Managers from “Hell” in the hospitality industry: How do hospitality employees profile bad managers?

This study aimed to explore the perceived characteristics of “bad” managers working within the hospitality industry. By employing a grounded theory approach, 72 hospitality employees were interviewed and asked to describe the attributes and behaviors of a current or past bad manager. In addition, the respondents were asked about the root cause/s of the undesirable qualities described in the study. The research findings identified six themes relating to the attributes of bad managers: unprofessional, autocratic management style, poor leadership skills, unethical, poor operational and technical skills, and poor decision and delegation skills. In addition, perceptions of the root causes of bad managers were categorized into four themes: company culture and structure, personal characteristics, unqualified, and tenure and comfort zone. This is one of the first studies in the hospitality field to address bad managers’ attributes and why and how managers became bad managers. Specific theoretical and practical implication are provided.     

What factors influence Generation Y’s employee retention in the hospitality industry?: An internal marketing approach

Individuals from Generation Y are entering into the hospitality job market, but little is known about their intention to remain in the hospitality business. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors affect a Generation Y employee’s intention to remain with a hospitality company with respect to internal marketing tactics. Qualtrics, an online survey service company, was used to distribute and collect a self-administered questionnaire survey. A theoretically proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling. The results of this study indicated that “work environment” significantly influence Generation Y employees’ job satisfaction, followed by “empowerment,” “pay,” and “relationships with managers,” which in turn, influences “employee commitment” and “intention to remain in hospitality business.” The implications of the study are discussed.     

Social responsibility and total quality in the hospitality industry: does gender matter?

This empirical study examines the role of gender diversity in top management teams (TMTs) and their impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is an underexplored topic within the hotel sector. Based on stakeholder theory, we argue that the relationship between gender diversity and hotel performance is indirect and mediated by CSR. Our study also analyses how the implementation of total quality management (TQM) and CSR influences hotel stakeholder results, and hence business performance. Using a sample of Spanish hotels, we provide evidence that gender diversity in TMTs increases the level of implementation of CSR within the hotel industry. The results show that the impact of gender diversity on hotel performance is mediated by CSR. The findings also suggest that the adoption of TQM and CSR management philosophies improves the capacity of hotels to benefit their stakeholders, and that this improvement has a positive effect on hotel performance.     

What are the key success factors for strategy formulation and implementation? Perspectives of managers in the hotel industry

This study investigates how hotel managers describe strategy and identify key success factors for its formulation and implementation. The study analyzes qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews with property level top managers of hotels in Hong Kong. The findings show that hotel managers prioritize competition analysis and macro-environmental conditions over internal characteristics such as teamwork in strategy formulation. In the implementation phase, however, internal considerations such as employee involvement and strategic consensus are given prominence. This study provides a significant contribution by examining how top level practitioners in the industry interpret success factors in their strategic management efforts, and it highlights a largely neglected area in the hospitality and tourism management literature.     

Are hospitality industry IPO stock returns predictable?

We examine the post-IPO excess stock returns of hospitality firms from 1996 to 2012 and find underperformance relative to the market on average. However, there are large differences in returns and some firms significantly outperform. We demonstrate that a substantial portion of this variation can be reliably predicted by utilising pre-IPO financial measures such as firm size, free cash flows, discretionary accruals, and Altman's Z. Our findings are potentially valuable to prospective hospitality IPO investors in selecting which stocks to buy and to hospitality firm managers in setting IPO issue prices.     

Are innovations relevant for consumers in the hospitality industry? A hedonic approach for Cuban hotels

This paper evaluates the impact of innovative activity in the hotel industry on the willingness to pay by consumers. To this end, we estimate a hedonic price function where innovation is identified indirectly through certain attributes that previous literature has linked with hotel innovativeness. The test is performed on a representative sample of Cuban hotels, considering a large number of attributes of hotels and rooms. To solve the usual problems of collinearity, a million alternative models are estimated by choosing the variables included in a random manner and obtaining the final coefficients by means of an internal meta-analysis. The results are completed with a variance decomposition analysis. The results highlight the importance of the attributes linked to innovation and internationalization on the determination of room prices in Cuban hotels: membership of international hotel chains, high quality offers, diversified rooms, and adaptability to specific needs of each client.     

