支持型领导与授权氛围对旅游企业员工服务质量的影响

文章基于对我国52个旅游企业进行的实证研究,同时检验企业层次变量（企业的支持型领导氛围、授权氛围、员工服务行为评估氛围）和部门层次变量（部门的支持型领导氛围、心理受权氛围）对员工服务质量的影响。多层次线性模型分析结果表明,企业和部门的支持型领导氛围、部门的心理受权氛围和员工的心理受权对员工的服务质量都有显著的正向影响。此外,企业的支持型领导氛围会调节部门的支持型领导氛围、心理受权氛围和员工的工作满意感对员工服务质量的影响,部门的支持型领导氛围会调节员工的角色模糊、心理受权和工作满意感对服务质量的影响,部门的心理受权氛围会调节员工的角色负担过重对服务质量的影响。     

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.     

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.     

How to fuel employees’ prosocial behavior in the hotel service encounter

With mounting customer expectation for excellent service, frontline service employees’ prosocial service behavior is of great importance since it helps enhance customers’ perceived service quality, which is critical for maintaining a hotel’s competitive advantage relative to its comp set. Regardless of the importance of prosocial service behavior, role clarity, perceived organizational support, and psychological empowerment in encouraging employees’ prosocial service behavior has not received much attention. This study examines the effects of the above three predictors on the prosocial service behavior of customer-contact employees. The authors developed a conceptual model of prosocial service behavior and empirically tested it using structural equation modeling. The findings suggest that role clarity and psychological empowerment have a direct influence on prosocial service behavior. Psychological empowerment partially mediates the relationship between role clarity and prosocial service behavior and fully mediates the relationship between perceived organizational support and prosocial service behavior.     

Feeling empowered and doing good? A psychological mechanism of empowerment,self-esteem,perceived trust,and OCBs

Building on agency theory and signaling theory, this study investigated the psychological mechanism of how empowerment impacts hotel frontline employees' self-esteem, perceived trust, and OCBs performed toward both internal and external customers. Using a longitudinal research design with data collected via three waves, the results supported that three out of four dimensions of empowerment had significant and positive influence on employees' self-esteem and perceived trust, both of which are significant predictors for three types of OCBs. The study makes important contributions to literature and suggests that hotel employees feeling empowered can enhance their overall wellness while contributing to their OCB performances. Thus, empowerment should be properly used as a strategy to facilitate employees’ contextual performance.     

Fueling the intrapreneurial spirit: A closer look at how spiritual leadership motivates employee intrapreneurial behaviors

This study enriches the hospitality literature by testing a theoretical model on the direct and indirect (via psychological empowerment) relationships between spiritual leadership and intrapreneurial behaviors among hotels' frontline employees. The study also tests the moderating role of work centrality in these relationships. Using time-lagged data from 204 employees and 48 supervisors in 48 hotels, our results show that spiritual leadership is positively associated with frontline employees' psychological empowerment, which in turn increases intrapreneurial behaviors. We also find evidence that work centrality increases the strength of these positive relationships. Our results thus provide new insights on how spiritual leadership motivates hotels’ frontline employees to depart from customary ways of performing their jobs, towards seeking new opportunities to create value for the organization. We suggest that managers, through their vision, altruistic love and faith, can indeed inspire feelings of empowerment among frontline employees and encourage them to engage in intrapreneurial behaviors.     

饭店员工心理所有权与跨界行为关系研究

一线服务员工因处于组织的边界位置而表现出服务提供、外部代表和内部影响3类跨边界行为,这些行为能够显著提高组织绩效.心理所有权是一种重要的心理状态,以往的研党证实组织心理所有权与员工角色外行为存在积极的关系.然而,跨边界行为不仅包括角色外行为,而且包括角色内行为,并且非常适合于服务组织背景,因此,研究员工组织心理所有权对跨边界行为的影响具有重要的理论和现实意义.文章通过对旅游饭店企业一线服务员工的研究发现,组织心理所有权对外部代表行为和内部影响行为有直接和间接影响,组织心理所有权对服务提供行为有间接影响.这一结论提醒旅游饭店业要培育和提高一线服务员工的组织心理所有权,促使其表现出跨边界行为进而提高组织竞争力.     

When and how can organizational punishment stop unethical pro-organizational behaviors in hospitality?

