What are the key success factors for strategy formulation and implementation? Perspectives of managers in the hotel industry

This study investigates how hotel managers describe strategy and identify key success factors for its formulation and implementation. The study analyzes qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews with property level top managers of hotels in Hong Kong. The findings show that hotel managers prioritize competition analysis and macro-environmental conditions over internal characteristics such as teamwork in strategy formulation. In the implementation phase, however, internal considerations such as employee involvement and strategic consensus are given prominence. This study provides a significant contribution by examining how top level practitioners in the industry interpret success factors in their strategic management efforts, and it highlights a largely neglected area in the hospitality and tourism management literature.     

女性高管会提升旅游企业绩效吗?——来自旅游上市公司的经验研究

旅游业是女性就业较为集中的行业。近年来,我国旅游企业中女性高管不断增加,文章以2003-2016年期间我国旅游上市公司作为样本,基于高阶理论构建研究假设,并利用非平衡面板数据建立计量经济学模型,实证研究我国旅游上市公司中女性高管对企业绩效的影响。研究发现,旅游上市企业中女性高管对企业绩效具有显著促进作用;然而,对酒店行业的进一步分析表明,女性高管对酒店企业绩效的正向作用,会因为行业高度竞争压力的存在而受到抑制。研究结果丰富了现阶段女性研究相关文献,也为旅游企业管理决策提供了理论依据和经验支持。     

Effects of crisis response tone and spokesperson's gender on employer attractiveness

Timely apologies to key publics on social media are becoming an important aspect of crisis recovery but little is known of how the spokesperson’s characteristics and the tone of apology may influence the outcome. Recognising the importance of the need to attract quality workforce, this study examines the impact of social media response to a preventable crisis on organisational attractiveness. Specifically, a 2 (message tone: corporate/formal vs. human/informal) x 2 (spokesperson’s gender: male vs. female) between-subjects factorial design was used to test the effectiveness of an apology. The results suggest a significant moderated mediation effect. We find that account acceptance mediates the relationship between message tone and organisational attractiveness, and this effect is conditional on gender of the spokesperson. The results are relevant to crisis managers and brand managers that seek to attract and retain talents.     

Empowerment in hospitality organizations: Customer orientation and organizational support

Although empowering employees has often been prescribed as an efficient strategy for hospitality organizations, the strategy alone cannot ensure success. Individual and organizational factors should be considered to increase employees’ perception of empowerment. This study examines the impact of employees’ customer orientation and organizational factors on the employee empowerment perceptions. Our findings, based on a survey of 203 guest contact employees, suggest that organizations should hire customer oriented people, guide them with service training, provide a reward system, and facilitate service standards communication in order to increase perceived empowerment. Implications of these findings for hospitality service managers are discussed.     

Sexual Harassment in the Hospitality Industry: Perceptions of Restaurant Employees

Abstract

With the cost of litigation and the dollar amount of settlements both increasing substantially, it is with a pro-active view to look at the perspective of sexual harassment by restaurant employees. The purpose of this study is to measure female restaurant employees' and male restaurant employees' perceptions and attitudes on sexual harassment in the restaurant industry. By analyzing the responses of the female restaurant employees and male restaurant employees, a better understanding of the similarities and differences among these two distinct employee segments could be obtained. This research paper will try to provide some useful information when it comes to sexual harassment in the restaurant industry and what policies should be implemented.     

An exploratory analysis of hotel selection factors: A comprehensive survey of Tehran hotels

The selection of residence location in different countries is of high priority and significance for tourists. The selection of the most appropriate hotel entails a rather complicated decision-making process. A comprehensive hotel selection model can empower the hotel managers, the tourists, and the tourism industry to make decisions based on more effective indicators of high quality services for a higher rate of satisfaction. The purpose of this research is to deeply explore the broad literature and to identify the most significant hotel selection indicators and factors in Tehran hotels and to present a comprehensive model through an exploratory factor analysis of the extracted indicators so as to provide the managers and tourists with a firm ground for making better decisions regarding the indicators of hotel selection. Promenade and comfort, security and protection, network services, pleasure, staff and their services, news and recreational information, cleanliness and room comfort, expenditure, room facilities and car parking were identified as the main hotel selection factors of Tehran hotels. Afterwards, another factor analysis has been done in order to extract the next hidden set of factors within the aforementioned factors which return two main factors of “Hotel Comfort Factors” and “Hotel Compensatory Factors”. Following the creation of the final model and based on the intrinsic vagueness of decision making in the process of selection, a set of fuzzy membership functions for the extracted factors has been provided. The intention has been to provide the expert system and decision support system developers and users with a set of practical indicators in order to help them design and implement realistic systems based on the deeply studied indicators and factors of hotel selection. Such supportive systems can be directly presented to the tourists requesting a mechanism for selecting the most appropriate hotel but lacking enough information about the important indicators and factors and also to the managers of hotels who are trying to make strategic decisions regarding the most optimized investments on the indicators of selecting a hotel. Considering the priorities of tourists, hotel managers, entrepreneurs and investors in the hotel industry require deep investigations and studies for which this paper provides a firm basis.     

