When I put on my service mask: Determinants and outcomes of emotional labor among hotel service providers according to affective event theory

This article develops and tests a model of emotional labor in the hotel industry using affective event theory. A multiple-wave longitudinal analysis using data from 424 hotel service employees and their immediate supervisors reveals how work contexts (supervisory support) affect work events (interactional justice), and thereby influence the affective (negative emotions), attitudinal (job satisfaction), and behavioral (emotional labor, service quality, and voluntary turnover) reactions of hotel service employees. The results show that (1) supervisory support relates positively to supervisory interactional justice; (2) supervisory interactional justice is negatively associated with negative emotions; (3) negative emotions relate positively to surface acting and negatively to deep acting; (4) surface acting leads to lower job satisfaction, whereas deep acting leads to higher job satisfaction; and (5) job satisfaction leads to higher service quality and lower turnover. The implications suggest important recommendations for hotel managers.     

How Does the Work Status Affect Employees’ Job Attitude and Behavior in the Hotel Industry?

The study focuses on how work status impacts employees’ perception of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance in the hotel industry. Also, it explores whether supervisors perceive employees’ job attitudes and behavior in the same way as they perceive. Data were collected from a self-administered survey for five-star hotel employees and supervisors in Seoul, South Korea. A total of 335 valid responses were collected from 280 employees and 65 supervisors and analyzed by using structural equation modeling. The results of the study indicated that nonstandard employees expressed higher job satisfaction and higher organizational commitment but perceived lower job performance than standard employees did. Work status had no significant moderating effect on the relationships between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance; however, the results of this study indicated that supervisors’ perceptions of nonstandard employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance were quite different from those of the nonstandard employees themselves. This study suggests that hotel operators should develop strategies to fully utilize nonstandard employees who reveal potential for quality service to guests.     

Planning for an environmental management programme in a luxury hotel and its perceived impact on staff: an exploratory case study

Hotels generate substantial environmental footprint. To minimise this footprint, hoteliers are increasingly engaging in environmental management programmes (EMPs). When designing such a programme, it is important that hotel managers do not only evaluate its effect on corporate strategy, finance, and reputation, but also analyse its impact on staff. This is because employees are in the forefront of hotel environmental management interventions and can determine their success or failure. This is also due to the impact that EMPs can make on staff attitudes, both at work and in private life. This study explores how hotel employees perceive an opportunity to engage in an EMP in a luxury hotel. It finds that a well-designed and implemented programme can strengthen the levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment among hotel staff, subject to explaining the reasons for and outlining the benefits of environmental management interventions, incentivised participation, regular evaluation, and adequate training. The study also shows that EMPs implemented in a hotel may drive more environmentally responsible behaviour of employees outside work.     

Stay away from fickle supervisor! Supervisors’ behavioral fluctuation diminishing the effect of job embeddedness on employees’ service behavior

This study examined how hotel employees’ job embeddedness influences their in-role and extra-role service behaviors, and under what boundary conditions this influence can be magnified based on the psychological ownership and information-processing theories. Using longitudinal data from a matched sample of 163 hotel employees and their supervisors in China, the moderated mediation analysis revealed that affective commitment mediated the effect of job embeddedness on in-role and extra-role service behaviors, while a supervisr’s behavioral fluctuations moderated the mediation of affective commitment between job embeddedness and in-role and extra-role service behaviors; this mediation effect was stronger for employees with a supervisor exhibiting stable behaviors. These findings provide theoretical and managerial implications for tourism researchers and practitioners.     