How can hospitality employees be prevented from engaging in unethical behavior toward customers with the intention of helping their organization (i.e., from displaying unethical pro-organizational behavior directed at customers, UPB-C)? Drawing on ethical decision-making (EDM) theory, we propose that organizational punishment for unethical behavior and service climate will jointly inhibit UPB-C via moral disengagement. We test our hypotheses across two studies. In Study 1, using a sample of 122 frontline service employees, we find that, when both organizational punishment for unethical behavior and service climate are higher, UPB-C is lower. In Study 2, we replicate the above findings using a two-wave panel data from a sample of 191 employees who had service roles in the hospitality industry, and further indicate the role of moral disengagement in explaining the interactive effects of organizational punishment and service climate on UPB-C.     

Abusive supervision and deviance behaviors in the hospitality industry: The role of intrinsic motivation and core self-evaluation

Workplace deviance poses a significant challenge in the hospitality and tourism industries. Based on conservation of resources theory, we develop a model proposing relationships between abusive supervision and frontline employees' deviant behaviors via their intrinsic motivation and core self-evaluation. We validate it with two surveys targeting 200 and 600 hotel frontline employees. Results confirm the detrimental impacts of abusive supervision on frontline employees’ deviant behaviors and the helpful mediating and moderating impacts of their intrinsic motivation and core self-evaluation. Courses of action are proposed to reduce the various human and financial costs at the individual, organizational, social and societal levels.     

Check-in at the Robo-desk: Effects of automated social presence on social cognition and service implications

The rise of humanoid robots in hospitality services accelerates the need to understand related consumer reactions. Four scenario-based experiments, building on social presence and social cognition theories, examine how humanoid robots (vs. self-service machines) shape consumer service perceptions vis-à-vis concurrent presence/absence of human staff. The influence of consumers' need for human interaction and technology readiness is also examined. We find that anthropomorphizing service robots positively affects expected service quality, first-visit intention, willingness to pay, as well as increasing warmth/competence inferences. However, these effects are contingent on the absence of human frontline staff, explained by viewing anthropomorphism as a relative concept. Humanoid robots increase psychological risk, but this poses no threat to expected service quality when consumers' need for human interaction is controlled for. Additionally, we show that a humanoid robot's effect on expected service quality is positive for all but low technology readiness levels. Further implications for theory/practice are discussed.     

Error management at different organizational levels - Frontline, manager, and company

The influence of service recovery efforts in the form of apology (error management) at three organizational levels - frontline, manager, and company - on consumer satisfaction and behavioral intentions was examined with a 2 × 2 × 2 experimental study. Results support the main effects of all three apology levels on consumer satisfaction with the service exchange (recovery) process. The results also indicate that frontline apology has greater influence on consumers’ satisfaction when a manager's apology is also present. Moreover, the study identifies perceived control and fairness as mediators of the relationships between apology levels and consumer satisfaction indicating potential theoretical and managerial implications.     

The empowering,the empowered,and the empowerment disparity: A multilevel analysis of the integrated model of employee empowerment

This study aims to examine an integrated research model of employee empowerment from the perspectives of managers (the empowering) and employees (the empowered) with a newly proposed construct, empowerment disparity that captures a difference in employees' perception of empowerment within a team. A multilevel analysis was conducted using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) to test the hypotheses using a matched sample of 286 restaurant employees along with 51 managers and 2129 customers from five tourist cities in Thailand. The findings show that psychological empowerment and the psychological contract have a positive effect on customers' assessment of interaction quality, and empowerment disparity moderates the links between a manager's empowering behavior and psychological empowerment, and psychological empowerment and the psychological contract. The theoretical and managerial implications suggested by the findings are provided for researchers and practitioners.     

Managing internal service quality in hotels: Determinants and implications

While internal service quality (ISQ) preconditions organizational service quality management, the tourism and hospitality management literature largely overlooks it. This study developed and tested a comprehensive model to understand the determinants and how they influence ISQ using an exploratory sequential mixed method. In study 1, we conducted 12 focus groups involving 86 hotel employees. ISQ is determined by three primary categories of organizational and personal practice: management systems (i.e., manage process, training and compensation), social systems (i.e., collaborative culture, interdepartmental communication and servant leadership), and personal characteristics (i.e., role stress, empathetic personality and collegial relationships). In study 2, we conducted 332 pairs of employee-supervisor questionnaires and confirmed the effects of these determinants on ISQ through employee's internal service orientation and efficacy. Distinct determinants interrelate to predict employees' internal service orientation and efficacy. This study thus provides hotels with targeted measures to improve their ISQ and competitive advantages.     

