An examination of the progressive effects of hotel frontline employees’ brand perceptions on desirable service outcomes

The present study scrutinizes how hospitality firms’ internal branding influences the service performance of frontline employees in a progressive way. More specifically, based on social influence and social exchange theories, this study examines if organizational commitment mediates the link between hospitality frontline employees’ perceptions of brand authenticity (BA) and brand-value fit (BVF) and their service-related behaviors such as generating ideas for service improvement (GISI) and service-oriented citizenship behavior. With a matched sample of 286 customer-contact frontline employees and 33 of their supervisors from five-star hotels in South Korea, this study found that the higher employees’ perceptions of BA and BVF, the more likely they were to generate ideas for service improvement and engage in service-oriented citizenship behavior, as they were more likely to be committed to the firm. Based on the findings, implications are discussed for hospitality practitioners and researchers alike in terms of internal branding with frontline employees.     

Does positive affectivity moderate the effect of burnout on job outcomes? An empirical investigation among hotel employees

A conceptual model examining positive affectivity as a moderator of the influence of burnout on extra-role performance and quitting intentions is developed and tested. Data obtained from employees in the hotel industry in Turkey were used to assess the model. As hypothesized, burnout influences extra-role performance deleteriously and exacerbates quitting intentions. The results of the Chow test also reveal that positive affectivity serves as a moderator in reducing the detrimental impact of burnout on extra-role performance and quitting intentions. The findings and their implications are discussed.     

Moderating role of hotel employees’ gender and job position on the relationship between emotional intelligence and emotional labor

The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of deluxe hotel employees’ emotional intelligence on their emotional labor, and the moderating effects of employees’ diversity (gender and job position) on the relationship between emotional intelligence and emotional labor. The results showed that the use of emotion (UOE) had the largest effect on surface acting during emotional labor, and self-emotion appraisal (SEA) had the largest effect on deep acting. In addition, the study found moderating effects of employees’ diversity on the relationship between emotional intelligence and emotional labor, and the effects of others’ emotion appraisal (OEA) on surface acting were shown to be significantly higher among female employees than among males. Furthermore, the effects of the use of emotions (UOE) on deep acting were larger in the FOH than in the BOH. However, results showed that the effects of regulation of emotion (ROE) on deep acting were significantly stronger in the BOH than in the FOH.     

Dress for success: the effect of exhibitors’ dress conformity and self-construal on attendees’ approach behavior

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the current study is to investigate how attendees’ approach behavior is influenced by exhibitors’ dress conformity. A 2 × 2 between-subjects quasi-experimental design was utilized for this study. Our results showed that conforming dress for exhibitors can lead to a higher level of approach behavior of trade show attendees as compared with nonconforming dress, and the effect of exhibitors’ dress styles on approach behavior is moderated by attendees’ self-construal. Findings of this study provide significant insights for trade show exhibitors and attendees.     

The impact of exploitative leadership on frontline hospitality employees’ service performance: A social exchange perspective

Based on social exchange theory, we investigate the impact of perceived exploitative leadership on frontline hospitality employees’ service performance. A three-phase analysis of 207 supervisor–subordinate dyads from three hotels in China demonstrates that exploitative leadership has a negative effect on frontline hospitality employees’ service performance. Furthermore, leader−member exchange (LMX) plays a mediating role in the relationship between exploitative leadership and employee service performance. Moderated path analyses indicate that traditionality weakens the direct influence of exploitative leadership on LMX and an indirect influence of exploitative leadership on employee service performance through reduced LMX. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

The joint effect of consumer and service providers’ culture on online service evaluations: A response surface analysis

National culture exerts substantial influence on consumers' expectations, satisfaction, and evaluations. Despite that, within a service-based context, two cultures are met, that of the customer and that of the service provider, the existing literature systematically explores the effect of customer culture in isolation neglecting the impact of the provider's culture or their joint effect. We fill this gap by considering the concomitant effect of customer and provider cultural factors on passenger evaluations of airline carriers using a large dataset of reviews that covers the majority of countries. Employing a response surface methodology, our study provides significant advantages over methods based on cultural distance scores in revealing more complex non-linear relationships. This multi-dimensional approach provides new insights for assessing the impact of national culture on customers' service perceptions and evaluations, thus bringing significant implications for researchers and service providers.     

Examining the spillover effect of frontline employees’ work–family conflict on their affective work attitudes and customer satisfaction

This study examines the negative spillover effects of hospitality frontline employees’ work–family conflict on their affective reactions, commitment, and customer satisfaction. A field survey was conducted to obtain a dyadic data set (148 paired employee–customer responses). Our results indicate that frontline employees’ role conflict between work and family results in less positive affective reactions to the job, decreased emotional attachment to the organization, and lower levels of customer satisfaction. These findings suggest that hospitality firms need to understand that factors outside the workplace influence service excellence, thus calling for a family-friendly organizational culture.     

