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.     

Mobile Technology: An Exploratory Study of Hotel Managers

Hospitality businesses provide a natural context for mobile technology, especially given the dynamic nature of the business, the size and complexity of many hotel operations, and the need to have managers visible and overseeing multiple areas of the business (and sometimes, multiple properties) concurrently. To explore the potential for mobile technology in hospitality business contexts, we surveyed 70 full-service hotel property managers. The survey was based upon two theoretical frameworks: technology adoption model and innovation diffusion theory. Specifically, this study addressed (a) hotel property managers’ intentions to use mobile technology at work, (b) factors influencing their intentions, (c) their suggestions for implementing mobile applications in different departments, and (d) demographic characteristics of those who are inclined to adopt certain types of mobile applications. This study identified the top opportunities for mobile applications and found adoption differences based upon the respondents’ demographics as well as the factors of perceived enjoyment and relative advantages as significant determinants of hotel property managers’ intentions to use mobile technology. This study concludes with recommendations for industry practitioners and suggestions for future research opportunities related to mobile technology adoption and usage in hospitality.     

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.     

中外酒店业HRM研究进展及比较

酒店业作为以服务为第一产品的产业，人力资源管理（HRM：Human Resource Management）对其发展的重要性是不言而喻的。本文在回顾中外酒店业HRM研究的基础上，将两者进行了对比，从而剖析出两者在研究过程中存在的异同厦酒店业HRM未来的研究发展方向。以期为我国酒店业HRM的深入研究，提供一定的借鉴和帮助。     

Towards a theoretical model of technology adoption in hospitality organizations

Technology is an important strategic asset for hospitality organizations to improve organizational performance and strategic competitiveness. However, adoption and diffusion of technology are complex processes, which are affected by a number of internal and external factors. As a result, understanding the factors affecting a hospitality organization's technology adoption behavior is of paramount importance to both practitioners and academia. This study proposes a model that describes the process of technology adoption in hospitality organizations. Specifically, two modifications of the existing Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) have been proposed in order to capture the adoption behavior at the organizational level.     

Perceptions on quality customer service in the hospitality industry in Papua New Guinea: an evaluation

The purpose of this study is to identify any quality customer service gaps in the hospitality industry in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and to test the significant values of each of the necessary variables that make up the component of quality customer service in the hospitality sector. A survey has been done among a group of 197 visitors in hospitality firms. Results revealed that the hospitality industry in PNG had a major service gap in the area of “Personalized Service and Empathy”. This gap includes areas such as serving customers' best interests, never too busy to respond to questions, and understanding of specific needs. The study also identified that the major predictors for overall customer satisfaction were “Tangibles” and “Financial Competence and Reliability”, which had a significant negative effect on customers' satisfaction.     

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.     

Analysis of E-commerce and information technology applications in hotels: Business travelers' perceptions

Numerous research studies have been conducted that are related to e-commerce and information technology (IT) applications in the hospitality industry with regard to business operation, profit, output, and management perspective. The focus of this study is to examine current e-commerce and IT applications in the hospitality industry and to identify the business travelers' perceptions in order to improve customer service. One of the problems in the hospitality industry is that customers want advanced e-commerce and IT applications, but restaurants and hotels are not necessarily implementing them. This study discusses the typical problems and obstacles of implementing e-commerce and IT applications in hospitality, using the lodging e-commerce and IT applications to satisfy customers, and developing the lodging e-commerce and IT applications as a corporate competitive advantage. Moreover, this study investigated a variety of e-commerce and IT applications related to customer service, satisfaction, and retention as well as e-commerce and IT applications as a distribution channel for receiving travelers' information and accommodation booking. This study provides valuable implications for hospitality practitioners about customer perceptions relative to e-commerce and IT applications.     

The Quest for Quality Improvement: Using Six Sigma at Starwood Hotels and Resorts

In 2001, Starwood Hotels and Resorts announced that it would be the first hospitality company to embrace Six Sigma, a quality improvement program where the development and adoption of innovative customer-focused solutions were to result in improving the quality and consistency of guests' experiences and lead to enhanced financial performance. The purpose of this article is to illustrate this process improvement program and to document the application of Six Sigma within the hospitality industry. Findings indicated an increased use of cross-functional team approaches, effective use of expanded stakeholder partnerships, and the adoption of objective techniques and statistical testing to solve problems and improve the bottom line.     

