Extra-role service under pressure in the hospitality industry: The role of mindfulness

Extra-role service is currently the keystone that supports hotels' ability to compete. At the same time, extra-role service depends on the discretionary behavior of some employees who perform their duties in a context of stress. Our study investigates the effect of a stressor such as performance pressure on extra-role service, using employee engagement as a mediator and mindfulness level as a moderating variable. Through structural equation modeling, we analyze data from 300 frontline hospitality employees. The results show a negative effect of increases in performance pressure on employees extra-role service behavior through their engagement. We therefore suggest that performance pressure can turn into a threatening stressor in hospitality work environment. We also confirm that the employee's mindfulness level moderates this relationship, compensating for nearly the entire negative effect of this specific stressor on employee engagement. Managers will find key insights that help them to stimulate high-quality service in hospitality organizations.     

Innovative behavior motivations among frontline employees: The mediating role of knowledge management

Labor-intensive industries face challenges when designing innovative, customer-oriented service strategies at the employee level, since service is mainly produced and delivered to customers not by technology or machines but by human resources. In other words, the role of frontline employees is particularly critical in customers’ belief formation of whether a service company is innovative or not. Therefore, this study was conducted to formulate and investigate the psychological process of frontline employees’ innovative behaviors. To achieve the purpose, this study collected data from frontline employees in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. This study contributes to the motivation literature in human resources management by adapting and considering a marketing approach based on three aspects of motivation: global, contextual, and situational. This study also examined whether motivation factors may increase knowledge-management capabilities and subsequently stimulate innovative behaviors, which are critical to the successful implementation of service improvements among frontline employees.     

Examining the spillover effect of frontline employees’ work–family conflict on their affective work attitudes and customer satisfaction

This study examines the negative spillover effects of hospitality frontline employees’ work–family conflict on their affective reactions, commitment, and customer satisfaction. A field survey was conducted to obtain a dyadic data set (148 paired employee–customer responses). Our results indicate that frontline employees’ role conflict between work and family results in less positive affective reactions to the job, decreased emotional attachment to the organization, and lower levels of customer satisfaction. These findings suggest that hospitality firms need to understand that factors outside the workplace influence service excellence, thus calling for a family-friendly organizational culture.     

The effects of job and personal resources on hotel employees’ work engagement

Our study developed and tested a research model, which predicted the impacts of job (supervisor support) and personal resources (trait competitiveness and self-efficacy) on work engagement. Respondents were full-time employed frontline employees of the five- and four-star hotels of Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria. We used path analysis in LISREL 8.30 for testing the study hypotheses. The results demonstrated that trait competitiveness predicted three dimensions of work engagement better than did self-efficacy. That is, trait competitiveness enhanced frontline employees’ feelings of vigor, dedication, and absorption, while self-efficacy significantly and positively influenced only absorption. Unexpectedly, supervisor support had no significant effects on three dimensions of work engagement. The results further revealed that frontline employees who had elevated levels of competitiveness and adequate supervisor support in the workplace had higher self-efficacy beliefs. Implications of the empirical findings and limitations are discussed in our study.     

如何提高饭店业一线员工的服务补救绩效:模型与实证

文章应用巴顾兹(Bagozzi)的态度模型,采用结构方程建模方法,构建并验证了基于饭店业一线员工感知视角的服务补救绩效预测模型。实证结果表明:(1)一线员工对授权、培训、奖励以及对饭店进行顾客抱怨管理的感知正向影响其工作满意度;(2)顾客抱怨管理和授权不仅通过一线员工情感变量(工作满意和情感承诺)的中介作用间接正向影响服务补救绩效,还能够直接预测服务补救绩效;(3)一线员工的情感变量是解释员工培训和奖励正向影响其服务补救绩效的完全中介变量;(4)工作满意直接正向影响一线员工的情感承诺,而在工作满意和服务补救绩效之间的间接正向影响关系中,情感承诺变量起到了全部中介效应。文章最后总结了对服务补救理论和饭店业管理实践的贡献。     

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.     