Undergraduate students’ perceptions of the importance of English in the tourism and hospitality industry

Educators commonly promote English as beneficial to future employability, but students’ perceptions of the importance of English in the tourism and hospitality industry are often not considered. It is important that students’ perceptions are examined as gaining better insights could allow more positive attitudes to both English and the industry being fostered. This study investigated the perceptions of students (n = 71) enrolled at a university in Japan and found no statistically significant differences based on gender, country of origin, year of study, work experience, or future work intentions. However, it was indicated that communicative competence, confidence, English listening, and English speaking were the factors perceived to be most important by the students. Consequently, it is suggested that tourism and hospitality courses should incorporate components that focus mainly on these skills, but not to the detriment of English reading and writing, which were also perceived as important.     

Trust and outsourcing: Do perceptions of trust influence the retention of outsourcing providers in the hospitality industry?

The global trend toward outsourcing necessitates unprecedented symbiosis between client-based organizations—purchasers of these services—and their multiple suppliers. Building on existing empirical work that suggests that the level of trust that exists between a purchaser and a supplier is fundamental in determining the strength of such a dyadic relationship, we examine how an organization's outsourcing efforts can be influenced by trust, and how perceptions of trust influence buyer retention of outsourcing providers. The resulting causal model suggests that communication, benevolence, and trust are vital to developing and maintaining productive, enduring relationships between purchasers and suppliers.     

Career satisfaction and future intentions in the hospitality industry: An intrinsic or an extrinsic proposition?

Job satisfaction is probably one of the most researched topics in the hospitality literature and, whereas career satisfaction, defined as the gratification with the accumulation of career-related experiences over time, has received much less attention. With the intention of enhancing our conceptual understanding and adding to this discourse, this study aims to investigate the effects of both intrinsic and extrinsic job traits on the individual's career satisfaction and subsequent intention to remain in the hospitality industry. The study investigates individuals working as full time employees in hotel establishments in Cyprus. Findings, some of which challenge existing theoretical paradigms, are of interest to stakeholders both in the industry and the academic community.     

Are you good enough? CSR,quality management and corporate financial performance in the hospitality industry

Hospitality firms are increasingly investing in corporate social responsibility (CSR) to generate strong relationships with stakeholders while aiming to benefit their own performance. However, CSR may bring both costs and benefits to the focal firm. We analyze how corporate financial performance (CFP) is affected by CSR, finding that the impact of CSR on CFP has a U-shaped form, where CSR is a cost that translates into higher benefits only when it generates solid relationships between firms and their stakeholders. Furthermore, we adopt a contingency approach, assessing the role of quality management (QM) on the CSR-CFP relationship. We find that the simultaneous implementation of CSR and QM is less beneficial to CFP than the isolated implementation of CSR due to the redundancy of different activities aimed at similar goals, i.e., stakeholders’ satisfaction. In doing so, we advance academic understanding of the impact of CSR and QM on CFP.     

Exploring employees’ perceptions of costs and benefits of unionization in the hospitality industry

There is scant research on the impact of unionization on hospitality employees’ job security, health, and working conditions. This research explores employees’ beliefs of costs and benefits of unionization in hospitality organizations given that previous research has mainly focused on its influence on the firm and the industry. The findings of this study suggest that unionization can present a unique set of challenges both for line-level employees and managers. The ‘it’s not my job’ attitude associated with unionization can have a dampening impact on employees’ future career opportunities. Future research needs to consider the long-term consequences of unionization on employees.     

Generic dimensionality of hospitality in the hotel industry: A host–guest relationship perspective

The main objectives of this study are to identify the generic facets of hospitality for hotel services irrespective of their star rating, as well as to determine the impact of generic dimensionality on guest satisfaction. The responses of 305 local and foreign hotel guests in a questionnaire survey were analysed using a Structural Equation Modelling technique. The generic facets of hotel hospitality were identified as personalisation, comfort, and warm welcoming. Of the three, only personalisation and warm welcoming contributed significantly to predicting guest satisfaction. This study is aimed at adding to the body of related literature by sharing new insights on how the generic dimensionality of hospitality in its entirety differs from that of upscale hotel hospitality.     