Spillover Between Work and Personal Life for Lodging Managers

ABSTRACT

The hospitality and tourism industry is characterized by long and erratic work hours. Many jobs are unsuitable for working at home. The unique features of the lodging industry and the demands of lodging managers' jobs often have interfered with the personal lives and marital relationships of these managers. The situation may even lead to a decision to leave the specific occupation or the industry permanently. The primary goal of this research was to investigate the perspectives of Taiwan hotel managers' regarding work-personal life balance and its relationship to various demographic variables, such as gender, marital status, etc. Results indicate that very few of Taiwanese managers had difficulty balancing work and personal lives. Indeed, the majority of these managers reported their perception of success in balancing work and personal life as from neutral to very successful. No statistically significant differences were found between female and male managers in terms of perceived difficulty or success in work and personal life balance. Neither was there a significant difference among married or single female/male managers. Results also suggested that work interfered with personal life more frequently than personal life did with work.     

An exploratory study examining information technology adoption and implementation in full-service restaurant firms

The purpose of the paper is to explore and compare the current use of information technology-related advances in chain and independent full-service restaurants, the factors that motivate managers of these types of restaurants to decide whether or not to implement such technology, and how these managers perceive the impact of technology on the firm. A case study analysis involving four San Francisco Bay Area full-service restaurants was conducted to examine the framework of full-service restaurants to implement new technology. Propositions are developed that purport the information technology adoption and implementation characteristics of full-service restaurant firms while elucidating the distinctiveness between chain and independent firms.     

Developing energy conservation and carbon reduction indicators for the hotel industry in Taiwan

This study develops and weights energy conservation and carbon reduction (ECCR) indicators for the hotel industry in Taiwan to create an instrument to help address climate change. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior hotel managers, environmental specialists, and government officials to identify the preliminary ECCR framework. An expert panel then was invited to review the structure of ECCR criteria and the compiled criteria in a structure for item modification. An analytic network process questionnaire survey was employed to determine the relative weights of the criteria. The data analysis reveals seven categories in the ECCR framework: communication and participation, top management commitment, energy, water, waste, building, and purchasing. A total of 32 indicators were identified and prioritized in terms of their relative importance to ECCR contributions. The results of this study suggest that the success of ECCR implementation depends primarily on management support and staff engagement. Hotel operators can improve their environmental management by initiating ECCR practices based on the proposed ECCR indicators.     

Performance measurement of an enterprise and business units with an application to a Taiwanese hotel chain

Performance evaluation is an important issue for managers, since it can be used as a reference in decision making with regard to budget distribution and/or performance improvement for business units. This study modifies the data envelopment analysis model to evaluate the performance of an enterprise, and shows that we can utilize the available outputs of the modified model to easily calculate the efficiencies of business units. In addition, an efficiency evaluation of a hotel chain is carried out through a literature review and the use of experts’ opinions to determine the measurement factors, and several managerial insights are discussed.     

Hotel managers' intentions towards female hiring: An application to the theory of planned behaviour

Hotel managers who run daily operations and interview new employees play a vital role in gender equality. Based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this paper examines the factors that affect hotel managers' intentions to hire females. Furthermore, this paper integrates gender attitudes into the TPB framework. Structural Equation Modelling was conducted with a convenience sample of 201 managers in Egypt. Results support the usefulness of the TPB framework. Specifically, managers' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control were positively associated with female hiring intentions, which, in turn, predicted female hiring behaviour. Results, however, reveal negative effects of gender attitudes on the TPB predictors. This paper contributes to the literature by examining the capacity of the TPB to predict female hiring intentions and extending this model by including gender attitudes as a relevant background variable. Results position gender attitudes as an effective window of intervention for influencing female hiring.     

Innovation and performance in the hotel industry

The growing competition in the hotel industry is one of the main challenges of this segment, which increasingly depends on the ability to innovate. Thus, this article aims to analyze the impact of innovation on the performance of employees and hotel organizations. This is an exploratory study, with a quantitative approach using a structured computer-administered questionnaire to 73 managers of hotel chains, located in Brazil, which correspond to 792 hotels. Data analysis used multiple linear regression method with SPSS software to find out the relationship between the factors of innovation (communication, processes, leadership, and strategy) and the performance of employees and hotel organizations. Results show that the factors of communication, leadership, and strategy directly influence the performance of the employees. However, only the leadership factor directly affects the performance of hotel organizations.     

Key managerial and financial accounting skills for private club managers: Comparison to lodging managers

ABSTRACT

This study provides empirical evidence of the comprehensive accounting skills by financial executives across the United States, and Canada believed important to private club general managers. This study’s purview extends to identify any significant differences or similarities in the accounting skills between the private club and lodging managers. Four hundred and one responses (211 from clubs and 190 from hotels) were received. The most critical accounting skills for club and lodging managers are understanding operating budgets, capital budgets, income statements, and analyses of variances. When comparing the accounting skills to managers between clubs and hotels, the ranks of importance are similar. The findings provide theoretical and practical implication for hospitality researchers, managers, and educators.     

