“That's not my job”: Exploring the employee perspective in the development of brand ambassadors

It is well established that the role of employees is essential in effective brand management for hospitality organizations to create a competitive advantage. In seeking to capitalize on this important facet of brand management, this study considers employees understanding of the brand, as an important direct antecedent to realizing brand ambassadors. Specifically, three factors, or psychological states, were conceptualized and examined in relation to how such states inform an employee's commitment to the brand as well as develop employee brand equity, as reflected in their pro-brand behavioral intentions. The results indicate that employees’ pro-brand attitude and behavior are influenced by different brand understanding factors. Relational factors (employee perceived brand importance and brand role relevance) are the key antecedents to employee brand commitment. Employee perceived brand knowledge contributes to their pro-brand behavior directly, but not brand commitment. The results of this empirical study support the importance of examining an employee's psychological states, as manifest in the three brand understanding factors, in an endeavor to achieve coveted brand supporting outcomes. The results suggest that although perceived brand knowledge can contribute to employee brand equity, employees must see the brand as being meaningful and relevant to embrace their role as brand ambassadors.     

The effects of generational work values on employee brand attitude and behavior: A multi-group analysis

The competitive hospitality industry requires effective external and internal brand management. Since service employees bring the brand to life, insight regarding their motivational drivers is important. Given a multigenerational hospitality workforce, individual motivations will likely differ and therefore inform attitudes and behavior differently. Adopting work values as a motivational lens, and drawing on generational theory, this study surveys 303 hospitality employees to understand how generational collective memories (i.e., formative referents) inform individuals’ work values. Further, it examines how generational work values differentially influence employees’ perceived brand fit and brand citizenship behavior. The results suggest that an individual’s collective memories from their formative years influence their work values, with altruistic, social and intrinsic work values having a positive impact on employee brand attitude and behavior, while extrinsic and leisure work values have no significant impact. Generational differences are evident, but not always in a manner that is consistent with previous literature.     

An Examination of the Relationship Between Employee Perception and Hotel Brand Equity

Brand management stresses the importance of satisfying the needs of external customers. Employee branding management shows an evolving trend as employees begin living the brand. It is, therefore, necessary that employees are convinced by the hotel brand prior to having confidence to “sell” the brand to customers. The present study aims to investigate employee perception toward hotel brand equity, particularly in the Hong Kong hotel industry. Factor analysis is used to identify four underlying factors—namely, employee commitment, employee engagement, employee identification, and service quality. The four constitute the perception of the employee on the evaluation of the brand. Correlation analysis is employed to examine relationship among the underlying factors and three dimensions of hotel brand equity—including brand image, brand awareness, and perceived quality. Moderate association is generally noted, and perceived quality has the most significant relationship with employee perception on brand equity. Managerial implications on employee branding management are introduced to hotel management. Topics for future research are also recommended.     

Feeling trusted and taking-charge behaviour: An internal branding perspective based on self-categorization theory

Although the mechanism of internal branding is related to both organizational factors and employees’ personal factors, the existing research mainly focuses on organizational factors. Thus, the literature on the formation and function of internal branding from the employee perspective is scarce. In this multisource study, we applied self-categorization theory to test the relationships among employees’ feeling trusted, perceived insider status, self-efficacy and taking-charge behaviour within the framework of internal branding. Data from 169 employee-supervisor dyads from the hotel industry in Northwest China revealed that employees’ perception of feeling trusted is an important factor that causes them to internalize their hotel employer’s brand and categorize themselves as “insiders” who regard the hotel brand as part of themselves and present brand-aligned behaviour to achieve brand success. In addition, employee self-efficacy is an important boundary-level variable that facilitates the transformation of brand internalization to brand-aligned behaviour. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Do green HR practices enhance green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity in hotel industry?

