Trade unions and total rewards

In an attempt to develop a comprehensive understanding of the remuneration of hotel employees, Mars and Mitchell have used the concept of a ‘total payment system’. This article gives details of research which has been conducted into certain elements of this remuneration package. In particular, the influence of trade unionism upon these elements is examined. Three distinct types of additional reward are constructed and the suggestion is made that trade unionism influences one particular type of reward. The implications of this suggestion for two categories of hotel workers are outlined.     

The culture of hospitality: From anecdote to evidence

We examine the effects of hotel workers' national culture on hotel guests' satisfaction with services rendered by the workers. The results suggest that workers from countries scoring low on Hofstede's cultural dimensions named Individualism and Indulgence are particularly gifted for rendering high quality hotel services. Interestingly, many Asian countries, including Japan, Pakistan, Hong Kong, China, Lebanon, India and the Philippines have advantageous overall cultural profiles, which is consistent with portrayals of the Asian (or Eastern) hospitality culture in the scientific and professional literature. The insights presented in this study have important implications for the processes of staff recruitment and training in the global hotel industry.     

The nexus between sustainable practices in hotels and future Gen Y hospitality students’ career path decisions

This study explored tertiary hospitality students’ attitudes and overall perceptions about green and sustainable practices; and how these may impact their future career paths in the hotel industry. A thematic analysis with data from 12 semi-structured interviews with students in a hotel management school in Australia was used to identify patterns and interpretive themes. Results revealed positive attitudes among Generation Y hospitality students towards working in a green and sustainable hotel environment. Implications highlight the need for sustainability education in the curriculum of tertiary education providers and strong emphasis on sustainability practices in employee training programs. The results also suggest possible impacts of sustainability practices in recruiting and hiring in the hospitality industry and how this may affect future hospitality employees and leaders.     

Development and validation of a hospitality idiosyncratic deals scale

This study explores middle and senior hotel managers’ perceptions of their own idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) and develops a scale to measure i-deals in the Chinese hospitality industry. The study uses a mixed research method consisting of a questionnaire survey of 675 middle and senior hotel managers and in-depth interviews with 20 knowledge workers in the hotel industry in mainland China. The findings reveal that there are three types of i-deals in the Chinese hospitality industry: (1) career and incentives i-deals; (2) task i-deals; and (3) flexibility i-deals. The study proposes and validates a three-dimensional scale of hotel managers’ i-deals, thereby enriching our understanding of the idiosyncratic terms of employment in the hospitality industry.     

Well on the way: An exploratory study on occupational health in hospitality

This study conducted a comprehensive review of work conditions and health risks/problems for various hospitality workers and summarized the various health and wellness promotion programs available in the workplace with the aim of identifying the key elements of successful employee wellness programs. In this review, physical health problems, such as musculoskeletal disorders, lung diseases, and dermatologic diseases, as well as mental health problems that are common among hospitality employees were discussed. In addition, different types of wellness programs that may help employees to overcome these health problems were included. In the next stage, interviews with hotel staff holding multiple positions were conducted to identify the most significant health challenges and assess their preference for various types of wellness initiatives. Using MAXQDA Pro, health-related categories and themes were extracted from the interviews. Participants believed that the lack of time, physical challenges and stress are the top three wellness challenges in the hospitality industry. In order to tackle the challenges, they stated that hospitality businesses should provide various wellness initiatives including healthy eating and weight management, smoking cessation, stress management, exercise programs, and fitbits or other wellness tracker devices.     

Employee satisfaction with schedule flexibility: Psychological antecedents and consequences within the workplace

Although balancing work-related and non-work-related time demands is an ongoing concern for many hotel workers, there is a dearth of research examining workers’ satisfaction with their work schedule flexibility. Using a sample drawn from nine different hotel properties in South Korea, this study finds that workers’ levels of emotional intelligence and overall job satisfaction serve as antecedents of their schedule flexibility satisfaction. Moreover, the study also finds that decreased turnover intent is a consequence of schedule flexibility satisfaction. Based upon these findings, both managerial and research implications are presented.     

Constraints to attracting new hotel workers: A study on industrial recruitment

The global hospitality and tourism industry is not only burdened with high turnover rates but also may soon be in the throes of a labor shortage. As such, a better understanding of industry employment perceptions has become a critical issue for hospitality managers. Of particular concern are the perceptions of those potential employees that do not have prior employment experience in the hospitality industry. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to consider perceptions of hotel employment among the segment of the potential employee population that has no current or past experience working in hotels. Per the tenets of Constraint Theory, perceptions of pay, promotion opportunities, work-to-life conflict, and workplace-induced isolation are proposed to significantly affect potential employees’ attitudes toward hotel employment. In turn, these attitudes are proposed to affect both intention to apply for hotel work and the intention to recommend applying for hotel work to others.     

Trade unionism and the employer in hotels and restaurants

This paper outlines George Bain's research findings on the employer's role in influencing white-collar union growth and development. It argues that the conclusions he draws from his research have validity in other industrial sectors and in hotels and restaurants specifically. Some parallels are drawn between the employment characteristics of private white-collar and hotel and restaurant employees paying particular attention to predominant management attitudes and arguing that these represent a major obstacle to future trade union growth. The suggestion is examined that trends in the ownership of the sector are influencing management policies and practices to become more supportive of trade unionism but it is concluded that these trends do not offer any substantial potential for unionisation.     

