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.     

How and when servant leaders fuel creativity: The role of servant attitude and intrinsic motivation

Workplace creativity is critical to stay ahead in the current competitive hospitality industry. Recent research has suggested that servant leadership fosters creativity. However, there is a lack of research into the mechanisms and situations that make this link possible. This paper examines (1) employee servant attitude as a mediator in the servant leadership–employee creativity relationship, and (2) the role of intrinsic motivation in both the direct and the mediated relationship. Using structural equation modeling to analyze a sample of 259 hotel employees in Spain, we found that servant attitude is one of the mechanisms servant leaders use to foster creativity, and that this mediating role of servant attitude is strengthened as employee intrinsic motivation increases. However, when intrinsic motivation decreases, the mediation reverts and the leadership–employee creativity relationship becomes significant again. New light is shed on how and when servant leadership is most effective in fostering hotel staff creativity.     

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.     

Hospitality service climate,employee service orientation,career aspiration and performance: A moderated mediation model

This study tested a moderated mediation model involving hospitality employees’ service climate perception, service orientation, career aspiration and service performance. Using a sample of 500 frontline service employees in ten restaurants of a hospitality chain company in China, the study found that employees’ service orientation partially mediated the relationship between service climate and self-reported/supervisor-reported service performance. Furthermore, career aspiration moderated the mediation effect of service orientation between service climate and self-reported service performance. However, such a moderating effect was not confirmed when service performance was measured by supervisors’ ratings. The study highlights the importance of employees’ service orientation and career aspiration in hospitality human resource management practices.     

Dual-focused transformational leadership and service innovation in hospitality organisations: A multilevel investigation

Service innovation from hospitality employees can contribute to improving service quality and further facilitating hospitality organisations to gain competitive advantage and maintain prosperity. Drawing upon social exchange theory and social cognitive theory, we developed a multilevel model of the relationships between dual-focused transformational leadership (TFL) and service innovation at the team and individual levels, as well as mediating and moderating mechanisms behind the relationships. Data were collected from team leaders and their employees from hospitality organisations in Henan Province, China. Multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM) was employed to validate the model. The results showed that team-focused TFL promoted team service innovation via developmental culture while individual-focused TFL promoted employee service innovative behaviour via creative self-efficacy. Group openness diversity concurrently moderated the relationship between developmental culture and team service innovation, and the relationship between individual-focused TFL and creative self-efficacy. Enlightened by the research findings, theoretical and practical implications are drawn.     

Ethical leadership and its impact on service innovative behavior: The role of LMX and job autonomy

This study examined the effect of ethical leadership on service innovative behavior of employees at small and medium sized tourist hotels in Uttarakhand, India. It has forwarded an integrated model that highlights the relationship between ethical leadership and employees' service innovative behavior while interacting through leader-member exchange and job autonomy. Using a sample of 468 customer contact employees and their 117 supervisors, hierarchical regression was conducted to establish the relationship. Findings of the study revealed that ethical leadership promoted service innovative behavior of the hotel employees mediated through leader-member exchanges. Further, it was also found that the level of service innovative behavior was commensurate to the perception of employee job autonomy. Based on the study findings, implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

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.     

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.     

How cute mascots affect relationships with tourism destinations: A moderated mediation model

The mascot, acting as an ambassador for a destination, plays a significant role in promoting tourism development. However, limited research has focused on the cute features of a mascot and its marketing effects on a destination. This study extends the literature on cuteness and mascots by examining the effect of including a cute mascot in destination advertising on a person's travel intention. Four experiments were undertaken to investigate the cuteness effect. It was found that including a cute mascot in a destination advertisement increased travel intention. Feelings of healing and destination intimacy mediated the cuteness effect. The moderating role of social exclusion was also examined. The study revealed that a mascot's cuteness effect was stronger for socially excluded individuals. The findings give destination managers novel insights into mascot design in tourism and destination marketing.     