When diversity leads to divided teams: A multi-level moderated mediation model of team faultlines and employee engagement

Team faultlines are hypothetical dividing lines that split a team into two or more subgroups based on individual (diversity) attributes, which negatively influence team process and outcomes. Linking with diversity literature and building on social identity and optimal distinctiveness theories, our study examined a multilevel moderated mediation model on whether, how, and when team faultlines would affect hotel frontline employees’ work engagement using data from 337 Chinese hotel employees nested in 102 work groups, collected at multiple times. The results indicated that team faultlines negatively influenced hotel frontline employees’ work engagement, and that individual perceived psychological safety played a mediating role. Inclusive leadership moderated the indirect relationship between team faultlines and employees’ work engagement via psychological safety, thus providing a more optimistic view that measures can indeed be taken to mitigate the negative impacts of team faultlines.     

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.     

High-performance work practices and hotel employee performance: The mediation of work engagement

This study proposes and tests a research model that investigates whether work engagement functions as a mediator of the effects of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) on job performance and extra-role customer service. These relationships were assessed through LISREL 8.30 using structural equation modeling (SEM). Data were obtained from full-time frontline hotel employees and their managers in the Poiana Brasov region in Romania. The results suggest that work engagement acts as a full mediator of the effects of HPWPs on job performance and extra-role customer service. Specifically, HPWPs, as manifested by frontline employees’ appraisal of training, empowerment, and rewards, enhance work engagement. Such HPWPs in turn trigger job performance and extra-role customer service. Implications of the results are discussed and avenues for future research are offered.     

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.     

Affectivity,conflicts in the work–family interface,and hotel employee outcomes

Based on data obtained from frontline hotel employees in Turkey, the current study examined the effects of negative affectivity (NA) and positive affectivity (PA) on work–family conflict and family–work conflict and the effects of both directions of conflict on marital satisfaction and turnover intentions. This study also tested the relationship of marital satisfaction with frontline employees’ turnover intentions. The results demonstrated that PA ameliorates both work–family conflict and family–work conflict, while NA exacerbates only work–family conflict. The findings of the study indicated that family–work conflict has a detrimental impact on marital satisfaction. However, this study provided no empirical support for the relationship between work–family conflict and marital satisfaction. Consistent with the study predictions, frontline employees’ perceptions of work–family conflict and family–work conflict increased their turnover intentions. There was also empirical support for the hypothesis that marital satisfaction has a significant negative impact on frontline employees’ turnover intentions. Implications of the empirical results and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Abusive supervision and emotional labour on a daily basis: The role of employee mindfulness

This study examined the relationships between abusive supervision, subordinates' work engagement and their emotional labour on a daily basis. Based on an experience sampling study of 95 frontline hospitality employees over 10 working days, the results revealed the complex consequences of abusive supervision on subordinates in the hospitality industry. The results showed that daily abusive supervision was positively related to employees' daily surface acting through their daily work engagement, but it was not significantly related to daily deep acting. In addition, subordinates' mindfulness moderated the relationship between daily abusive supervision and subordinates' daily work engagement. These findings reveal employees’ daily responses to abusive supervision and can help tourism and hospitality managers develop relevant training programmes and policies to reduce the negative impact of abusive supervision and thus protect employee well-being.     

Does work engagement mediate the effects of challenge stressors on job outcomes? Evidence from the hotel industry

Drawing on the transactional theory of stress, a research model investigating whether challenge stressors, as manifested by work overload and job responsibility, heighten work engagement and organizationally valued job outcomes is proposed and tested. Using data gathered from frontline employees with a time lag of two weeks and their supervisors in the five-star hotels in Northern Cyprus, the relationships were assessed through structural equation modeling. As hypothesized, work engagement fully mediates the effects of challenge stressors on affective organizational commitment and job performance. Employees who experience such stressors are engaged in their work, and therefore, display positive job outcomes. Theoretical implications as well as management implications are discussed in the article.     