The influence of exploitative leadership on hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior: A moderated mediation model

Growing awareness of environmental sustainability in the hospitality sector has made employee green innovative behavior an important element of their establishment’s performance. Drawing from ego depletion theory, this paper aims to study how and when exploitative leadership influences hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior. We collected data from 467 full-time hospitality employees and their direct leaders in 96 teams, and examined a cross-level moderated mediation model employing multilevel path analysis. The results showed that exploitative leadership in the hospitality sector negatively associates with hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior, mediated by their emotional exhaustion. The results further showed that perceived organizational support moderates the influence of exploitative leadership on emotional exhaustion and subsequent green innovative behavior. Implications for theory and practice in the hospitality sector are discussed.     

Age stereotypes and the job suitability of older workers from hotel managers’ perspectives

This study explored hotel managers’ views of older workers and the underlying mechanism of their appraisal of older workers’ job suitability. A qualitative research approach was adopted: in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 hotel managers in Hong Kong. Analysis of the hotel managers’ responses revealed that age stereotypes influenced their perceptions of the suitability of certain jobs for older workers. The study contributes to the hospitality literature by developing a novel version of the cognitive framework of prototype matching to examine hotel managers’ perceptions of job suitability according to age. It offers examples of age-typed jobs in the hotel industry and suggests human resource practices to reduce age stereotypes and age-related discrimination in the hotel workplace.     

Does work engagement mediate the effects of challenge stressors on job outcomes? Evidence from the hotel industry

Drawing on the transactional theory of stress, a research model investigating whether challenge stressors, as manifested by work overload and job responsibility, heighten work engagement and organizationally valued job outcomes is proposed and tested. Using data gathered from frontline employees with a time lag of two weeks and their supervisors in the five-star hotels in Northern Cyprus, the relationships were assessed through structural equation modeling. As hypothesized, work engagement fully mediates the effects of challenge stressors on affective organizational commitment and job performance. Employees who experience such stressors are engaged in their work, and therefore, display positive job outcomes. Theoretical implications as well as management implications are discussed in the article.     

Will we have the same employees in hospitality after all? The impact of COVID-19 on employees’ work attitudes and turnover intentions

A crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic affected the whole world leaving long-lasting effects on almost every aspect of human lives. The aim of this study was to test how different effects of COVID-19, expressed through job insecurity, employees' health complaints occurred during isolation, risk-taking behavior at workplace and changes in the organization, may impact work-related attitudes (job motivation and job satisfaction) and turnover intentions of the employees in hospitality industry. Based on the data collected from 624 hospitality workers from Serbia, the results indicated that job insecurity and changes in the organization were predictors of all outcomes, in a negative direction, while risk-taking behavior acted as a predictor of job satisfaction only, also in a negative direction. The significance of demographic characteristics, as control variables, showed that age and marital status had significant impact on job motivation and turnover intentions. The theoretical and practical implications were discussed.     

The impact of relational identity on the relationship between LMX,interpersonal justice,and employees’ group commitment

Lord and Brown (2004) have suggested that relational identity plays a boundary role in the relationship between leader–subordinate congruence (leader affective behaviors and interactive justice) and subordinates’ attitudes and behaviors. The purpose of this study is to test this hypothesis in the context of China's hotel industry. A sample of 585 questionnaires from 43 two-five star hotels in Mainland China was analyzed. The results show that the moderating role of relational identity was not significant, though it did have a direct effect on group commitment.     

Moderating effect of work–family conflict on the relationship between leader–member exchange and relative deprivation: Links to behavioral outcomes

This study intends to explore the moderator of work–family conflict on the relationship between leader–member exchange and relative deprivation, and simultaneously examine the impact of relative deprivation on employees' behavior (including effort behavior and service sabotage). Questionnaire survey was conducted in 14 international tourist hotels in Taipei. Of the returned sample, 379 questionnaires are effective. The result indicates that high quality leader–member exchange relationship has negative impact on employees' relative deprivation. Also, relative deprivation has significant impact on effort behavior, and service sabotage. Furthermore, work–family conflict is found to have moderating effect on the relationship between leader–member exchange and relative deprivation. This study fills the research gap in the hospitality literature regarding the effect of work–family conflict on the relationships among leader–member exchange, employees' relative deprivation, and work behaviors. It also sheds the light on work–family conflict literature by extending leader–member exchange theory to leader–employee relationship.     

An examination of green intention: the effect of environmental knowledge and educational experiences on meeting planners’ implementation of green meeting practices

Environmental sustainability has become an important concern in staging meetings and events. This paper introduces the Convention Industry Council's Green Meetings Report and goes on to investigate whether prior knowledge and educational experiences related to environmental sustainability are influential factors in planners’ commitment to engaging in ecologically friendly behavior. Using a nine-point questionnaire, 278 delegates at North America's largest one-day event for meeting planners were sampled. Regression analysis showed that the intention to implement green meeting practices is positively influenced by both prior knowledge of and educational experience with greening practices. In particular, educational experiences were found to be a strong influential factor contributing to meeting planners’ intention to implement green meeting practices. By providing operational definitions of knowledge and education, it proves that knowledge gained by an unstructured format was less effective than the impact of education on green intention. Accordingly, this study not only highlights academic discussions on environmental knowledge-building through formal education but also derives managerial implications for the meeting and event industry by outlining ways to incorporate continuing professional education in sustainable meetings and events. A range of ideas for the content of that professional education is presented, along with the possibilities for e-learning.