury hotel's marketing communication strategy on consumers' willingness to book a room. In particular, the article compares two types of communication message: one that mainly highlights the hotel's attention to environmental sustainability and the other that focuses on customer service. The paper tests the hypothesis that a sustainability-focused communication leads to a higher willingness to book a room (compared to the customer service-focused strategy) because it increases consumers' perceptions about the hotel's integrity. Moreover, the study proposes that consumers' dispositional environmental concern magnifies this effect. One online and one realistic field experiment provide empirical evidence for the research hypotheses. This article contributes to the literature on sustainable luxury tourism and hospitality by proposing a novel theoretical framework, grounded in perceived hotel integrity, to explain why consumers might react positively when learning that a luxury hotel is committed to sustainability.     

The role of business model innovation in the hospitality industry during the COVID-19 crisis

The hospitality industry worldwide is among the hardest-hit industries from the COVID-19 lockdowns. Initial theoretical and practical observations in the hospitality industry indicate that business model innovation (BMI) might be a solution to recover from and successfully cope with the COVID-19 crisis. Interestingly, some firms in the hospitality industry already started to successfully adapt their business models. This study explores the why and how of these successful recovery attempts through BMI by conducting a multiple case study of six hospitality firms in Austria. We rely on interview data from managers together with one of their main stammgasts for each case, which we triangulate with secondary data for the analysis. Findings show that BMI is applied during and after the crisis to create new revenue streams and secure a higher level of liquidity, with an important role of stammgasts.     

Exploring the connections among CSR performance,reporting, and external assurance: Evidence from the hospitality and tourism industry

This study explores the connections among corporate social responsibility performance, reporting, and external assurance in the hospitality and tourism industry by incorporating the Global Reporting Initiative framework. The originality of the study is that it tests signaling theory and the greenwashing tendency by examining different facets of corporate social responsibility engagement using a holistic approach with a cross-country sample. The data for the study were derived from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database for the years between 2012 and 2018. A panel data analysis with a Random-Effects estimator was run to test the hypothesized associations. Several conclusions were drawn based on the study. First, higher corporate social responsibility performers among hospitality and tourism companies have a higher propensity to publish corporate social responsibility reports. Second, higher corporate social responsibility achievements are a significant driving force behind the Global Reporting Initiative framework adoption. Third, among corporate social responsibility reporters, higher corporate social responsibility performers are more likely to assure their corporate social responsibility reports externally. Fourth, among corporate social responsibility reporters, Global Reporting Initiative framework adopters are more likely to assure their corporate social responsibility reports externally. Overall, the results verified the signaling theory but reject a greenwashing tendency in the hospitality and tourism sector. The proven links among the four dimensions of CSR incorporated into the study models indicate complementarity among the indicators. Besides, it should be noted that there is still a gap for improvement, particularly for non-corporate social responsibility reporters and for non-Global Reporting Initiative adopters.     

Impacts of positive and negative corporate social responsibility activities on company performance in the hospitality industry

In spite of growing concern for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in various industries including the hospitality industry, the relationship between CSR activities and financial performance is a rarely examined subject in the hospitality context. Especially, research measuring the separate impacts of positive and negative CSR activities on companies’ financial performances remains, as yet, unconsidered. Thus, this study examines different impacts of positive and negative CSR activities on financial performance of hotel, casino, restaurant and airline companies, theoretically based on positivity and negativity effects. Findings suggest mixed results across different industries and will contribute to companies’ appropriate strategic decision-making for CSR activities by providing more precise information regarding the impacts of each directional CSR activity on financial performance.     

Work environment and atmosphere: The role of organizational support in the creativity performance of tourism and hospitality organizations

In this study, we developed and tested a new model of how organizational support affects the organizational work environment and atmosphere that facilitates creativity. A field study of 320 employees showed that organizational support was positively related to the work environment for knowledge sharing, motivation, procedural justice, and promotion. Further, the work environment plays a mediating role between organizational support and employee creativity. These measures of an organization's environment of procedural justice are related to employees’ motivation and knowledge sharing, which predict employees’ promotion.     

Levels of quality and environmental management in the hotel industry: Their joint influence on firm performance

Many studies have examined quality management and environmental management separately. This paper analysed the commitment to quality and environmental management at the same time, and their separate and joint effects on hotel performance. The empirical data were collected from a sample of 301 3-to-5-star Spanish hotels. A cluster analysis was carried out to identify the levels of commitment to quality and the environment. Then, ANOVA and regression analysis tested the quality and environmental commitment levels-performance link. Three levels of quality and environmental commitment have been identified. The findings showed that the commitment to quality and environmental practices influences hotel performance.     

A review of entrepreneurship research published in the hospitality and tourism management journals

This research evaluates the entrepreneurship research in field of the Hospitality and Tourism Management to obtain a better understanding of its progress and potential. The study examines entrepreneurship articles published in seven leading hospitality and tourism management journals from 1986 to 2006. Findings indicate that Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management are the top three journals that publish entrepreneurship research. However, the amount of entrepreneurship research in the leading hospitality and tourism management journals appears less than expected. Publication of empirical work has not increased over time over the past 21 years, and theoretical work remains at a consistently low level. Even for empirical studies, there is a lack of methodological sophistication of analytical and statistical tools. The results suggest a concern that entrepreneurship research remains under studied; therefore, more theoretical work is needed to map a course of study and to develop a framework unique to the entrepreneurship domain of hospitality and tourism research. The good news is that there are abundant opportunities for scholars in hospitality and tourism management to explore the field of entrepreneurship as a viable research paradigm.     

