The Impact of Internal Branding on Employee Engagement and Outcome Variables in the Hotel Industry

The concept of internal branding is well accepted in the service industry. This study examines how internal branding helps service organizations achieve desirable outcomes such as job satisfaction and employee loyalty. The model is developed based on social exchange theory and considers the relationship among internal branding, employee engagement, job satisfaction, and employee loyalty. The model is tested on service employees of hotels in South Korea using a survey method. The study finds internal branding is critical for employees to be engaged with the job and the organization and employee engagement fully mediates the relationship between internal branding and job satisfaction. Several implications are discussed.     

Job Satisfaction,Organizational Commitment,and Internal Service Quality

Abstract

The purpose of this study, was to create a case study in employee attitudes on job satisfaction, in a major Las Vegas, Nevada hotel/casino. To accomplish this, the authors specifically investigated the discrete level of their job satisfaction, internal service quality, and organizational commitment. They also explored the overall impact of job satisfaction and internal service quality on employee organizational commitment. Currently there is no reported research on the simultaneous examination of these three variables. The results of this study have practical applications given the size and the nature of the casino business, in which a large number of employees may be assembled in a single location, and where employees may move easily from one property to another.     

The relationship between CRM, RM, and business performance: A study of the hotel industry in Taiwan

This study aims to investigate the implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) and its effect on relationship marketing (RM) and business performance, through an analysis of the hotel industry in Taiwan. A survey on hotels, including general and tourist hotels, and bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) was conducted, and a total of 560 questionnaires were returned. The results showed that implementing CRM has a significant and positive influence on the RM effect, positively affecting business performance for both hotels and B&Bs. However, a comparison of the influential paths of relationship models between hotels and B&Bs showed that, for hotels, the Internet service and customer support functions of the CRM strategy are the main sources of influence on the RM effect and business performance, whereas for B&Bs, the marketing support function of the CRM strategy alone influences the RM effect and business performance. To achieve higher performance, the different types of hotel enterprises should understand their main advantage before implementing key CRM strategies.     

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.     

Market orientation in mid-range service,urban hotels: How to apply the MKTOR instrument

This work analyses market orientation (MO) within hotels and its impact on business performance (marketing, economic and financial results). To achieve this, after developing a measurement scale based on MKTOR, a survey targeting senior managers of four-star hotels located in Spain was carried out. The data of the study show that the more market-oriented hotels know their customers and competitors better and that they are more effective at coordinating their actions. This in turn generates a positive and direct effect on customer satisfaction, on the value added for them and on the perceived image of the hotel. Also, perceptions about technological turbulence positively affect the adoption of the MO philosophy and, therefore, its consequences in terms of company performance. Finally, the effects of MO on results would be overvalued if the perception of the impact of the crisis is not taken into account.     

内部营销视角下饭店员工忠诚度研究

目前随着饭店行业竞争的不断加剧,人才保留和员工忠诚受到了管理实践者的极大重视.本研究从内部营销视角出发,以中国饭店业为研究对象,分析员工信任、满意和组织承诺对饭店员工态度和行为忠诚的递推影响作用.实证研究发现,员工信任和满意通过组织承诺影响员工态度忠诚,最终影响员工行为忠诚.因此,饭店行业的管理者在强调通过物质利益树立员工忠诚度的同时一定不能忽视员工心理状态对于忠诚度的影响作用,更要充分利用组织承诺的效能来降低员工流动率.     

Examining job stress and burnout of hotel room attendants: Internal marketing and organizational commitment as moderators

ABSTRACT

Housekeeping is a support department that helps provide and support quality service and products for hotel customers. Room attendants, however, face as much job stress as other staff. Therefore, this study examines the causal relationships among job stress, job burnout, and turnover intentions, while also verifying internal marketing and organizational commitment as moderators for the effect of job stress on burnout. Study results indicate that room attendants who suffer job stress do have higher job burnout, which, in turn, affects their turnover intentions. Further, internal marketing and organizational commitment significantly moderates job stress and job burnout.     