When diversity leads to divided teams: A multi-level moderated mediation model of team faultlines and employee engagement

Team faultlines are hypothetical dividing lines that split a team into two or more subgroups based on individual (diversity) attributes, which negatively influence team process and outcomes. Linking with diversity literature and building on social identity and optimal distinctiveness theories, our study examined a multilevel moderated mediation model on whether, how, and when team faultlines would affect hotel frontline employees’ work engagement using data from 337 Chinese hotel employees nested in 102 work groups, collected at multiple times. The results indicated that team faultlines negatively influenced hotel frontline employees’ work engagement, and that individual perceived psychological safety played a mediating role. Inclusive leadership moderated the indirect relationship between team faultlines and employees’ work engagement via psychological safety, thus providing a more optimistic view that measures can indeed be taken to mitigate the negative impacts of team faultlines.     

The importance of human-related factors on service innovation and performance

Firm size, collaboration, foreign ownership and the level of formal training for employees are just some of the key inputs considered to be important in the amount of Service innovation in Tourism firms. However work has called for a greater empirical understanding on service innovation in Tourism and deeper consideration of employment focused practices as front line employees are crucial to innovation. The relationship customers have with service providers is a key determinate of satisfaction and as such the aim of this research is to unpick further the human-related factors associated with this area of study. Data for this research paper were gathered from 201 tourism service firms located throughout Japan. Whilst the results indicate that committed front-line employees and leadership are found to be the primary antecedents of service innovation, knowledge management and instilling creativity through the firm are also key. Our results suggestion that organizations can leverage the benefits associated with human-related factors to enhance service innovation behaviours and increase business performance.     

Transformational leadership and service recovery performance: The mediating effect of emotional labor and the influence of culture

The current study examined the relationship between transformational leadership and service recovery performance and the mediating effect of emotional labor. To uncover potential cross-cultural differences, a sample of 217 front-line hospitality employees from the United States (Study 1) and 219 front-line hospitality employees from China (Study 2) were used. The results demonstrate transformational leadership was positively related to deep acting and negatively related to surface acting emotional labor strategies. Additionally, deep acting was positively related to service recovery performance, while surface acting was negatively related to service recovery performance. These findings were consistent between the U.S. and Chinese sample; however, the mechanisms and paths between transformational leadership and service recovery performance differed between the two samples suggesting culture influenced how transformational leadership is related to service recovery performance through deep acting (Study 1) or surface acting (Study 2) emotional labor strategies.     

Hospitality employee knowledge-sharing behaviors in the relationship between goal orientations and service innovative behavior

Goals are central to understanding motivated behavior, with each discipline emphasizing its consequences, levels, and types of goals. Because knowledge sharing is not mandatory in all organizations, individual personal motivation is critical for voluntary and active engagement in knowledge sharing. This study investigates the structural relationships among two distinctive forms of goal orientations as personal intrinsic motivators (learning goal orientation and performance goal orientation), two distinctive types of knowledge-sharing behaviors (knowledge collecting and knowledge donating), and employee service innovative behavior. The data were derived from 418 respondents working in five-star hotels in Busan, Korea. The positive relationship between learning goal orientation and knowledge collecting was stronger than that of the relationship between learning goal orientation and knowledge donating. The negative relationship between performance goal orientation and knowledge donating was stronger than the relationship between performance goal orientation and knowledge collecting. In addition, the positive relationship between knowledge collecting and employee service innovative behavior was stronger than the positive relationship between knowledge donating and employee service innovative behavior. The study concludes with discussions of the empirical findings, managerial implications, and strengths and limitations. Future research avenues are also offered.     

Customer emotions minute by minute: How guests experience different emotions within the same service environment

For years, the importance of customer emotions has been recognized in the service literature. Despite existing research, the discrete emotions generated by each service encounter within the theme park setting deserves more attention. The present research uses a quantitative research method to ascertain the various customer emotions experienced throughout the theme park experience using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Data was analyzed using multinomial logistic regression as well as correlation analysis. Results indicate that the emotions most likely to produce a satisfying theme park experience take place when enjoying rides, dining, and interacting with others. In contrast, the emotions generated while buying tickets were negatively associated with a satisfying theme park experience. Based on the results of this study, the authors provide a series of recommendations to generate positive emotions at key service encounters within the theme park experience.     