Segmentation by visitor motivation in three Kenyan national reserves

This study addresses the needs of three national reserves in north central Kenya for developing a tourism strategy aimed at enhancing tourist opportunities at the reserves. In order to adequately address visitor needs, the reserve managers must first understand the motivations for different types of visitors. A factor-cluster approach was employed to identify visitor segment profiles based on their motivations for visiting the reserves. A principal components analysis of motivations revealed eight motivation factors, and three distinct visitor segments were identified using an ipsative clustering method. These segments included Escapists, Learners and Spiritualists. Understanding the differences in these visitor segments will help managers of the reserves better provide alternative activities and services to tourists. Management recommendations include providing scenic and expansive landscape viewing opportunities and developing a more competent and knowledgeable ranger corps capable of visitor education and outreach initiatives.     

Relationship between HEXACO personality factors and emotional labour of service providers in the tourism industry

This study aimed to 1) explore to what extent service providers’ emotional labour is affected by personality as measured using HEXACO personality factors, 2) analyze the affect of emotional labour on the performance of required emotional display rules, and 3) investigate differences in emotional labour depending on service providers’ demographic characteristics. From a questionnaire survey of employees in different service sectors in Korea, four HEXACO personality factors, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness were found to have a positive influence on emotional labour. Deep acting has a positive influence on the requirement to display positive emotions and a negative influence on the requirement to hide negative emotions. Demographic variables generally do not affect emotional labour. This study provides practical information about employees to managers in the service industry. It could help in recruitment, the management of human resources, and enhance a company’s service assessment.     

The impact of seasonality on tourism and hospitality operations in the alpine region of New South Wales,Australia

Despite the recognized importance of seasonality for tourism businesses, there has been a distinct lack of studies undertaken in the past that discuss the impact of seasonality on alpine accommodation resorts, and more specifically that focus on an Australian location. The main purpose of this study was to examine whether or not the Australian alpine accommodation providers and ski operations have been significantly impacted by the issue of seasonality and to determine more specifically, had there been industry pressure placed on them to become all season operations? For this study, a total of 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers of hospitality businesses located in the sub-alpine region of Jindabyne, and nearby alpine areas of Perisher and Thredbo in New South Wales, Australia. Study results indicated that the majority of managers acknowledged the fact that there has been an increase in the number of summer visitors each year which has pressured them to make changes to their operations. They conceded that such activity has served to reinforce a ‘stand alone’ mindset which was still prevalent amongst the majority of the managers in the region.     

Migrant labor in hospitality: The Cyprus experience

The hospitality industry depends to a great extent on migrant employees for its day-to-day operations. Cyprus’ accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004 saw an influx of migrant employees, mainly from ‘New Europe’, a development which posed and continues to pose, numerous organizational challenges. Adopting a qualitative methodology, the study set out to investigate migrants’ employment experiences in Cyprus, via the views of three different groups of employees; managers, local and migrant employees. Findings, can inform both industry stakeholders and academic scholars, while enhancing our collective knowledge regarding migrants’ contributions to the industry, ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors of migrant employment, their intercultural relationships with the host population, and the impacts that migrant employment can have on the service delivery process.     

Managers’ Attitudes Towards People with Disabilities in the Hospitality Industry

People with disabilities face many challenges when incorporating into the workforce, including the attitudes of their employers and coworkers. This study aimed to assess managers’ attitudes about people with disabilities in hotels and restaurants in the United States. Interviews and questionnaires were used for data collection. This study provides information for hospitality industry managers about attitudes towards employees with disabilities. Managers’ ages and years worked for the current organization had an effect on attitudes related to the importance of training people with disabilities.     

Planning for an environmental management programme in a luxury hotel and its perceived impact on staff: an exploratory case study

Hotels generate substantial environmental footprint. To minimise this footprint, hoteliers are increasingly engaging in environmental management programmes (EMPs). When designing such a programme, it is important that hotel managers do not only evaluate its effect on corporate strategy, finance, and reputation, but also analyse its impact on staff. This is because employees are in the forefront of hotel environmental management interventions and can determine their success or failure. This is also due to the impact that EMPs can make on staff attitudes, both at work and in private life. This study explores how hotel employees perceive an opportunity to engage in an EMP in a luxury hotel. It finds that a well-designed and implemented programme can strengthen the levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment among hotel staff, subject to explaining the reasons for and outlining the benefits of environmental management interventions, incentivised participation, regular evaluation, and adequate training. The study also shows that EMPs implemented in a hotel may drive more environmentally responsible behaviour of employees outside work.     

An examination of executive compensation in the restaurant industry

The purpose of this empirical study is to examine executive compensation in the restaurant industry. The effects of a set of accounting-based performance measures, market-based performance measures, and executive-related factors on the compensations of firm CEOs, other senior executive managers, and board members were examined. Drawn from 16 consecutive years of data and a sample of over 2200 observations from restaurant companies, the findings revealed that determinants of equity based compensation vary by different types of executives. In addition, this study supports the notion that executive compensation in the restaurant industry is determined not only by firm performance measures but also by executive-related characteristics such as tenure.