Personnel management in hotels — some empirical observations

This article details the results of two, recently-conducted surveys into the performance of personnel management within hotels. One survey used a postal questionnaire distributed to a stratified sample of hotels throughout the U.K. The aim of this research was to examine how the role of the personnel function was viewed by managers in the industry as a whole. In the second survey structured interviews were conducted with those managers responsible for personnel activities, within all hotels of 50 bedrooms or more, in one city centre locality. The aim here was to examine, in some detail, how the managers attempted to discharge their responsibilities. By combining these two contrasting approaches a comprehensive view of the conduct of personnel management within hotels can be achieved. For although these surveys were conducted independently and differ in their aims, structure, size and scope they have generated very similar observations of personnel work in this particular context. Furthermore, these empirical findings are in marked contrast to the view of hotel personnel work constructed by a recent literature survey. Theory and practice appear discordant.     

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.     

Relationships among work-family supportive supervisors,career competencies,and job involvement

This study aims to explore the relationships among work-family supportive supervisors, career competencies, job involvement, and job satisfaction. Data were collected from a sample of 1012 hotel employees working in the frontline of the hospitality industry in China. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to estimate the relationships among the constructs. The findings indicate a positive relationship between work-family supportive supervisors and career competencies. Career competencies contribute positively to job involvement and job satisfaction. This study provides insights into how managers of human resources can retain qualified staff and increase the job satisfaction of employees.     

Exploring the antecedents of intentions to leave the job: The case of luxury hotel staff

The aim of this study is to assess the antecedents of employee’ intentions to resign from their jobs in luxury hotels in India. Two aspects are considered in this context: firstly, the employees’ enthusiasm for the profession and organisation, the nature of the work and its impact on social and family life. Secondly, their level of satisfaction with the job in terms of organisational loyalty, relationship with supervisors, job security, earnings and additional benefits. A theoretical model (see Fig. 1) and seven hypotheses are tested to indicate whether the employees’ level of agreement with statements about the job and their level of satisfaction with the job will impact their intentions to quit. The study further examines if any current employees intend to leave their job. The term luxury hotel is used to represent 5 star and 4 star hotels of India.Findings from the analyses of 884 responses suggest that, when considering intentions to resign from the job, a negative relationship is found between professional and organisational enthusiasm and perceptions about the work being stimulating. No support was found for a positive relationship between the extent work impacted social and family life and the intention to quit. However, results supported the notion that the employee's organisational loyalty has a negative effect on his/her intention to resign from the job. Our findings contradict several other studies in that they suggest the employee's intention to resign from the job increases as job security and earnings improve. The study is distinctive as it explores intentions luxury hotel employees in India to leave their jobs; three is little evidence in the wider literature of similar attempts in the context of the Indian hotel industry. The outcomes have implications for both theory and practice as this is the first such major study in the context of the hotel industry in India where there is a population of over a billion people and an expanding hotel industry.     

A Look at the Changing Acculturation Patterns in the United States and Implications for the Hospitality Industry

Abstract

Ethnic minorities are underrepresented in hotel management. Ethnic minorities are not excluded from all management positions, just those that are considered crucial to the business. With inclusionary closure, ethnic minorities are given access to management positions in peripheral departments instead of those with key financial responsibilities. Demographic and career history data from 5549 hotel managers in 552 properties are used to access inclusionary closure as a process of new-racism and the creation of racialized jobs. Ethnic minorities had the least representation in positions that are critical in hotel operations, and we found evidence that job racialization, or the channeling of minorities into peripheral management positions, may be occurring in hotel management. This study's findings challenge the perceived progress of ethnic minorities in hotel management in the post-Civil Rights era in the specific context of hotel management.     

How leader–member exchange,work engagement and HRM consistency explain Chinese luxury hotel employees’ job performance

This paper provides insights into the relationship between leader–member exchange (LMX) and employee job performance. An integrative model that includes work engagement and human resource management (HRM) consistency, defined as the extent to which various HR practices are viewed as consistent with one other, was developed to explain this relationship. Results from a hierarchical linear model based on 298 employees (survey data) and 54 supervisors in a large luxury hotel in southern China indicated that LMX was positively related to employee job performance. Moreover, as expected, work engagement mediated this relationship and HRM consistency strengthened the influence of LMX on work engagement. Important research and practical implications are discussed.     

