Effect of employee incivility on customer retaliation through psychological contract breach: The moderating role of moral identity

This study investigates the effect of employee incivility on customer retaliation through psychological contract breach in the context of upscale restaurants. Results of our study (N = 2014) show that psychological contract breach mediates the positive relationship between employee incivility and three forms of customer retaliatory behaviors. Further, drawing upon the moral identity perspective, we found that customers who are high in moral identity tend to be more likely to seek revenge by engaging in vindictive complaining (but not third party complaining or negative word of mouth) subsequent to their experience of psychological contract breach. Our study yielded both theoretical contributions and practical implications.     

Leader humility,team humility and employee creative performance: The moderating roles of task dependence and competitive climate

In the unpredictable economic environment, both academics and professionals have been keen to identify effective leadership style that can induce more employee creative performance in work. Prior research has investigated different types of leadership styles and their consequences for employee behavior in work environments. In the recent management literature, humble leadership has been found to generate a number of positive behavioral outcomes among employees. However, relatively little is known about the influences of leader humility on team processes, or about the boundary conditions of these effects. The current study examined first, the relationships among leader humility, team humility and employee creative performance; and second, the moderating role of competitive climate in the moderation effect of task dependence in the relationship between team humility and employee creative performance. Hierarchical linear modeling was applied to analyze the cross-level data with 76 work teams and 531 employees. The results showed that leader humility exerts its impact on team humility, which in turn influences employee creative performance. The effect of team humility on employee creative performance was found to be strongest under high task dependence and high competitive climate. Practical implications regarding how to optimize the positive impact of leader humility are discussed.     

Reward climate and its impact on service quality orientation and employee attitudes

This study examined the mediating role of service quality orientation (SQO) on reward climate and employee attitudes. Using a sample drawn from the hotel industry in Hong Kong, we found that reward climate was significantly associated with job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Employees that perceived a strong service reward climate tended to exhibit a more pronounced SQO and in turn higher levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. These findings underscore the importance of reward climate to the process of service provision. Implications for the establishment of a service reward climate are discussed as are suggestions for future research in this promising new area.     

Job insecurity,subjective well-being and job performance: The moderating role of psychological capital

The article illuminates one of the central concerns in organizational study; the extent to which job insecurity (JI) affects employees’ subjective well-being (SWB) and consequently their job performance (JP) in hospitality industry. Building on the transactional theory stress and coping, the study analyses the buffering role of psychological capital (PsyCap) as a strategy by which employees overcome the negative impact of JI on SWB and JP. Respondents include 250 four and five star hotel employees in Tehran, Iran. The results highlighted the mediating role of SWB, affirming that JI negatively impacts employees’ JP via decreasing their SWB. Furthermore, the results show that employees with high level of PsyCap are able to cope with JI. Hotel management teams should make appropriate decisions to minimize or eliminate stressful stimuli, particularly JI in the workplace, which has been found to have severe mental, emotional and behavioural consequences.     

Transformational leadership and employee performance: The role of identification,engagement and proactive personality

This study investigates the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions that explain the relationship between transformational leadership and frontline employee performance. Specifically, it explores the mediating role of organizational identification and work engagement in the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance and organization-directed citizenship behaviors. Additionally, it examines whether proactive personality moderates the effect of transformational leadership on identification and engagement. Data from 323 frontline hotel employees were analyzed using partial least square regression. Results show that identification and engagement fully mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors, whereas engagement partially mediates the link between transformational leadership and job performance. Results indicate a sequential mediation effect of identification and engagement on employee performance. Finally, findings show that proactive personality strengthens the effect of leadership on identification and engagement. The study provides information for hotel managers about why and under what circumstances employees perform the way they do.     

Unfolding deconstructive effects of negative shocks on psychological contract violation,organizational cynicism,and turnover intention

This research aims to unfold the impact of negative shocks on Chinese employees in the service sector by conducting a mixed-method study involving a scenario-based experiment and a field survey. The findings of Study 1 show that negative shocks resulted in a psychological contract violation, high organizational cynicism, and turnover intention. Study 2 further examined the moderating roles of traditionality and organizational embeddedness. Negative shocks triggered less organizational cynicism among employees with higher levels of traditionality. Organizational embeddedness, however, did not play such a moderating role in the relationship between psychological contract violation and turnover intention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The effect of psychological contract fulfillment on manager turnover intentions and its role as a mediator in a casual,limited-service restaurant environment