Change or perish: Examining the role of human capital and dynamic marketing capabilities in the hospitality sector

Many researchers have endeavored to explain which factors contribute to sustainable competitive advantage. Toward this end, this study contributes to the marketing and hospitality management literature by providing empirical evidence on how human capital, dynamic marketing capabilities, and market dynamism influence competitive advantage in the hotel sector. We collected cross-sectional survey data from marketing and sales managers in 165 hotels, along with in-depth interviews in three hotels, based in four Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, namely, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The findings reveal that human capital directly, and indirectly through dynamic marketing capabilities, plays a critical role on developing competitive advantage. To contextualize this role, our research reveals that market dynamism moderates the mediated relationship between human capital and competitive advantage via market sensing capabilities. We discuss how the findings offer theoretical and managerial implications for the development of competitive advantage in the hotel sector.     

Analyzing the influence of firm-wide integrated marketing communication on market performance in the hospitality industry

Over the last decade, scholars have recently emphasized the need for tourism marketers to orchestrate the wide range communication activities and forms via the adoption of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). However, prior research has almost neglected the role of IMC in hospitality management. This paper adopts a broad organizational approach conceiving IMC as a concept that involves the whole organizational entity and aims to analyze the effects of IMC on market performance, in terms of superior sales and financial results, greater brand advantage and customer-related outcomes for those businesses providing lodging services. To pursue this research purpose, a survey has been conducted among corporate-level senior managers of lodging businesses operating in Spain. The findings provided further and more compelling empirical proof of the positive influence of IMC on market performance, responding to the call for more rigorous empirical research to demonstrate the beneficial effects of firm-wide IMC on market performance.     

The link between environmental uncertainty,organizational agility,and organizational creativity in the hotel industry

Informed by the confusion theory, this study tests the three main aspects of environmental uncertainty on organizational creativity and extends the moderating model of organizational agility in uncertain environments. The data were collected from 174 managers of five-star hotels. Construct validity and the hypotheses were tested using AMOS 26.0. The findings show that organizational agility moderates the negative impacts of competitive and technological uncertainty on organizational creativity. The results suggest that in highly dynamic and complex environments, organizations must reduce bureaucracy to manage the challenges of uncertainty. Informed by the confusion and contingency theories, this study offers new insights into the relationship between environmental uncertainty, organizational creativity, and organizational agility in the hospitality industry.     

Motivation of internationalization and a moderating role of environmental conditions in the hospitality industry

As internationalization has been widely implemented throughout the tourism industry, it is important to understand what motivates a firm to internationalize its business. Thus, this study examines the motivation for internationalization based on the neoinstitutional theory. This study employs a hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to test the proposed hypotheses, using the annual firm-level data of the tourism industry, and finds that tourism firms including casinos, hotels, and restaurants are demotivated to diversify their international expansion into different countries as their competitors increase the scope of countries in which they operate. However, if a firm perceives its competitors as speeding up the process of internationalization, that firm will also increase the pace of internationalization. In addition, this relationship between competitors and focal firms' internationalization varies according to environmental conditions (i.e., dynamism, complexity, and munificence). The findings of the study contribute to the internationalization and tourism literature.     

Going green: the adoption of environmental initiatives in Michigan's lodging sector

The greening of tourism activities continues to receive attention from industry members and academics. This paper assesses familiarity with, perceived benefits of and adoption levels of various environmental initiatives within the accommodation sector in Michigan, USA, based on 217 responses to an online survey of lodging providers. Variations in familiarity with various green schemes, as well as in perceived benefits of the adoption of green business practices, were assessed across property characteristics, including type, ownership, location and size. The existence of a written environmental policy was associated with higher levels of adoption of green practices for less than half of these practices; fewer than anticipated. Interesting differences in the practices adopted between smaller, independent and larger chain properties emerged, with the smaller independents more likely to engage in community-oriented activities and use local and/or organic products. The almost complete implementation of the proper disposal of hazardous waste contrasted with minimal use of keycards to control power use. The findings have implications for the promotion of green initiatives to the lodging sector, particularly in terms of which agency or organization could best deliver this messaging. Potential synergies between the findings and the award-winning tourism marketing campaign, Pure MI, are discussed.     

Knowledge sharing in revenue management teams: Antecedents and consequences of group cohesion

The practice of Revenue Management has received widespread acceptance in the international hospitality industry yet a lack of best practice in terms of organizational integration persists. This paper follows the notion that revenue management is first and foremost a human activity, dependent on knowledge exchange and concerted decision within revenue management teams. One critical attribute of effective teams is group cohesion. The authors contrasted communication networks of 38 revenue management teams by means of social network analysis to identify the antecedents and consequences of group cohesion. It was found that industry employment, age and revenue management experience define the structure of communication networks and that awareness of other's expertise is central in explaining differences team performance across the sample. The findings highlight the issue of knowledge asymmetry in teams and suggest that the Revenue Manager occupies a more active role as an information broker in order to enhance group decision making.