Drivers and consequences of sustainability committee existence? Evidence from the hospitality and tourism industry

This study's objective is twofold: (1) to investigate whether board characteristics predict the existence of a sustainability committee, and (2) to examine whether the establishment of sustainability committees stimulates sustainability reporting, external assurance, and the adoption of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework in hospitality and tourism (H&T) firms. For this purpose, the data was derived from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database for publicly traded H&T firms from 2013 to 2018. The results indicate that while board size is a significant predictor of sustainability committee establishment, female and independent directors are not. Furthermore, the H&T firms with a sustainability committee are more likely to issue a sustainability report, to get an independent assurance statement on sustainability reporting, and to follow GRI guidelines in configuring sustainability report content and structure. Overall, the results suggest important implications to help H&T firms achieve sustainable goals and to design their boards accordingly.     

Does a leader’s “partiality” affect employees’ proactivity in the hospitality industry? A cross-level analysis

This study examined the impact of leader-member exchange (LMX) differentiation on employees’ proactive customer service performance (PCSP). A cross-level model of LMX differentiation, emotional labor, PCSP, and group positive emotional climate was proposed and tested on a sample of 44 groups consisting of 294 individual frontline employees from 6 hotels located in western, central, and eastern China. The results showed that LMX differentiation at the group level is negatively related to employees’ PCSP, while another variable at the same level, positive emotional climate, is positively related to PCSP. Surface acting and deep acting, two major forms of the regulation of emotional labor, were found to mediate the relationship between LMX differentiation and PCSP. The influence of surface acting and deep acting on the employees’ PCSP is moderated by positive emotional climate at the group level. Additionally, the application of these findings to research and future practice is discussed.     

How is the hospitality and tourism industry different? An empirical test of some structural characteristics

Structural characteristics, such as competition, risk, leverage and capital intensity, directly impact the strategic management of firms operating within an industry. We provide an empirical test and formally compare the structural characteristics of the hospitality and tourism (HT) industry with other industries. Our results, based on a sample of firms from the S&P 1500 index over 21 years, show that the HT industry has higher leverage, higher risk, higher capital intensity and higher competitive rivalry than other industries in the U.S. economy. The formal identification and recognition of these differences provides justification for using the HT industry as a context for testing business theories, and can explain differences in decision-making and firm outcomes such as financial and social performance, as well as efficiency, growth, and survival of HT firms.     

EVA,refined EVA,MVA, or traditional performance measures for the hospitality industry?

Stewart (1991) proposed economic value added (EVA) as a true measurement of a firm's performance and an executive's evaluation tool because EVA reflects only incremental values added to a firm after considering cost of capital. Kim [Kim, W.G., 2006. EVA and traditional accounting measures: which metric is a better predictor of market value of hospitality companies? Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 30(1), 34–39] examined EVA in the hospitality setting and concluded that EVA is not superior to other available measurements for accounting. However, this study contributes several improvements to Kim's (2006) study and compares the incremental explanatory power of six firm performance measures including EVA, refined EVA (REVA), market value added (MVA), and three traditional accounting performance measures for market adjusted returns. According to the findings, REVA and MVA are, apparently, valuable performance measures for evaluating hospitality firms.     

To speak up or stay silent? How employee–supervisor value differences affect speaking up behavior in the hospitality industry

Speaking up behavior plays an essential role in improving the service quality of teams and organizations. This study uses cross-level polynomial regression to explore the influence of supervisor–frontline employee power distance orientation (PDO) congruence on the speaking up behavior of frontline employees. The results indicate that congruence (vs. incongruence) in supervisor–frontline employee PDO can lead to more speaking up behavior. In addition, we propose an asymmetrical incongruence effect such that speaking up behavior will be most when supervisors are low in PDO and frontline employee are high in PDO. A team-oriented incentive structure also moderates the relationship between supervisor–frontline employee power distance orientation and speaking up behavior. These findings not only help us better understand the antecedents of frontline employee speaking up behavior, but also provide important implications for hospitality management.     

Fashionable hospitality: A natural symbiosis for Hong Kong's tourism industry?

Despite the well-accepted synergy between shopping and tourism, co-branding between hotels and retail brands has not been realized by either academia or practitioners. Considering the international recognition of retail brands, hotel and retail co-branding may be a sustainable competitive advantage, especially in shopping destinations such as Hong Kong. Using a one-shot cross-sectional design, this study investigated potential consumer reactions and preferences about likely hotel and retail co-branding in Hong Kong and mainland China. Findings indicated several opportunities as well as threats for hotels and retail brands as well as the need to understand specific markets, especially mainland Chinese before venturing into hotel and retail co-branding. Practical implications and future research suggestions are provided.