Multilevel model of management support and casino employee turnover intention

This study proposed and tested a trickle-down model that manager support at the functional department level affect frontline employees' attitudes toward supervisor support at the operational level and subsequently influence leader-member exchange (LMX), organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and turnover intentions. Three mediators were identified from the cross-level analysis, namely, supervisor support, group trust, and OCB. A survey collected valid responses from 336 line level casino employees who represent 112 work groups from 39 departments nested in 17 casinos. The hierarchical linear model (HLM) results indicate that (1) supervisor support mediates the relationship between departmental support and individual level LMX, (2) group trust mediates the relationship between supervisor support and hence employee turnover intention, and (3) OCB mediates the relationship between LMX and employee turnover. Our findings have important implications for casino management and operators by developing an efficient management support system to reduce the intention of frontline employees to quit.     

Burnout and Service Employees' Willingness to Deliver Quality Service

ABSTRACT

Employees are vital for enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty in service organizations because their proactive involvement is an essential part of delivering the services offered. With the recent rapid growth of tourism in the Macau SAR, service employee workloads are clearly increasing, and consequently one would expect that the incidence of job burnout is rising. This study uses the well-known Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to investigate the relationship between service employees' burnout and their willingness to deliver quality services. Self-administered questionnaires from 110 operational staff in three hotels in Macau have been analyzed. The results indicate that job burnout reduces staff's willingness to deliver quality services and that this effect is moderated by individual staff's level of affective organizational commitment, and their perceptions of the extent of organizational and supervisor support provided by the organization. Based on these results, practical managerial strategies to improve service performance are identified.     

From internal brand management to organizational citizenship behaviours: Evidence from frontline employees in the hotel industry

This paper examines the links between internal brand management, organizational identification, work engagement, and organizational citizenship behaviours in the hospitality industry. A model is proposed and tested using a sample of 323 frontline employees from the main hotel chains operating in Spain. This model includes different dimensions of internal brand management and different manifestations of citizenship behaviours. Data are analysed through the use of partial least squares. The findings confirm that transformational leadership leverages organizational identification and work engagement. However, brand training and brand communications do not directly raise positive emotions in the workplace. The results also suggest that work engagement is a better predictor of citizenship behaviours than organizational identification. Identification influences citizenship behaviours towards the organization. However, this variable does not explain extra-role supportive behaviours towards customers and other employees. These results extend previous research by empirically analysing the effects of internal brand management from the employees' perspective.     

Consumer aggression and frontline employees’ turnover intention: The role of job anxiety,organizational support,and obligation feeling

In the hospitality industry, frontline employees' turnover poses a challenge because it involves immense human and financial costs. This study innovates by investigating the impact of consumer aggression on frontline employees' turnover intention using conservation of resources and social exchange theories. A survey conducted with 300 frontline employees working for 15 hotels confirms that (1) their job anxiety mediates the relationship between their perceived consumer aggression and their intent to quit; (2) their perceived organizational support reduces the positive relationship between their perceived consumer aggression and their job anxiety; and (3) their felt obligation reduces the positive relationship between their job anxiety and their intent to quit. We discuss managerial implications, limitations, and future research directions.     

Perceptions of casino dealers toward organizational justice: Are there any gender differences?

The emphasis on equity and diversity is vital for businesses to flourish. Promoting workplace equality, essential to enhance employees' satisfaction in delivering excellent service quality, requires understanding of the perception of employees as well as the problems they face. This study examines whether gender equality exists among frontline casino employees, the degree to which inequality is experienced and the consequence of such perceptions, through face-to-face, in-depth interviews with the dealers in Macao. The theory of organizational justice is adopted. Results revealed that perceived inequality and injustices were stronger among the male dealers. Male dealers perceived stronger distributive and procedural injustices than females, while female dealers perceived stronger interactional injustice than males. The perceived injustices resulted in various negative work attitudes among employees. Recommendations to improve work attitudes and counterbalance the inequities are proposed.     

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.     

The Effects of Job Demands,Job Resources and Intrinsic Motivation on Emotional Exhaustion and Turnover Intentions: A Study in the Turkish Hotel Industry

ABSTRACT

This study develops and tests a model which investigates the simultaneous effects of job demands, job resources, and a personal resource (intrinsic motivation) on emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions. Frontline hotel employees in Ankara, Turkey serve as the study setting. Among others, results show that job demands (role conflict and role ambiguity) trigger frontline employees' emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions. Job resources (supervisory support, training, empowerment, and rewards) and intrinsic motivation reduce emotional exhaustion. Implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research are offered.