Job satisfaction is the most consistent predictor of turnover intention; however, its correlation with turnover intention in most studies is modest. Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) has not proven to be a reliable predictor of turnover intention. Meanwhile, the psychological contract has emerged as a useful framework for understanding the employee/employer relationship. In the present research, which utilizes a sample of managers in a casual, limited-service restaurant environment, a structural equation model is developed in which psychological contract fulfillment serves a mediating role between LMX and turnover intention. Psychological contract fulfillment is also found to be a statistically significant predictor of turnover intention. Findings from the study suggest that management turnover may be mitigated if organizational leaders develop strong relationships with their managers based upon respect, trust and mutual obligation and then utilize these relationships to understand and fulfill the unwritten contract perceived to exist between the firm and its management personnel.     

Contingent work in the hospitality industry: A mediating model of organizational attitudes

It is widely accepted that work status has an impact on emotional attachment to the organization, because of the different ways in which the two categories of workers, contingent and regular, are treated in the same organization. This study aims to investigate the effect of work status on affective commitment and how this relationship is influenced by identification processes.     

In pursuit of service excellence: Investigating the role of psychological contracts and organizational identification of frontline hotel employees

Research in tourism management is yet to examine the role of psychological contracts in shaping organizational identification and influencing service-oriented behaviors of frontline employees. Drawing upon psychological contract and social identity theories, we propose a theoretical model that links the two types of psychological contracts (relational vs. transactional psychological contracts) with organizational identification and service employees' in-role performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Data collected from 199 matched frontline employee-coworker-supervisor triads in hotels show that while transactional psychological contracts were directly and negatively associated with supervisor-reported in-role performance and co-worker reported service-oriented citizenship behaviors, the relationship between relational psychological contracts and both types of service-oriented behaviors were positive and partially mediated by organizational identification. Our findings have important implications for tourism operators by highlighting the important role of different types of psychological contracts in the delivery of high quality service.     

The moderating effect of collectivistic orientation in psychological empowerment and job satisfaction relationship

This study examines the moderating effect of collectivistic value on the relationship between psychological empowerment and job satisfaction. Specifically, we propose that the multi-dimensional psychological effects of empowerment (i.e., meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact) on job satisfaction differ between high and low collectivistic employees. Data collected from hotel employees in Canada (n = 193) and China (n = 371) revealed that collectivistic orientation elevated (attenuated) the effect of self-determination (impact) on job satisfaction. However, no significant results were found with respect to meaning and competence. Research and practical implications for the findings as well as directions for future research are suggested.     

The relationship between purpose of performance appraisal and psychological contract: Generational differences as a moderator

This study aims to explore the relationship between performance appraisal and psychological contract (PC) from the perspective of U.S. hotel employees, as perceived by different generational cohorts. The current study also examines the moderating role of generational difference on the relationship between perceived performance appraisal purpose (PAP) and hotel employees’ PC. A sample of 230 full time frontline U.S.-based hotel employees was employed to investigate these relationships. Hierarchical multiple regressions were used for data analysis and the results indicated that both administrative and developmental PAP were positively associated with PC. The positive relationship between administrative PAP and PC was significantly strengthened for Generation Y employees than for Baby Boomers and Generation Xers. There was no significant moderation effect of generational difference on the positive relationship between developmental PAP and hotel employees’ PC. The research recommended HR management practices related to designing performance appraisal systems for diverse workplace in U.S.-based hotels.     

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.     

The effects of ethical leadership on manager job satisfaction,commitment, behavioral outcomes,and firm performance

This study investigates the effects of ethical leadership on a hotel middle manager's job satisfaction and affective commitment, which in turn influence that manager's behavioral outcomes (e.g., extra effort and turnover intention) that can also impact the hotel's performance. Mail surveys were distributed to 30 U.S. hotels, representing more than 8 different national and international brands, and 324 middle managers participated in the survey. This study demonstrates that executives’ ethical leadership is positively related to their middle managers’ job satisfaction and their affective organizational commitment. Middle managers’ job satisfaction is positively related to organizational commitment, but job satisfaction does not necessarily lead to their willingness to exert extra effort. The positive linkage between middle managers’ extra effort and the hotel's competitive performance is also confirmed.     