The COVID-19 pandemic: The mitigating role of government and hotel support of hotel employees in Egypt

We investigated the effect of government support of hotels on hotels' employee support (namely, health support, staff retention, and staff training) and consequently on employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment, through the moderating role of perceived overall organizational justice and ethical climate, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a quantitative approach and a framework that drew on the stakeholder and organizational support theories, we collected data from 669 employees in Egyptian hotels through a web-based survey. The results support the proposed framework and show a positive effect of government support through the strengthened perception of perceived overall organizational justice. Surprisingly, findings indicated that the association between job satisfaction and organizational commitment is significantly and negatively influenced by hotel ethical climate. Furthermore, job satisfaction partially mediates the association between hotels’ support of employees and organizational commitment. The study holds important implications for both theory and practice.     

Internal marketing practices,genuine emotions and their effects on hotel employees’ customer-oriented behaviors

Drawing on social exchange and conservation of resources theories, this study investigates genuine emotions as a mediator of the effects of internal marketing practices on customer-oriented behaviors. Data collected from customer-contact employees in the four- and five-star hotels in Antalya, one of the most popular tourism destinations in Turkey, were used to assess the aforesaid relationships. The results from structural equation modeling reveal that management’s simultaneous emphasis on internal communication, training, and internal market research as the indicators of internal marketing practices fosters customer-contact employees’ genuine emotions displayed in service encounters. Such internal marketing practices as well as genuine emotions boost employees’ customer-oriented behaviors, as manifested by enjoyment and needs. As hypothesized, genuine emotions partly mediate the effects of internal marketing practices on customer-oriented behaviors. Theoretical and management implications associated with the abovementioned results are discussed.     

Key drivers of innovation capability in hotels: implications on performance

Innovation capability is critical for the modernization and competitiveness of the hotel industry. This work analyzes the role of hotels' innovative culture, market orientation, and internal marketing as forerunners of innovation capability in hotels, as well as the effect of innovation capability on hotels' performance. The proposed conceptual model is evaluated through structural equation modeling using a sample of 256 Spanish hotels. The results reveal that innovative culture by itself is not a key driver of the hotels' innovation capability. However, internal marketing and market orientation mediate the innovative culture-innovation capability relationship. Innovation capability proves to enhance hotels' market results directly and indirectly through customer equity. Our findings offer hotel managers useful guidance to understand how innovation capability is built within the firm by combining the right organizational culture and practices. Additionally, our study reinforces the financial and non-financial benefits of innovation capability in hotels.     

Human Resource Management,Job Satisfaction,Morale, Optimism,and Turnover

ABSTRACT

This article examines the usage of nine human resource management (HRM) practices among 46 hotels in San Diego. Results showed that the hotels in the sample use training and development to bring employees up to an acceptable level of performance, and then rely on allowing employee a voice to keep them engaged. Usage of HRM varied by hotel types (e.g., resorts vs. economy), and the practices had a statistically significant relationship with job satisfaction, morale, and optimism about the future of the hotel. These attitudes, in turn, were significantly related to turnover intentions. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Why is hospitality employees’ psychological capital important? The effects of psychological capital on work engagement and employee morale

This study examines work engagement as a partial mediator of the effect of psychological capital (PsyCap) on employee morale in a sample of hotel employees. A survey was carried out with 312 front-line staff from 15 five-star hotels in Seoul, Korea. A one-month time-lag design (Time 1: PsyCap and work engagement; Time 2: employee morale) was used to reduce potential common method bias. The hypothesized relationships in the model were tested using structural equation modeling. The results suggest that work engagement partially mediates the effect of PsyCap on job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. Specifically, front-line employees with high PsyCap are more engaged with their work and more likely to display job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. The study concludes with a discussion of its empirical findings, strengths, theoretical contributions, and practical implications. Limitations and their implications for future studies are also reviewed.     

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.     

Impact of human resources practices on employee creativity in the hotel industry: The impact of job autonomy

ABSTRACT

This study aims to offer a holistic model for human resource practices, affective commitment, job autonomy, and employee creativity. It examines the factors that create conditions for bringing forth creativity in employees. Data were collected from 440 employees drawn from 35 hotels using a structured self-administered questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study reveal that affective commitment was acted as a mediator between human resource practices and employee creativity while job autonomy was acting as a moderator between affective commitment and employee creativity. This article contributes to a better understanding of the effect of human resource practices on the commitment level of employees working in the hotel industry and provides evidence that commitment acts as a mediator between the factors of human resources practices and employee creativity.     

