The Airbnb paradox: Positive employment effects in the hospitality industry

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which Airbnb supply affects employment in the hospitality, tourism, and leisure industries. Accordingly, we analyzed the effects of Airbnb supply on various sectors in the hospitality, tourism, and leisure industries in 12 major metropolitan statistical areas in the United States for the period between July-2008 and February-2018. The results showed that Airbnb supply positively affects employment in all sectors of the hospitality, tourism, and leisure industries. The magnitudes of these effects are not only statistically but also economically significant. Although prior studies have showed that Airbnb has an adverse impact on hotels' financial performance measures, our results show that employment in the hotel sector increases with increased Airbnb listings. While this outcome might be contradictory to the general conjecture, such evidence calls for a comprehensive investigation of Airbnb's overall economic impact. Research and practical implications are further discussed.     

The relationship between board diversity and firm performance in the lodging industry: The moderating role of internationalization

Following the emphasis on board diversity and its roles on firm performance, an examination on the relationship between board diversity and firm performance in the lodging industry is conducted. Further, this study employs internationalization, a moderator, to more comprehensively investigate the board diversity-firm performance relationship. This study found that gender diversity shows a positive and significant effect on firm performance while age diversity has an insignificant effect on firm performance. Regarding the moderating effect of internationalization, the degree of internationalization significantly magnifies the effect of gender diversity on firm performance but insignificantly moderates the effect of age diversity on firm performance. This study attempts to contribute to the hospitality and tourism literature by examining the topic that has been rarely dealt with and provide practical guidelines for stakeholders of a lodging firm especially when selecting board members.     

Managing supply chain relationships in the hospitality services: An empirical study of hotels and restaurants

Limited research examines the effects of interorganizational trust and interdependence on the relationship quality between supply chain partners in the hospitality services. It is also not well understood how the interorganizational joint team manages the relationships between hospitality firms and their suppliers. Drawing on the social exchange theory and the resource dependence theory, we propose a model and hypotheses to articulate the mediation effect of joint teamwork on the relationships between interorganizational trust, interdependence, and relationship quality. We rigorously analyze survey data from hotel and restaurant procurement managers. Our findings confirm that interorganizational trust and interdependence have significant effects on joint teamwork. Meanwhile, the teamwork mediates the effects of interorganizational trust and interdependence on relationship quality. Our work enriches the understanding of supply chain relationships in the hospitality services, and provides meaningful insights for the hospitality firms to manage supply chains. Finally, we conclude our work with suggestions for future research.     

Zimbabwean hospitality students’ experiences of sexual harassment in the hotel industry

This study investigates the experiences of Zimbabwean hospitality management students in relation to sexual harassment. The students were asked to draw their responses from their industrial attachment year which is part of their four-year degree program. Guided interviews were conducted with 77 final year hospitality management students who had undertaken their industrial attachment in the hotel industry. Findings reveal that sexual harassment is not uncommon in Zimbabwean hotel workplaces. Coworkers, managers and customers were identified as perpetrators. The lack of sexual harassment training in the Zimbabwean hospitality, as well as the non-response of managers to some sexual harassment cases are possible indicators of the inadequacy, or complete lack of sexual harassment policies in Zimbabwe's hotel industry. The researcher suggests that human resource managers in the hotels should formulate, in consultation with Zimbabwean law and labour relations experts, sound sexual harassment policies. Continuous educational training for all employees and managers is also necessary to encourage more employees to report cases and to deter offenders.     

Sustainable development and stakeholder relations management: Exploring sustainability reporting in the hospitality industry from a SD-SRM approach

This paper explores the sustainability reporting of 170 hospitality companies from a SD-SRM approach. The purpose of the study is to ascertain the information that companies disclose in accordance with the sustainable development (SD) and the stakeholder relations management (SRM) theories and to identify the areas for improvement in the management and reporting practices of sustainability in the hospitality industry. The authors use the content analysis method to identify and describe the sustainability reporting of hotel chains and independently managed hotels in Spain. The findings show that the sustainability information reported by hospitality companies currently meets the basic principles of a SD-SRM approach. Nonetheless, the authors also identify areas for improvement, such as the orientation of the reporting to suppliers or the more equilibrated distribution of information among all corporate stakeholders. Based on these findings, the authors consider that the integration of information following the SD-SRM approach described in this paper could facilitate a better compliance of hospitality companies with the principles of the SD and SRM theories.     

