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.     

Drivers of work engagement: An examination of core self-evaluations and psychological climate among hotel employees

Many practitioners consider employee engagement a new human resource practice through which business can cope with uncertain and turbulent industry conditions. However, the hospitality academic community is still in need of finding predictors of employee engagement. The purpose of this study was to provide theory-based empirical evidence on whether employee evaluations of self (i.e., core self-evaluations) and perceptions of organizational work environment (i.e., psychological climate) affect employee engagement. Kahn's theory of three psychological conditions and Demerouti and her associates’ job demands–resources model were used for theoretical frameworks. Data were collected from 394 hotel line-employees and managers in the United States. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that core self-evaluations and four components of psychological climate (i.e., customer orientation of the management, managerial support for service, internal service, and information-sharing communication) were positively associated with employee engagement. Managerial implications for human resource practice and future research directions are provided.     

Disentangling green service innovative behavior among hospitality employees: The role of customer green involvement

Regardless of the role of customers in co-creating value with organizations, how customer involvement drives employees, particularly in the hospitality industry, to engage in green service innovative endeavors has been scarcely examined. This study seeks to uncover how and when customer green involvement nurtures green service innovative behavior among hotel employees. The dataset was formed from the responses from 519 employees and 84 managers working in Vietnam-based hotels and analyzed via multilevel structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated the role of hotel employees’ green information management motivations (i.e., green information proactiveness, transparency, and formality) in mediating the positive relationship between customer green involvement and employee green service innovative behavior. Internal green marketing orientation functioned as an enhancer for the effects of customer green involvement on green information management motivations. This research contributes to the stream of green behavior research by bringing together customer green involvement and green service innovative behavior in the hospitality literature and unraveling the mechanisms behind their relationship.     

Applying Service Profit Chain model to the Korean restaurant industry

The purpose of this study is to empirically determine the relationship between employees’ constructs such as internal service quality, service ability, employee satisfaction, and organizational commitment, and customers’ constructs such as perceived value, customer satisfaction, customer trust, and loyalty. This relationship was studied by applying the Service Profit Chain model to the Korean restaurant industry. Results show that internal service quality has a significant effect on service ability, and teamwork/communication has a significant effect on employee satisfaction. Employees’ organizational commitment has a significant direct effect on the value perceived by customers. Ultimately, there is an indirect influential relationship between employees’ and customers’ constructs. Implications of these results are discussed, and possible limitations of the study are addressed.     

The Relationships Between Food Service Wait Staff Skills,Satisfaction, Commitment and Their Levels of Customer Orientation

Abstract

Restaurants are in an industry that seems to be one of the most competitivein the nation. The challenges of operating in this particular industry are exacerbated bythe relative similarities that exist between many food service providers. One means that may be used to achieve a degree of differentiation may be through the restaurant's customer contact personnel, i.e., its wait staff. The restaurant's wait staff is an important factor in determining customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction in turn is an important determinant of the restaurant's profitability and longevity. The purpose of this research is to assess the relationships that exist between the wait staff's levels of customer orientation and their sales skills, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The results indicate that the positive relationships exist between the wait staff's customer orientation and their skills, job satisfaction and organizational commitment.     

When enough is enough! Alcohol servers’ refusal styles and key antecedents

While alcohol servers’ play a critical role in managing customers’ intoxication in hospitality settings, there is little research that investigates actual server refusal behaviors within hedonic interactions. This study is an in-depth exploration of the key styles alcohol servers use to refuse alcohol service and the determinants of these behaviors. Fourteen interviews conducted with service staff reveal four styles of alcohol refusal behaviors: assertive, hedonic, avoiding, and compromising refusal. Four determinants of supervisory/organizational support, efficacy in enacting behavior, perceived responsibility, and perceived customer characteristics and behaviors appear to relate to these refusal behaviors. The paper addresses marketing and policy implications for hospitality managers, and concludes with limitations and future research directions.     

Effects of corporate social responsibility and internal marketing on organizational commitment and turnover intentions

This study examined the effects of four aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) (i.e., economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibility) and five aspects of internal marketing (IM) (i.e., welfare system, training, compensation, communication, and management support) on employees’ organizational commitment (OC) and turnover intentions (TI) in the casino industry. Based on survey data collected from 310 employees working for a casino company, the relationships were examined using confirmatory factor analysis, second-order factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. The results indicate that both employees’ perceptions of CSR and IM are positively related to their OC and negatively to their TI, suggesting that adding CSR programs to existing IM programs is likely to improve desirable employee work attitudes such as OC, which in turn contributes to decreasing TI. This study makes a contribution to the literature by conceptually and empirically evaluating CSR and IM dimensions simultaneously in the casino environment.     

Identity judgements,work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior: The mediating effects based on group engagement model

The group engagement model (Tyler & Blader, 2003) suggests that organizational identification is based on both the individual's evaluation of the status of their group as perceived by outgroups (i.e., pride) and his/her view about their status within the group (i.e., respect). However, prior research has not examined the factors which influence organizational identification, and subsequently lead employees to feel engaged and exhibit positive extra-role behaviors that benefit the organization. Using time-lagged data from both service employees and their supervisors, our findings demonstrate that both pride and respect are positively related to organizational identification, and organizational identification is positively related to work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). More importantly, organizational identification mediates the relationships between the antecedents (i.e., pride and respect) and consequences (work engagement and OCB). Overall, the study provides compelling support for the group engagement model in predicting key job attitudes and behaviors amongst service employees.     