Customer mistreatment and service performance: A self-consistency perspective

The service encounter is an important social context for hospitality service providers who strive to satisfy their need for job competence by delivering excellent customer service. Customer mistreatment may be perceived as a sign of work-related goal failure by hospitality service providers. Building on the literature of goal attainment and failure in the workplace, we propose that hospitality employees, who experience customer mistreatment, undergo diminished organization-based self-esteem (OBSE), decreasing service performance. Moreover, employees’ locus of control is proposed to interact with customer mistreatment and predict service performance through the mediation of OBSE. The results of a multi-wave and multi-source survey, administered to a sample of hotel frontline employees (N = 180) and their direct supervisors (N = 38), show that customer mistreatment has a negative influence on service performance through OBSE, but only among employees with an external locus of control.     

Managing Swiss Hospitality: How cultural antecedents of innovation and customer-oriented value systems can influence performance in the hotel industry

Research into innovativeness and customer orientation in the service industry is burgeoning, yet our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of both activities in hospitality management remain unclear. To address this problem we investigate the link between corporate culture, indicators of innovativeness and business performance in the Swiss hotel industry, because the Swiss have a proclivity toward innovation as well as a long established record in hospitality management. Data were generated from 96 businesses in the hotel industry and the results were analysed using structural equation modeling. They suggest that cultural dimensions are positively associated with customer orientation, innovativeness, and company performance. The implications of the findings are discussed along with limitations and future research directions.     

Hotel resuscitation by reward-based crowdfunding: A critical review and moderated mediation model

This study endeavoured to investigate the impacts of motivation on financial contribution intention (FCI) for the hotel customers as well as electronic word-of-mouth (E-WOM) by the mediating roles of perceived risk and customers' trust, and the moderating effects of social consciousness and media coverage in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We also used a systematic review to deliver a comprehensive overview of crowdfunding in the tourism and hospitality context. Using a sample from a survey of 405 hotel customers in Egypt and Oman. The measurement invariance and multi-group analysis revealed that there is no variance in the measurement models for the different groups being considered. The results revealed that media coverage moderates the mediation of customers' trust between motivation and FCI. The study adopted an integrative framework drawing on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), risk theory, and trust theory that will be of interest to both academics and practitioners.     

Being ignored at work: Understanding how and when spiritual leadership curbs workplace ostracism in the hospitality industry

Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, the present study theorizes that spiritual leadership is negatively related to workplace ostracism, both directly and indirectly via job social support and that employees’ justice orientation moderates the negative relationship between spiritual leadership and workplace ostracism. Based on time-lagged (three waves, two months apart) survey data collected from 252 hospitality employees, our findings reveal that spiritual leadership is negatively associated with workplace ostracism, both directly and indirectly via job social support. We also find that justice orientation strengthens the negative relationship between spiritual leadership and workplace ostracism. These findings not only highlight core theoretical contributions towards the existing literature on spiritual leadership, job social support, justice orientation, and workplace ostracism but also offer useful practical implications for hotel managers concerned about the repercussions of workplace ostracism for employees’ and organizations’ outcomes.     

Attracting and retaining food servers: How internal service quality moderates occupational stigma

This study examines the abilities of internal service quality (ISQ) to moderate occupational stereotype for restaurant food servers. Food servers at restaurants responded to two surveys measuring ISQ and occupational stereotype. It was concluded that ISQ overcomes occupational stereotype to attract and retain food servers in the hospitality industry. This investigation contributes to the hospitality literature and to a better understanding of the world of waiters, especially in reference to employee turnover, employee retention, and motivation to work in the food service industry. This research used an integrative model which may be applied to service sectors outside hospitality.     

Psychological contract fulfillment in the hotel workplace: Empowering leadership,knowledge exchange,and service performance

This study developed and tested a group-level model involving empowering leadership, psychological contract fulfillment, knowledge exchange, and service performance. In 28 Taiwan's tourism hotels, data stem from 56 hotel departments and comprise 258 employees was used to test the research hypotheses through structural equation model. We found that, as anticipated, empowering leadership was positively related to psychological contract fulfillment and knowledge exchange; psychological contract fulfillment was positively related to knowledge exchange and service performance; and knowledge exchange was positively related to service performance. This study highlighted that psychological contract fulfillment partially mediated the relationship between empowering leadership and knowledge exchange; knowledge exchange fully mediated the relationship between psychological contract fulfillment and service performance. Theoretical and practice implications, limitations, and suggestions for future were presented.