The link between environmental uncertainty,organizational agility,and organizational creativity in the hotel industry

Informed by the confusion theory, this study tests the three main aspects of environmental uncertainty on organizational creativity and extends the moderating model of organizational agility in uncertain environments. The data were collected from 174 managers of five-star hotels. Construct validity and the hypotheses were tested using AMOS 26.0. The findings show that organizational agility moderates the negative impacts of competitive and technological uncertainty on organizational creativity. The results suggest that in highly dynamic and complex environments, organizations must reduce bureaucracy to manage the challenges of uncertainty. Informed by the confusion and contingency theories, this study offers new insights into the relationship between environmental uncertainty, organizational creativity, and organizational agility in the hospitality industry.     

Budgeting practices in the Turkish hospitality industry: An exploratory survey in the Antalya region

The present study aims to explore budgeting practices of Turkish hotels in the Antalya region which is the most prominent tourism center of the country. The results indicate that having a budget committee and budget manual are common for Turkish hotels. Secondly, participative budgeting is advocated within the industry. Furthermore, budget period seems dynamic, because hotels state that they revise budgets and make periodic reporting within the budget period. Profitability and cost control are the primary reasons in budget preparation. Finally, budgets are viewed as one of the primary performance indicators.     

Effects of dissatisfaction in tourist services: The role of anger and regret

Dissatisfied customers due to a service failure probably will switch the provider, will complain and/or will spread negative word-of-mouth. However, to what extent some specific emotions triggered by dissatisfaction can mediate between the latter and the previous mentioned behaviours? A sample of 359 users of restaurants and 308 users of hotel services has shown that, whereas anger has a significant influence on the three behaviours under study, regret only affects switching and negative word-of-mouth. Furthermore, slight differences between hotels and restaurants have been found because, in the case of restaurants, anger is not an antecedent of switching whereas regret has an inverse effect on complaining.     

Strategic groups in the hospitality industry: Intergroup and intragroup performance differences in Alicante, Spain

The hotel sector is currently immersed in a very uncertain, highly competitive environment, due to which it needs information for the correct management of its establishments. This information can be obtained from the classification of hotels in strategic groups. The present empirical research presents strategic groups in the hospitality industry as a useful tool for the planning and implementation of strategies by hotels that helps to determine their competitive strategies and advantages. This research paper additionally shows how the levels of performance between the hotels belonging to each group can be evaluated from strategic groups. In this study, the tool is applied to the hotel sector of the Spanish province of Alicante, a very important geographical area in the context of international tourism. The dimensions resource commitment and tourist activity scope have been used to define the strategic groups.     

Understanding corporate philanthropy in the hospitality industry

This study makes a unique contribution to the corporate social responsibility literature, both from a theoretical perspective and corporate philanthropy (CP) perspective that has been under-researched so far. Specifically, it extends the investigation of the motives of CP to the hospitality industry in the emerging country of Taiwan and is the first examination of the determinants of CP in the hospitality industry based on the value enhancement (VE) and agency cost (AC) theories. Previous studies found that either AC or VE determinants, not both, play a major role in making philanthropy decisions. This study reveal new and interesting findings using the data from 13 publicly traded hospitality companies in Taiwan collected between 1996 and 2011. Panel regression test results show that both VE determinants (labor intensity and profitability) and AC determinants (board size and the ratio of independent directors to total directors) were found to be significant factors in explaining the discretionary behavior of CP in the hospitality industry. Furthermore, the lagged philanthropy-to-sale ratio was also significantly related to CP decisions in the hospitality industry in Taiwan, suggesting that the behavior of CP in the Taiwanese hospitality industry is persistent. The possible explanation is that changing philanthropy pattern may lead to market-adverse expectations and reactions and damage the reputation of companies.     