New employee orientation,role-related stressors and conflict at work: Consequences for work attitudes and performance of hospitality employees

Combining role theory with theories on hindrance stressors and intragroup conflict, we develop a model of the attitudinal and behavioral consequences of new employee orientation in hospitality organizations. We test hypotheses about main and mediated effects in this model, using data from a sample of 156 recently hired hospitality interns and applying a longitudinal approach, with data collection shortly after organizational entry and several months later. Results suggest that employee orientation is negatively related to two hindrance stressors: role ambiguity and role conflict. Role ambiguity predicts a range of attitudinal outcomes and the relationship is partially mediated by relationship conflict. In addition, role ambiguity is negatively related to task performance. Role conflict predicts hospitality employees’ job attitudes and this relationship is fully mediated by relationship conflict. We discuss important theoretical and practical implications of these findings for human resource management in hospitality firms.     

Linking employee attitudes and behaviors with business performance: A comparative analysis of hotels in Mexico and China

Organizations have been studied extensively through the lenses of employee attitudes and behaviors, yet links with organizational performance have not often been considered. This research uses established measures of commitment, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) to analyze data obtained from workers in a multinational hotel chain operating in Mexico and China. Mexico and China are selected due to their importance as emerging global markets. Quantitative analysis shows significantly different levels of commitment, job satisfaction and OCB in line with low and high performance in these national hotel groups. The research finds that commitment, job satisfaction and OCB are associated significantly with financial performance, but not with guest satisfaction.     

How the COVID-19 pandemic affected hotel Employee stress: Employee perceptions of occupational stressors and their consequences

This study sought to examine the impacts of the global coronavirus pandemic on hotel employees’ perceptions of occupational stressors and their consequences. Paired t-tests and structural equation modeling were applied to examine the responses of 758 hotel employees in the United States. The findings showed that occupational stressors after the outbreak of the pandemic consisted of three domains: traditional hotel-work stressors, unstable and more demanding hotel-work-environment stressors, and unethical hotel-labor-practices-borne stressors. The impacts of these stressors differed from the hypothesis that traditional hotel-work stressors positively affect job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The findings showed that job satisfaction and organizational commitment significantly explained job performance, subjective well-being, and prosocial behavior, but they did not significantly influence turnover intention. Hotel employees’ pre-pandemic perceptions of occupational stressors and their consequences also differed significantly from their perceptions after the pandemic had broken out.     

Hospitality diversity management and job satisfaction: The mediating role of organizational commitment across individual differences

The present study examines the effects of diversity management on hospitality employees’ organizational commitment and their job satisfaction taking into account individual differences. A representative sample of hotel workers were surveyed in the Canary Island, one of the main tourist destinations in the world, which receives over fifteen million tourists a year. Using moderated mediation analyses, the study confirms our hypothesis that employees’ perceptions of diversity management have a positive and significant direct effect on job satisfaction. In addition, an indirect effect through employees’ organizational commitment was found. Results support the moderating role of age, but not of ethnic origin or gender on the proposed mediation. From a managerial perspective, hoteliers should be encouraged to consider diversity management when they plan their human resource policies due to its positive effects on employees’ job satisfaction and organizational commitment.     

The impact of CSR on relationship quality and relationship outcomes: A perspective of service employees

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained increasing attention over the past decade. While many studies examined an impact of CSR on consumers, only dearth of research is found that attempts to understand the impact of CSR on employees from the relationship marketing perspective. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of CSR in predicting relationship quality and relationship outcomes. The four dimensions of CSR used in the study include economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic aspects. Data were collected via survey from employees of franchised foodservice enterprises located in South Korea. The findings of the study show that not all dimensions of CSR have the same effect on relationship quality. While economic and philanthropic dimensions have a significant influence on organizational trust, only ethical dimension has a positive effect on job satisfaction. As expected, relationship quality has a significant impact on relationship outcomes.     

An examination of the links between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its internal consequences

The purpose of this study is to examine the links between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its internal consequencesusing the hotel employees' CSR perception, Quality of Working Life (QWL), affective commitment, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and job performance. Although CSR has been widely studied from the perspective of employees, no previous study has related it to QWL in the field of hospitality research. Applying relevant theories, the study empirically substantiates the connection between the constructs and provides theoretical and practical implications. The results, drawn from data collected from hotel employees in upscale hotels in South Korea, show that hotel employees' CSR perception of the firm positively influences their QWL, affective commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior, which, in turn, enhance their job performance.