Motivational drivers that fuel employees to champion the hospitality brand

Many hospitality organizations have recognized the significance of having strong brands in the marketplace. Given that customers’ brand experiences are greatly affected by frontline service employees, it is crucial that service employees are capable and motivated to transform brand promises into brand realities. This study seeks to build on the emerging Internal Brand Management (IBM) research, by examining employees’ internal drive to go above and beyond their formal job requirement to benefit the brand. Based on motivation theories and the empirical data from 202 hotel employees, we examined the impact of employees’ pro-brand motivation (an internal motivation that is engendered from extrinsic stimuli) and their intrinsic motivation to work on their brand performance. In particular, we identified two significant motivational drivers for employees’ pro-brand motivation namely, employee perceived brand meaningfulness and employee perceived brand value fit. Based on the synergy between employee pro-brand motivation and intrinsic motivation to work, we further proposed an Employee Brand Motivation Matrix reflecting four types of employee motivation that underpins the rationale for employee brand performance. Organizations can use this matrix as a diagnostic tool to segment their workforce, gaining a true appreciation for the extent to which their workforce is willing and able to champion the brand.     

Understanding precedents for frontline employee turnover in luxury hotels: Emotional intelligence as a unifying factor

Current turnover research fails to serve the needs of an industry that is long plagued by employee turnover. Existing literature focuses more on evaluating bundles of human resource practices and fail to provide precise and clear guidance for practitioners. This study proposes that emotional intelligence (EI) unifies sufficient individual factors and organizational factors that affect employee turnover and serves as a single significant precedent for turnover. Data were collected from frontline employees at eight luxury hotels. The direct, indirect, and total impacts of employee EI on employee turnover were tested by structural equation modeling and bootstrap tests. The results suggest that EI has significant indirect impacts through the mediation of perceived organizational support, pay satisfaction and job burnout, and significant total impacts on turnover. Implication suggestions include integrating EI into the recruiting process for new employees and providing training opportunities for current employees to improve their EI.     

Call Center Employees’ Intent to Quit: Examination of Job Engagement and Role Clarity

Call centers have become a valuable resource for hotels in managing customer experiences and relationships, yet they have also developed a reputation for being a stressful job which has made it a significant challenge to retain employees. Given high turnover rates among call center employees, it is important for hospitality firms to understand the factors influencing their intentions to quit. This study focuses on job engagement and role clarity to examine hotel call center employees’ intent to quit. The survey results of call center employees at a large resort hotel suggest that job engagement significantly influences the hotel call center employees’ intent to quit after accounting for job satisfaction and organizational support. Role clarity, however, is not related to intent to quit. Managerial implications and recommendations for increasing employee job engagement are discussed.     

Examination of the concept of internal labour markets in UK hotels

This article describes the results of a survey of a sample of UK hotels to gather data on various attributes of the internal labour markets, eg promotion criteria, pay differentials and the ‘openness’ of the internal labour market. The results are used to test the hypothesis that hotels exhibit strong and weak internal labour markets with an increasing level of bureaucracy perhaps being indicative of a stronger internal labour market. Overall the findings would appear to show that formal employee organization within the hotel industry is lacking and that the hotel industry is strongly dependent on the external labour market.     

Employee job satisfaction and customer-oriented behavior: A study of frontline employees in the foodservice industry

ABSTRACT

As the significance of frontline employees increases in the foodservice industry, organizations are paying more attention to internal marketing and customer-oriented behavior for the success of their business. Thus, this study surveys restaurant employees to investigate the impact of development and rewards on job satisfaction and customer-oriented behavior from the perspective of restaurant employees. This study not only supports aspects of previous literature, but also proposes a testable and parsimonious research model by exploring development, rewards, job satisfaction, and customer-oriented behavior simultaneously and revealing how those factors are correlated. Finally, limitations and future research directions are addressed.     

Comparison between hotels and motels using CRM effect model – An empirical study in Taiwan

This study aims to explore the influence of customer relationship management (CRM) on the relationship marketing effect (RME) and business performance (BP) for hotels and motels in Taiwan, and compare the differences between the two. After surveying 224 hotels and 114 motels, the study establish a CRM effect model and finds that the implementation of CRM can have a significant and positive impact on the RME and BP for both types of establishments. However, enterprise type has an interference effect on the intensity of the relationship paths in the CRM effect model. Therefore, different enterprise types should plan CRM strategies that are based on individual advantage, which will not only increase the RME, but also further enhance BP by improving customer relationships.