The devastating effects on the environment have raised many questions on the environmental performance of an organization. As the environment is severely affected by the operations of giant businesses, i.e. ‘hotel industry.’ There is a need to explore the factors that influence employee environmental performance by incorporating green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity as mediators. The data are collected using the survey method. The statistical techniques applied to the dataset were confirmatory factor analysis and partial least square structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that green HR practices positively and significantly related to green intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and proactive environmental management maturity. Similarly, green motivation is significantly and positively linked with employee environmental performance. In contrast, proactive environmental management maturity is positively and insignificantly linked with employees’ environmental performance. In contrast, mediation analysis reveals that green motivation, i.e., intrinsic and extrinsic, partially mediates the association between green HR practices and employee environmental performance. However, no mediating effect of proactive environmental management maturity is found between the proposed associations. The paper contributes to the literature in many ways. Firstly, it explains the role of Green HR practices in forming green motivation among employees of the hotel industry, and previously no researchers studied this combination in the context of the hotel industry. Secondly, green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity are incorporated as mediators to have in-depth knowledge about the employees’ environmental performance.     

酒店服务品牌内部建设主体的功能与关系研究

服务品牌与产品品牌在原理上一致,但在执行上存在明显差别。服务品牌的建设应该包括内部和外部两个视角,但是现有理论及实践往往仅关注服务品牌外部建设,忽略了服务品牌内部建设。因此,文章基于丽思卡尔顿酒店的案例,探索服务品牌内部建设涉及哪些参与者、各参与者承担哪些角色,以及服务品牌内部与外部建设之间的关系等问题。研究发现,酒店企业服务品牌内部建设的关键流程包括酒店创建者和高层管理者创建并维持服务品牌核心价值、核心价值转变为员工的内在价值、员工"活出品牌"3个方面。服务品牌内部建设与外部建设是"手段"与"目的"的关系,成功的服务品牌内部建设能够更好地确保外部建设的效果。最后,文章提出了酒店企业内部服务品牌建设的管理建议。     

Drivers of hotel employee’s voice behavior: A moderated mediation model

This study developed and tested a moderated mediation model for examining the relationships among person-organization fit (P-O fit), employee voice, employees’ perceived nature of the work and employees’ perceived functional quality of their services. Using 265 frontline employees from several 3 star hotels in Taiwan, the analytical results show that P-O fit is positively related to employee voice, and that employees’ perceived nature of the work mediates the positive relationship between these two variables. The analytical results also show that employees’ perceived functional quality of their services moderates the direct effect of P-O fit on employees’ perceived nature of the work, as well as the indirect effect of P-O fit on employee voice via employees’ perceived nature of the work. Theoretical and practical implications for the hospitality literature and hotel practitioners are discussed herein.     

The impact of exploitative leadership on frontline hospitality employees’ service performance: A social exchange perspective

Based on social exchange theory, we investigate the impact of perceived exploitative leadership on frontline hospitality employees’ service performance. A three-phase analysis of 207 supervisor–subordinate dyads from three hotels in China demonstrates that exploitative leadership has a negative effect on frontline hospitality employees’ service performance. Furthermore, leader−member exchange (LMX) plays a mediating role in the relationship between exploitative leadership and employee service performance. Moderated path analyses indicate that traditionality weakens the direct influence of exploitative leadership on LMX and an indirect influence of exploitative leadership on employee service performance through reduced LMX. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

Applying Service Profit Chain model to the Korean restaurant industry

The purpose of this study is to empirically determine the relationship between employees’ constructs such as internal service quality, service ability, employee satisfaction, and organizational commitment, and customers’ constructs such as perceived value, customer satisfaction, customer trust, and loyalty. This relationship was studied by applying the Service Profit Chain model to the Korean restaurant industry. Results show that internal service quality has a significant effect on service ability, and teamwork/communication has a significant effect on employee satisfaction. Employees’ organizational commitment has a significant direct effect on the value perceived by customers. Ultimately, there is an indirect influential relationship between employees’ and customers’ constructs. Implications of these results are discussed, and possible limitations of the study are addressed.     