COVID-19 and the future of work in the hospitality industry

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted the hospitality industry. This research combines different data to examine the US labor market trends during COVID-19. It is found that low-preparation jobs in leisure and hospitality are the hardest hit and slow to recover. The pandemic has highlighted growing issues in workplace safety, skill gaps, technology adoption, and work reorganization in the hospitality industry. This paper develops two propositions about preparing hospitality workers for the future of work and providing flexible work arrangements.     

The blockchain technology and the scope of its application in hospitality operations

The recently emerged concept of the blockchain technology (BCT) can disrupt the traditional realm of tourism and hospitality operations. While some research has looked into the implications of BCT for tourism management and marketing, no studies have explicitly considered the scope of its application in the context of hospitality operations management. This is arguably a major omission as available evidence points at the foremost potential of BCT to affect the nature of hospitality business. This study partially plugs this knowledge gap and, by reviewing examples of existing applications of BCT in various economic sectors and across different consumption markets, evaluates its potential for future integration into hospitality operations management. The framework of prospective use of BCT in the hospitality industry alongside the related organisational, institutional and technological challenges that need to be overcome for its wider industrial adoption are outlined.     

Hospitality innovation strategies: Robustness analysis of paths to firm performance

Empirical knowledge on the relationship between innovation and firm performance in the hospitality industry is important for theoretical progress and for decision making. Martin-Rios and Ciobanu’s (2019) recent contribution identifies eight different innovation strategies being significantly associated with firm performance including the ambitious strategy of simultaneously innovating products, processes, organizations, and marketing. By replicating the analysis and testing the robustness of the results with a specification curve analysis using the same dataset, we find only three strategies to be robustly associated with firm performance. All three include process innovation as a necessary component: i) a pure backstage-oriented strategy of process and organizational innovation that can be ii) extended with product innovation and iii) a frontstage-oriented strategy, where marketing innovations complement new products and processes. This substantiates the relevance of the process-based view of innovation in services and call for efforts in theorizing about how different configurations of innovation strategies can represent paths to firm performance.     

Roles of the Hotel Training Professionals—Perspectives of Industry Practitioners

Becoming a learning organization, better educated and more career-minded employees and the adoption of technologies such as social media are current trends in the training and development world, especially in the hospitality industry. It is important to understand how the roles of training professionals are changing and how this change affects the recruitment process from the perspective of human resources professionals. In-depth interviews and survey were adopted in this study to explore the perspectives of industry practitioners. Seven roles of training professionals are identified and the retention of training professionals in the hotel industry is advocated.     

Analysis of Hoteliers' E-Commerce and Information Technology Applications

ABSTRACT

Numerous research studies are being conducted that are related to e-commerce and information technology (IT) applications in the hospitality industry with regard to operational, profitability, productivity, and management perspective. The focus of this study is to examine current e-commerce and IT applications in the hospitality industry and to identify the business travelers' needs relative to advanced e-commerce and IT applications to improve customer service. Hoffman and Chung (1999) stated that what customers want most is not what restaurants and hotels are necessarily implementing. This study discusses the typical problems and obstacles of implementing e-commerce and IT applications in hospitality, using the lodging e-commerce and IT applications to satisfy customers, and developing the lodging e-commerce and IT applications as a corporate competitive advantage. Moreover, this study investigated a variety of e-commerce and IT applications related to customer service, satisfaction, and retention as well as e-commerce and IT applications as a distribution channel for receiving travelers' information and accommodation booking. This study provides valuable implications for the hospitality practitioners about customer needs relative to e-commerce and IT applications.     

Measuring the experience of hospitality: Scale development and validation

This paper identifies what customers experience as hospitality and subsequently presents a novel and compact assessment scale for measuring customers’ experience of hospitality at any kind of service organization. The Experience of Hospitality Scale (EH-Scale) takes a broader perspective compared to existing scales, which predominantly measure hospitable behavior of service employees and are specifically developed for organizations in the hospitality industry. A thorough approach containing two qualitative and two quantitative studies resulted in the thirteen-item EH-Scale. The scale measures three experiential factors of hospitality: the experience of inviting (open, inviting, freedom), the experience of care (servitude, empathy and acknowledgement), and the experience of comfort (feeling at ease, relaxed and comfortable).     