Factors affecting the knowledge sharing attitude of hotel service personnel

The accumulation and sharing of knowledge is an important managerial approach to attracting customers and increasing customer satisfaction. However, knowledge sharing is not an automatic behavior. The primary purpose of this study is to understand the organizational and personal factors motivating employees to share knowledge. Personnel in international tourist hotels in Taipei who provide front-line services for travelers were surveyed. This study shows that internal marketing and organizational culture influence knowledge-sharing attitudes and perceived behavioral control. In addition, perceived behavioral control influences the relations among internal marketing, organizational culture, and knowledge-sharing attitudes. This research suggests that to develop knowledge-sharing attitudes among personnel that benefit customer service, it is important for managers to model supportive attitudes, give actual support in forms such as bonuses and resources, and develop a culture that encourages personnel to attempt innovation.     

Becoming an ambidextrous hotel: The role of customer orientation

Because competitive pressure in the hotel industry continues to increase, hotels have to develop service innovation (i.e., exploration) and service improvement (i.e., exploitation) capacities to become ambidextrous for continually creating customer value. In this study, a theory of the effect of customer orientation on service innovation and service improvement, which facilitates service quality and results in better market performance, was developed and investigated. By analyzing the data provided by senior executives and department managers from 126 hotels in Taiwan, both service innovation and service improvement were revealed to partially mediate the relationship between customer orientation and market performance. The results imply that customer orientation affects the market performance of a hotel through the development of service capabilities, and that customer orientation can transform a hotel into an ambidextrous hotel by concurrently developing service innovation and service improvement capacities.     

THE MODERATING EFFECT OF INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE: THE CASE OF U.S. CVBS' INTERNET MARKETING

The growth in information technology (IT)‐based organizational marketing activity is giving rise to questions about determinants on the acceptance of technology. This study examined the moderating effects of individual factors and organizational factors on the relationships between the five salient antecedents (i.e., perceived characteristics of the Internet) and the intention to use the Internet within the context of U.S. convention and visitor bureaus' (CVBs') marketing action. The results of the study revealed significant moderating effects of individual factors. In addition, the main effects of the five antecedents on the intention to use the Internet appear to be strong. Implications for industry practitioners as well as suggestions for future studies are discussed.     

Inconsistent organizational images of luxury hotels: Exploring employees' perceptions and dealing strategies

This paper explores employees' perceptions regarding the inconsistent images of luxury hotels. Based on individual interviews with 16 employees (front and backline staff), 4 managers, and 2 hospitality experts from Pakistan, the study found that five-star hotels' employees experienced wide inconsistencies between their organizations' external hotel image and internal employer image. This external-internal image inconsistency not only played a major role in forming employees' perceptions towards the attractiveness of their organizations as an employer, but also influenced their organizational attachment levels (e.g., intention to quit) and recommendation behaviors (e.g., referring the organization to others). The paper also explores different ways through which employees deal with these perceived inconsistencies. Three distinct employee clusters were identified, as employees adopted different strategies to deal with these inconsistencies, based on their inclination towards either or both of the external and internal image. Practical implications in terms of hotel branding and talent management are discussed.     

The effects of service climate and internal service quality on frontline hotel employees’ service-oriented behaviors

When employees in a service profit chain receive quality internal services, they provide quality services to external customers, but extant research does not address what connects internal and external services. This study espouses service climate as an integral part of the service profit chain by exploring its role in linking internal service management and external service performance, and the boundary conditions in which it operates. Data collected from 538 employees of 81 department managers in 24 Chinese hotels were examined using hierarchical linear modeling. Results suggest that managers’ commitment to service quality affects service climate through empowering leadership, service climate links empowering leadership and employee service-oriented behaviors, and external departments’ internal service quality strengthens the positive effect of service climate on service-oriented behaviors. This study advances the literature by integrating service climate and internal service quality into the service profit chain, helping hospitality managers understand how to foster service-oriented behaviors.     

Service customization: To upgrade or to downgrade? An investigation of how option framing affects tourists’ choice of package-tour services

Package-tour operators often tailor trips to fit travelers’ personal requirements to create higher customer value. In practice, there are various options available for presenting an identical package tour to potential customers. This research investigates how option framing influences travelers’ decision making in a package-tour customization task. Based on a behavioral study and a logistic regression analysis, our results show that: (1) when both upgrading (i.e., starting from an economic package and customizing upwards) and downgrading (i.e., beginning with a luxury package and customizing downwards) methods are available, more consumers prefer upgrading to downgrading; (2) consumers customize their tour packages to a higher total price in the downgrading condition; (3) after separating peripheral service from core service attributes, our results further reveal that option framing affects peripheral services more than core services; and (4) consumers who are quality conscious and promotion-focused are more likely to choose a downgrading method for package-tour customization. Combined, these findings offer important managerial implications for travel companies.     