Literature in strategic management in the hospitality industry

This literature review of the research in strategic management in the hospitality industry covers the 2 year period of 2002–2003. Using a contingency model framework for the analysis the research reported in refereed journals in the field of hospitality is reported. Additionally, research that considered the context of the hospitality industry but published in non-hospitality refereed journals was also included. Key issues and needs in the area are provided at the conclusion.     

Knowledge agents as drivers of environmental sustainability and business performance in the hospitality sector

This study examines the role of knowledge agents as key enablers in the process of creating and updating the environmental knowledge base of a firm and, in doing so, having a positive effect on business performance. From the perspective of a hotel as the most important cog in the machinery of the hospitality sector, knowledge agents are those individuals who can provide information and knowledge that enables the firm to deal with environmental issues effectively. The paper describes an empirical, longitudinal study of 87 organisations in the Spanish hospitality industry. The results highlight the importance of the relationship between knowledge agents and environmental knowledge for business performance. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the role of knowledge agents is also relevant for the future management of the environmental knowledge base of a firm within the hospitality sector.     

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.     

Capital structure in the hospitality industry: The role of the asset-light and fee-oriented strategy

An asset-light and fee-oriented strategy (ALFO), which reduces risk and facilitates firm growth with minimum capital investment, has increasingly gained attention from industry practitioners and academic scholars alike, especially in the service sector like the hospitality industry. We empirically examine how ALFO is employed and how it is related to the capital structure, i.e. the proportion of debt and equity financing, in hospitality firms. Using a sample of 982 firm-year observations over the period 2002–2016, we find that ALFO is widely used by the hospitality industry, and as expected, the fee-income ratio and the degree of franchising have increased, while asset tangibility and capital intensity have decreased. Interestingly, although ALFO is positively related to long-term debt ratios of hospitality firms, our sub-sector analyses indicate that the relationship is only significant in the restaurant sector and not in the hotel sector. Our study contributes to the literature by identifying an important industry-specific variable that affects the capital structure of hospitality firms.     

Training plans,manager's characteristics and innovation in the accommodation industry

This paper explores the effect of training plans and managerial characteristics on innovation activity in the hospitality sector. This sector is featured by being labor-intensive so the examination of employment and managers skills deserves attention in order to determine the level of quality and competitive advantage in the provision of services. The data in the paper comes from a questionnaire administered to hotel managers in a representative sample of hotels in the Balearic Islands, a leading tourist destination. Results suggest that training plans positively affect innovation-related decisions and the extent of their implementation; however, managers should have more than experience to manage the innovation change, specifically skills and capabilities.     

Operational issues and trends in the hospitality industry

This article makes some predictions about the future by considering operational issues in the first part of the next century. Hospitality operations management is considered at two levels — the firm level at which strategic operations management takes place; and the unit level. It is proposed, using a model developed by Jones (1999, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality management), there are seven strategic concerns: location, integration, affiliation, configuration, organisation, implementation and adaptation. For unit operations management the framework of analysis is based on Lockwood and Jones (1989, The Management of Hotel Operations). This identifies seven key result areas: assets, employees, capacity (or customers), productivity, service, income (or control), and quality. Using these frameworks an assessment is made of current issues and trends in hospitality operations management, leading to a prioritisation of possible future outcomes.     

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.     

The measurement of concentration in the hospitality industry

The development of a computerised data base capable of modification and updating together with both statistical and behavioural studies of market structure, conduct and performance offers a theoretical and empirical framework within which the hospitality service can be analysed and the businesses within it. This paper sets out a methodology for measuring one aspect of market structure — concentration — in one of the component sectors of tourism as a first step in this process. The computer programs are already developed and successfully run in measuring concentration in another service industry, namely retail distribution.