Can newcomers perform better at hotels? Examining the roles of transformational leadership,supervisor-triggered positive affect,and perceived supervisor support

Tourism literature has presented the effects of leadership style on staff efficiency yet few have examined the causal relationship between leadership style and newcomer outcomes at the hotel workplace context. This study examined the underlying mechanism regarding how transformational leadership can facilitate hotel newcomers to exhibit better performance and retention. Using the structural equation model, this study tested research hypotheses using valid data collected from 234 hotel newcomers with their supervisors from 63 tourist hotels rated above four-star in Taiwan. Based on emotion in feedback system theory, this study noted that hotel newcomers displayed higher supervisor-triggered positive affect due to the transformational leadership of their supervisors. In turn, this led to newcomers' high performance and motivation to continue working. Adapting social exchange theory, this study found that transformational leadership has led to the development of a higher perceived supervisor support, which facilitated better performance among newcomers at hotel organizations.     

Burnout and engagement: A comparative analysis using the Big Five personality dimensions

This study focuses on job burnout, job engagement, and their relationships with the Big Five personality dimensions: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. The data were collected from employees (managerial/supervisory positions and non-supervisory positions) working for quick-service restaurants. Engagement, the emerging new concept, is perceived to be situated at the opposite end of the continuum of burnout, but the results of this study indicate they may be, rather, two distinctive concepts driven by different personality dimensions. The most critical personality trait affecting burnout is neuroticism and the most eminent traits predicting engagement are conscientiousness and neuroticism. This study does not validate the effects of positive personality traits such as extraversion and agreeableness on burnout and they are found to be weakly related to employees’ work engagement, as well.     

Anxiety and gratitude toward the organization: Relationships with error management culture and service recovery performance

According to affective events theory (AET), organizational contexts can produce “affective events” that shape individuals’ emotional experiences, subsequently influencing those individuals’ work behaviors. This study hypothesized that every time an error occurs in an error management culture, it is an affective event that can stimulate employees’ gratitude and reduce their anxiety toward their respective organizations. Gratitude and anxiety are positively and negatively associated with employees’ service recovery performance, respectively. Drawing on three waves of data collected from 218 hotel employees, this study found that error management culture was positively associated with gratitude and negatively associated with anxiety. Consequently, gratitude and anxiety influenced employees’ service recovery performance, as rated by the employees’ supervisors. These findings suggest that error management culture can influence employees’ service recovery performance through the culture’s impact on gratitude and anxiety.     

Developing behaviorally-anchored scales for evaluating job performance of hotel managers

This article discusses the steps undertaken to develop behaviorally-anchored rating scales for evaluating the job performance of hotel managers. Procedures employed in the study involved high levels of participation among hotel management personnel from three organization levels. The resulting appraisal instrument consists of seven scales, each anchored by six behavioral statements. When actually used by corporate hotel executives, the instrument demonstrated the ability to provide a discriminable set of ratings across dimensions and ratees. Implications for identifying desirable behaviors, providing performance feedback and establishing training programs for hotel managers are discussed.     

A diary study of work consequences for hotel employees victimized by supervisor from a demand-resource perspective on employee emotions

How would perceiving oneself as a victim of abusive supervisor behavior affect one’s work attitudes? This study examines the mediating role of emotional change on the detrimental work outcomes caused by hotel employees’ perceived victim identity. It further investigates how emotional exhaustion moderates the relationship between perceived victim identity and two outcome variables, daily job satisfaction and work engagement. The research hypotheses were tested by a multi-level analysis (cf., hierarchical linear modeling) using a sample of 128 hotel employees in China who took surveys twice per day over 14 consecutive days. The findings show that emotional change significantly mediates the negative effect of hotel employees’ perceived victim identity on their work attitudes, and emotional exhaustion moderates this effect such that higher exhaustion exacerbates the negative relationship. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings for hospitality researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