Hospitality innovation strategies: An analysis of success factors and challenges

Innovation in hospitality has attracted considerable interest, partly because its processes and activities are so diverse, and partly because its impact on performance is still a puzzle. This study proposes a comprehensive theoretical model that reviews combinations of technological and non-technological innovation and the interrelation between different innovation strategies that contribute to generating competitive advantages. Using data from 2010 and 2012 CIS, it empirically examines different innovation strategies, analyzes their role in organizational performance, and thoroughly researches sectoral variation in innovation strategies between hospitality and other service subsectors. Comparative analysis suggests that hospitality is the least innovative service activity. The findings also show that in hotels sales turnover is positively related only to complex innovation strategies that emphasize both technological and non-technological innovation. The study concludes that the level of innovation varies from sector to sector and that innovation strategies can have different effects on performance depending on the sector.     

The role of business model innovation in the hospitality industry during the COVID-19 crisis

The hospitality industry worldwide is among the hardest-hit industries from the COVID-19 lockdowns. Initial theoretical and practical observations in the hospitality industry indicate that business model innovation (BMI) might be a solution to recover from and successfully cope with the COVID-19 crisis. Interestingly, some firms in the hospitality industry already started to successfully adapt their business models. This study explores the why and how of these successful recovery attempts through BMI by conducting a multiple case study of six hospitality firms in Austria. We rely on interview data from managers together with one of their main stammgasts for each case, which we triangulate with secondary data for the analysis. Findings show that BMI is applied during and after the crisis to create new revenue streams and secure a higher level of liquidity, with an important role of stammgasts.     

Does a cute artificial intelligence assistant soften the blow? The impact of cuteness on customer tolerance of assistant service failure

As artificial intelligent technologies have been increasingly applied in tourism and hospitality industry, the service failure caused by artificial intelligence assistant and how to recover them are worth empirical studying. Laboratory experiments were employed to test the impact of cuteness in service failure, with effective manipulation of cute appearance, cute voice and cute language style of artificial intelligence assistant. By utilizing three studies with seven experiments, this research demonstrated the positive effect of cuteness design of artificial intelligence assistant on customer tolerance of service failure and further revealed the two mediating paths (tenderness and performance expectancy) as well as the boundary (failure severity and time pressure) of the cuteness effect. These findings contribute to the knowledge on artificial intelligent assistant service and provide insight for cute design using in tourism and hospitality industry.     

Quality function deployment: An extended framework for service quality and customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry

Research on service quality and customer satisfaction has become significant in the hospitality industry. Nonetheless, most previously proposed or introduced research paradigms have focused exclusively on customers without equally emphasizing the intra-organizational service generation and delivery processes. In contrast, this study considers both external and internal service management issues and subsequent service innovations based on the framework of Quality Function Deployment (QFD). QFD and its relationship to similar concepts are explained. Next, this study provides an overview of the QFD process and develops a hypothetical application in the lodging industry in order to illustrate future application and analysis strategies. Some benefits and disadvantages of the QFD process are discussed as compared to extant service quality and customer satisfaction paradigms. Finally, suggestions and directions are offered for future applications, with particular interest in hospitality-specific service management issues.     

Explaining a Community Touristscape

Abstract

Numerous research studies are being conducted that are related to e-commerce and information technology (IT) applications in the hospitality industry with regard to operational, profitability, productivity, and management perspective. The focus of this study is to examine current e-commerce and IT applications in the hospitality industry and to identify the business travelers' perceptions and needs relative to advanced e-commerce and IT applications to improve customer service. Hoffman and Chung (1999) stated that what customers want most is not what restaurants and hotels are necessarily implementing.

This study discusses the typical problems and obstacles of implementing e-commerce and IT applications in hospitality, using the lodging e-commerce and IT applications to satisfy customers, and developing the lodging e-commerce and IT applications as a corporate competitive advantage. Moreover, this study investigated a variety of e-commerce and IT applications related to customer service, satisfaction, and retention as well as e-commerce and IT applications as a distribution channel for receiving travelers' information and accommodation booking. This study provides valuable implications for the hospitality practitioners about customer perceptions and needs relative to e-commerce and IT applications.