Disentangling green service innovative behavior among hospitality employees: The role of customer green involvement

Regardless of the role of customers in co-creating value with organizations, how customer involvement drives employees, particularly in the hospitality industry, to engage in green service innovative endeavors has been scarcely examined. This study seeks to uncover how and when customer green involvement nurtures green service innovative behavior among hotel employees. The dataset was formed from the responses from 519 employees and 84 managers working in Vietnam-based hotels and analyzed via multilevel structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated the role of hotel employees’ green information management motivations (i.e., green information proactiveness, transparency, and formality) in mediating the positive relationship between customer green involvement and employee green service innovative behavior. Internal green marketing orientation functioned as an enhancer for the effects of customer green involvement on green information management motivations. This research contributes to the stream of green behavior research by bringing together customer green involvement and green service innovative behavior in the hospitality literature and unraveling the mechanisms behind their relationship.     

Transformational leadership and employee performance: The role of identification,engagement and proactive personality

This study investigates the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions that explain the relationship between transformational leadership and frontline employee performance. Specifically, it explores the mediating role of organizational identification and work engagement in the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance and organization-directed citizenship behaviors. Additionally, it examines whether proactive personality moderates the effect of transformational leadership on identification and engagement. Data from 323 frontline hotel employees were analyzed using partial least square regression. Results show that identification and engagement fully mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors, whereas engagement partially mediates the link between transformational leadership and job performance. Results indicate a sequential mediation effect of identification and engagement on employee performance. Finally, findings show that proactive personality strengthens the effect of leadership on identification and engagement. The study provides information for hotel managers about why and under what circumstances employees perform the way they do.     

Can innovative behavior be led by management? A study from the lodging business

This study examined the effects of hotel management leadership on employee innovative behavior in Chinese hotel organizations. Using a dyadic sample of 164 hotel supervisors and 603 service employees at 23 four-star and five-star hotels in 11 Chinese cities, we investigated whether organizational commitment mediated the effects of leadership on employee innovative behavior. We also examined how organizational tenure moderated leadership and innovative behavior through organizational commitment. Findings from our moderated-mediation model revealed that organizational commitment mediated the relationship between leadership and innovative behavior. Similarly, organizational tenure moderated the relationship between leadership and organizational commitment: there was a stronger relationship for long-tenured employees and a weaker relationship for short-tenured employees. However, the effect of higher leadership on organizational commitment was stronger for short-tenured employees than long-tenured employees. Our results spotlight the importance of fostering organizational commitment, which directly affects innovative behavior and through which supervisors can influence individual innovative behavior.     

The ugly side of job rotation

This study would examine the effect of job rotation on two common forms of hindrance stressors witnessed among tourism and hospitality employees namely role ambiguity and role conflict of employees on employees in hotel. Besides, this study will examine the impact of the mentioned hindrance stressors on several negative outcomes such as job-related anxiety, anger and sabotage behavior. Moreover, this inquiry further examined the mediation effect of hindrances stressor the relationship between job rotation and anger, job-related anxiety and sabotage behaviors. By applying judgmental sampling technique, data were collected from 193 frontline employees working in 17 five and four-star hotels in Tehran. The relationship between study constructs were tested through structural equation modeling. The findings of the study revealed that hindrance stressors mediate the relationship between job rotation, anger, anxiety and service sabotage.     

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.     

The influence of exploitative leadership on hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior: A moderated mediation model

Growing awareness of environmental sustainability in the hospitality sector has made employee green innovative behavior an important element of their establishment’s performance. Drawing from ego depletion theory, this paper aims to study how and when exploitative leadership influences hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior. We collected data from 467 full-time hospitality employees and their direct leaders in 96 teams, and examined a cross-level moderated mediation model employing multilevel path analysis. The results showed that exploitative leadership in the hospitality sector negatively associates with hospitality employees’ green innovative behavior, mediated by their emotional exhaustion. The results further showed that perceived organizational support moderates the influence of exploitative leadership on emotional exhaustion and subsequent green innovative behavior. Implications for theory and practice in the hospitality sector are discussed.     

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.