Moderating effects of gender and organizational level between role stress and job satisfaction among hotel employees

This study investigates the moderating roles of gender and organization level in the relationship between role stress and job satisfaction for hotel employees. A survey instrument that included measures of job satisfaction, role stress (conflict and ambiguity) and demographic information was used to collect information from hotel employees in Republic of Korea. Data from 320 respondents, representing a 64% of response rate, were analyzed. Findings show that the effect of role stress on job satisfaction is significantly stronger for female employees and supervisory employees than male employees and non-supervisory employees. Research implications and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Job insecurity,work engagement and their effects on hotel employees’ non-green and nonattendance behaviors

The current study investigates the mediating role of work engagement in the relationship between job insecurity (JIS) and nonattendance and non-green behaviors. Data were gathered from hotel employees using one-week time lag between the study waves and their direct supervisors in Guangzhou in China. Structural equation modeling as well as bias-corrected bootstrapping method supported the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, JIS is a threat of future job loss eroding work engagement but aggravating absenteeism, intention to be late for work (ILFW), intention to leave work early (ILWE), and non-green behaviors. Work engagement mitigates these nonattendance behaviors and intentions and alleviates non-green behaviors. In addition, work engagement partly mediates the impact of JIS on non-green behaviors, absenteeism, ILFW, and ILWE. Our study proposes several areas for future research about JIS and its potential consequences.     

Managerial attitudes towards environmental management among small and medium hotels in Kuala Lumpur

Empirical work on the acceptance of environmental impacts and responsibilities by hotels in developing countries is still relatively rare. There is also little work on understanding the relationship between business and environment among small and medium hotel companies. This research helps fill the knowledge gap by providing information on the responsiveness of small and medium hotels towards environmental management within the context of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, It explores the awareness and attitudes of small and medium hotel managers towards environmental management and their opinion on how things can be improved. Questionnaires containing Likert scale questions, supplemented by open-ended questions, were personally administered to willing participants. The findings indicate that respondents generally tend to provide positive response to the Likert scale questions, but refused or were unable to give clear answers to the open-ended questions which were designed to explore further the answers they provided. In practice, managers also did not go beyond the basic common sense of cutting their water and energy costs. These indicate a lack of clear and adequate knowledge about environmental management, and their tendency to be “politically correct” in relation to environmental issues. The paper ends with recommendations on how to improve the environmental management knowledge and know-how among managers of small and medium hotels.     

A study of critical factors of the job involvement for hotel employees—Taking hotels in Taiwan as an example

The selection of staff is always a critical success factor for managers in the hospitality service sector. This work focuses on the front-line employees and supervisors of international tourist hotels as the study subjects to explore the direct effects of the individual guanxi networks and POS (perceived organizational support) of hotel staff on their job involvement, and examines the indirect effects of these via personality characteristics. For this paper, questionnaire surveys were utilized; 246 questionnaires returned, of which 221 were deemed valid samples appropriate for further analysis. Reliability analysis, EFA, CFA, and SEM were used to examine the data.     

Impact of organizational socialization tactics on newcomer job satisfaction and engagement: Core self-evaluations as moderators

This study proposes and tests a new model in which newcomer core self-evaluations (CSE) moderate the effects of organizational socialization tactics (OST) on job satisfaction and work engagement. Data were collected in nine luxury hotels in China and a total of 161 parent respondents with 5000 bootstraps were analyzed using structural equation modeling technique. The results from this study indicate that newcomer job satisfaction and work engagement each is predicted by institutionalized OST directly and positively. They also indicate that CSE moderates the relationship between OST and job satisfaction, but not the one between OST and work engagement. In particular, hotel newcomers high on CSE are much more adept, than their low CSE counterparts, at translating their organizational advantages of institutionalized OST into job satisfaction. These findings as well as their theoretical and practical implications are discussed within the contexts of organizational socialization research and hotel human resource development practices.