Effects of Service Fairness and Service Quality on Tourists’ Behavioral Intentions and Subjective Well-Being

This study examined the effects of service fairness and service quality on tourists’ behavioral intentions and subjective well-being (SWB) with the mediation of satisfaction. It conceptualizes SWB as a sociopsychological benefit that people receive from tourism activities in parallel with behavioral intentions to visit the destination treated as economic benefit. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in Xiamen city of Fujian Province, China, and a valid sample of 541 tourists was used for data analysis. Findings show that service fairness has more of an effect on behavioral intentions and SWB than service quality; and such differentiated effects can be partly attributed to the mediating role of satisfaction between the antecedent constructs (i.e, service fairness and service quality) and consequence constructs (i.e, behavioral intentions and tourist SWB). The results suggest that tourism service providers should deliver services in a fairer way and tourist SWB should be attended to by both governments and academics.     

Predicting Innovative Information Systems (IS) Behavior of Frontline Employees in Hotels

Although the existing information systems (IS) literature investigated technology acceptance in the early stages of implementation, it is outdated and has a theoretical limitation in its understanding of users as passive recipients of technology. Addressing such limitations, this research focuses on innovative IS behavior as a crucial pattern of IS behavior. To predict innovative IS behaviors of front-office employees at hotels, this research analyzes the personal attitude of commitment to service quality and organizational conditions of psychological empowerment and organizational IS support for employees. The research results emphasize personal attitude, the significance of organizational predictors, and the effect of their interaction on innovative IS behaviors.     

Considering the role of agritourism co-creation from a service-dominant logic perspective

In recent decades, providing production and service simultaneously has remained an unsolved problem in developing agritourism. This study adopted the concept of service-dominant logic, with a service blueprint to assist entrepreneurs in designing agritourism activities that will enhance the tourists' experience within four working farm field experiments. The results showed that agritourism activities with SDL design (experiment B) did not comprehensively enhance the experience of tourists learning agricultural knowledge. The agricultural activities (i.e., experience of rural culture) (experiment C) and other tourist behaviors (i.e., tourists' mutual engagement) (experiment D) were integrated with SDL agritourism activities in order to more effectively enhance the tourists' experience of agritourism and lead to an increase in tourists' intention to revisit and actual purchase of agricultural products. Based on our findings, rural culture and tourists' mutual engagement were critical for agribusiness to integrate the specific characteristics of internal service (e.g., agritourism activities or service strategy).     

服务失败后自我建构与质量预期对满意和口碑的影响

当顾客遭遇由个别雇员引发的服务失败时,顾客会产生怎样的心理反应?文章基于服务失败情境探讨了顾客的自我建构倾向与服务质量预期对满意度与负面口碑传播的影响。研究运用实验法模拟(餐厅)服务情境,结果发现,当服务失败源于个别雇员的不当行为时,如果顾客对企业的服务持有相对负面的质量预期,那么自我建构类型为互依型的顾客(vs.独立型自我建构)更倾向于认为企业对雇员的服务质量具有可控性,会对企业更不满意;但在负面口碑传播上,独立型自我建构的顾客却反而更有可能通过口碑传播服务失败经历(vs.互依型自我建构)。文章在此基础上主要讨论了自我建构对服务失败研究以及企业实践的启示,并指出未来可进一步研究的内容。     

Exit and transition: Exploring the survival status of Airbnb listings in a time of professionalization

This study analyzes the survival status of shared and non-shared listings in the peer-to-peer accommodation market. Using a large data set from Airbnb in Beijing, we identify 8640 shared listings and 50,741 non-shared listings. We then investigate the exit event and the identity transition event for both types of listings by applying a discrete-time hazard model. Our results suggest that, for the exit event, the two types of listings show significant differences in terms of survival determinants, including response time, tourism specialization, market volume, professionalization, and Covid-19. For the identity transition event, we find that internal flow exists in the market, mainly from shared listings to non-shared listings, and this flow is influenced by certain factors (i.e., capacity, facility, rating, reviews, minimum stay, service quality, tourism specialization, market volume, platform professionalization, and Covid-19).     

酒店服务品牌内部建设主体的功能与关系研究

服务品牌与产品品牌在原理上一致,但在执行上存在明显差别。服务品牌的建设应该包括内部和外部两个视角,但是现有理论及实践往往仅关注服务品牌外部建设,忽略了服务品牌内部建设。因此,文章基于丽思卡尔顿酒店的案例,探索服务品牌内部建设涉及哪些参与者、各参与者承担哪些角色,以及服务品牌内部与外部建设之间的关系等问题。研究发现,酒店企业服务品牌内部建设的关键流程包括酒店创建者和高层管理者创建并维持服务品牌核心价值、核心价值转变为员工的内在价值、员工"活出品牌"3个方面。服务品牌内部建设与外部建设是"手段"与"目的"的关系,成功的服务品牌内部建设能够更好地确保外部建设的效果。最后,文章提出了酒店企业内部服务品牌建设的管理建议。