Predicting hospitality employees’ safety performance behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic

This study develops and tests a research model to explain and predict how and when organizational safety climate influences hospitality employees’ safety performance behaviors by proposing two boundary conditions: communication transparency and safety-related stigma based on expectancy-valence theory. Specifically, we examined if communication transparency intensifies the impact of perceived safety climate on employees’ safety motivation that drives safety performance behaviors through prevention work focus and if safety-related stigma attenuates the links between safety motivation and safety performance behaviors. Based on two national samples of 214 South Korean and 240 U.S. foodservice employees, this research found that safety climate was positively associated with safety motivation, prompting safety behaviors with the key mediating mechanism of prevention focus work. However, there were different patterns observed for the moderating roles of communication transparency and stigma for the foodservice employees between South Korea and the United States. Implications of the findings are discussed for hospitality researchers and practitioners.     

Interactive effects of supervisor support,diversity climate,and employee cynicism on work adjustment and performance

This study examined the interactive effects of perceived supervisor support (PSS), diversity climate, and employee cynicism on the work adjustment and performance of temporary migrant workers in the UAE’s hospitality industry. Drawing on the conservation of resources and trait activation theories, we hypothesized a three-way interaction effect of PSS, diversity climate, and employee cynicism on work adjustment. An effect of work adjustment on employees’ in-role performance was also proposed. Using two waves of data collected from 239 hospitality frontline employees and their direct supervisors, we found that PSS impacts more positively on the adjustment of employees with high cynicism when diversity climate is also positive. Employees with low cynicism display high adjustment with PSS even in less positive diversity climates. The indirect effect of PSS on in-role performance (via workplace adjustment) is also significant in inclusive climates for highly cynical employees.     

How does career future time perspective moderate in the relationship between infection anxiety with the COVID-19 and service behavior among hotel employees?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts on the hospitality industry and its employees. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of infection anxiety with COVID-19 (IAWC) on employee motivation and work behaviors. This study proposes and examines a model predicting that IAWC has indirect effects on service and helping behaviors via intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, we expect that career future time perspective mitigates the harmful effects of IAWC on service and helping behaviors. We tested our moderated mediation model using data collected from multiple time points and multiple resources (i.e., hotel employees and their corresponding supervisors). The results show that IAWC indirectly influences service and helping behaviors via intrinsic motivation. In addition, career future time perspective moderated the effects of IAWC, such that the indirect effects of IAWC were weakened when employees' career future time perspective was high. This study extends our understanding of the impacts of IAWC on hospitality employees and the buffering effects of career future time perspective. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.     

An expectancy theory model for hotel employee motivation

The purpose of this study is to apply expectancy theory to employee motivation in the hotel setting and confirm the validity of expectancy theory. The proposed expectancy theory model for motivation was tested using data from 289 hotel employees. The results show that a modified expectancy theory with five components (expectancy, extrinsic instrumentality, intrinsic instrumentality, extrinsic valence, and intrinsic valence) best explains the process of motivating hotel employees. This study also indicates that intrinsic motivation factors are more influential than extrinsic factors for hotel employees, suggesting that hotel managers need to focus more on intrinsic factors to better motivate employees.     

The influence of service brand orientation on hotel employees’ attitude and behaviors in China

As foreign hotel brands continue to roll out their investment in China, the competitive landscape intensifies. Central to the success of these hotel brands is their ability to offer the unique features of their service offering, as reflected in the brand, in which employees play a key role. However, in the Chinese market, where the introduction of foreign hotel brands is in its initial stages, employee brand knowledge may be limited resulting in service behaviors that are inconsistent with the brand. Therefore, the adoption of a service brand orientation to guide employee attitudes and behavior is considered to be necessary. In an effort to realize productive service employees, this study examines the consequences of adopting a service brand orientation. Results suggest that a service brand orientation is imperative for positive employee brand-oriented behaviors as well as customer-oriented behaviors that are a consequence of an employee customer orientation.     

How and when servant leaders fuel creativity: The role of servant attitude and intrinsic motivation

Workplace creativity is critical to stay ahead in the current competitive hospitality industry. Recent research has suggested that servant leadership fosters creativity. However, there is a lack of research into the mechanisms and situations that make this link possible. This paper examines (1) employee servant attitude as a mediator in the servant leadership–employee creativity relationship, and (2) the role of intrinsic motivation in both the direct and the mediated relationship. Using structural equation modeling to analyze a sample of 259 hotel employees in Spain, we found that servant attitude is one of the mechanisms servant leaders use to foster creativity, and that this mediating role of servant attitude is strengthened as employee intrinsic motivation increases. However, when intrinsic motivation decreases, the mediation reverts and the leadership–employee creativity relationship becomes significant again. New light is shed on how and when servant leadership is most effective in fostering hotel staff creativity.     

Effect of Internal Marketing on Hotels: Empirical Evidence for Internal Customers

Internal marketing is a concept where firms apply marketing tools to attract and retain the best employees that will later affect business performance in monetary and nonmonetary terms. This article deals with the effect of internal marketing in hotels on their performance, based upon data obtained from India. Researchers identified the constructs of internal marketing: interfunctional coordination and integration, job satisfaction, job security, empowerment, employee motivation, vision of the organization, quality of service, employee development, strategic reward, and senior leadership. Researchers analyzed the effects of these processes on interactive marketing and thereby business performance. This study seeks to help organizations design their own internal marketing plan by outlining the important elements necessary to improve the business performance of hotels.     

Work environment and atmosphere: The role of organizational support in the creativity performance of tourism and hospitality organizations

In this study, we developed and tested a new model of how organizational support affects the organizational work environment and atmosphere that facilitates creativity. A field study of 320 employees showed that organizational support was positively related to the work environment for knowledge sharing, motivation, procedural justice, and promotion. Further, the work environment plays a mediating role between organizational support and employee creativity. These measures of an organization's environment of procedural justice are related to employees’ motivation and knowledge sharing, which predict employees’ promotion.     

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.     

An examination of the progressive effects of hotel frontline employees’ brand perceptions on desirable service outcomes

The present study scrutinizes how hospitality firms’ internal branding influences the service performance of frontline employees in a progressive way. More specifically, based on social influence and social exchange theories, this study examines if organizational commitment mediates the link between hospitality frontline employees’ perceptions of brand authenticity (BA) and brand-value fit (BVF) and their service-related behaviors such as generating ideas for service improvement (GISI) and service-oriented citizenship behavior. With a matched sample of 286 customer-contact frontline employees and 33 of their supervisors from five-star hotels in South Korea, this study found that the higher employees’ perceptions of BA and BVF, the more likely they were to generate ideas for service improvement and engage in service-oriented citizenship behavior, as they were more likely to be committed to the firm. Based on the findings, implications are discussed for hospitality practitioners and researchers alike in terms of internal branding with frontline employees.     

Non-verbal communication in hospitality: At the intersection of religion and gender

Given the criticality of successful bilateral (guest–employee) interactions in the increasingly internationalised hospitality business environment, the overarching aim of this study is to determine whether religion (Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity) plays a role in how hotel employees’ non-verbal communication is perceived by guests. In addition, we are interested in understanding perceptions of hotel employees’ non-verbal behaviour from the perspective of the intersection of religion and gender. This exploratory research is based on cross-sectional data collected from 384 hotel guests in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Results showed that Christian guests perceived proxemics, physical appearance and paralanguage of hotel employees less favourably than Muslim guests did. Effects of religion on kinesics and proxemics also depended on gender. Implications are discussed theoretically in terms of cross-religious discourse and practically in terms of workforce training.