Mergers and acquisitions in the hotel industry: A comprehensive review

This study aims to evaluate the current status of merger and acquisition (M&A) studies in the hotel industry and propose directions for future research. Forty-six articles were identified from ScienceDirect, Scopus, and EBSCOhost including 31 empirical and 15 conceptual articles. We review these articles from five perspectives, namely, journal/year distribution, methodology, research context, theoretical foundation and major topics. Findings reveal most studies on M&As in the hotel industry (hotel M&As) focus on performance, motivation and objectives. Developed economies (DEs) are the major research contexts and quantitative approach is the dominant research method. To this end, we propose seven research directions that cover outstanding themes as follows: 1) exploring M&A process, 2) M&A performance assessment, 3) identifying M&A impacts on stakeholders, 4) examining cross-border M&As, 5) examining emerging economies (EE)-based M&As, 6) investigating macro environment impacts, and 7) premium determinants and their impacts on hotel M&As.     

Age stereotypes and the job suitability of older workers from hotel managers’ perspectives

This study explored hotel managers’ views of older workers and the underlying mechanism of their appraisal of older workers’ job suitability. A qualitative research approach was adopted: in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 hotel managers in Hong Kong. Analysis of the hotel managers’ responses revealed that age stereotypes influenced their perceptions of the suitability of certain jobs for older workers. The study contributes to the hospitality literature by developing a novel version of the cognitive framework of prototype matching to examine hotel managers’ perceptions of job suitability according to age. It offers examples of age-typed jobs in the hotel industry and suggests human resource practices to reduce age stereotypes and age-related discrimination in the hotel workplace.     

Effect of customer orientation and entrepreneurial orientation on innovativeness: Evidence from the hotel industry in Switzerland

While researchers have explored the relationship between customer orientation, entrepreneurship and innovativeness with business performance in different organizations, few such studies exist on the hotel industry. This current work investigates the potential influences of these variables on hotel industry performance. Data for this study was collected through personal questionnaires collected from 156 hotel managers and owners from German and French speaking cantons located in Switzerland in order to examine the interrelation between innovativeness, customer orientation, entrepreneurship and service business performance dimensions (i.e., profit goal achievement, sales goal achievement and ROI achievement). The findings support aspects of prior research, but also provide some new insights by exploring customer orientation and innovativeness simultaneously and revealing how these factors impact upon the performance of the Swiss hotel industry. In the light of existing literature, limitations and future research directions are subsequently addressed.     

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.     

Expectations of returned Chinese graduates and hotel managers regarding entry-level work in the hotel industry in China

The purpose of this study was to investigate the expectations of returned Chinese graduates with an Australian degree regarding their work situation in the Chinese hotel industry and the expectations of hotel managers in China regarding the graduates’ job attitude. Nineteen semi-structured interviews were undertaken. The results showed that most graduates were relatively satisfied with their current work situation in the Chinese hotel industry. However, managers argued that returned graduates have unrealistic expectations about the work requirements in the industry. The study found that universities and hotels in China need to assist the returned Chinese international students with their reentry.     

Hotel employees’ expectations of QWL: A qualitative study

The hospitality industry needs to provide a good quality of work life (QWL) in order to attract and retain employees. There is yet to be a study that defines the ‘expected dimensions of QWL’ by the potential and present hotel employees. QWL being multifaceted and context-based, this researcher conducted a qualitative study in an attempt to identify QWL dimensions expected in the working environment of a hotel. 84 students and 64 employees from three hotel management institute and three hotel organization from Mangalore city in India participated through a purposeful sampling frame. Data were collected using interviews, focus group discussions and open-ended questionnaires, and analyzed in line with grounded theory method. The content analysis of the data yielded eight dimensions of QWL. Implications and limitations of this study along with areas for future research are discussed.     

Hospitality service employees’ coping styles: The role of emotional intelligence,two basic personality traits,and socio-demographic factors

This study examines the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and three coping strategies (task-, emotion-, and avoidance-oriented coping) using an adult, hospitality industry population specifically in hotel and restaurant work environments. The hierarchical regression indicates that EI is by far the most dominant predictor of task coping among all selected explanatory variables; EI does not have much influence on emotion coping after the entry of two basic personality traits (neuroticism and extraversion); and EI is significantly related to avoidance coping encompassing distraction and social diversion. In addition, this study reveals the role played by age and work experience in individual coping efforts and a high possibility of female workers as a task-oriented coper in hospitality work settings.     

Investigating employees' deviant work behavior in the hotel industry during COVID-19: Empirical evidence from an emerging country

Employees in the hotel industry are among the most vulnerable groups that have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Anchored on the general strain theory, transactional theory of stress and coping, and theory of justice, this study investigates the mechanism through which hotel employees' perceived job insecurity affects their deviant work behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey method was used to collect three-wave sample data from 988 hotel employees in popular tourist destinations in Vietnam. Multivariate data analysis reveals a positive relationship between perceived job insecurity and deviant work behavior, and this relationship is mediated by psychological distress. Furthermore, abusive supervision positively moderates the association between psychological distress–deviant work behavior and the indirect influence of perceived job insecurity on deviant work behavior through psychological distress. These findings are useful for hotel managers seeking to manage and develop employees in a global health crisis such as COVID-19.     

Spillover Between Work and Personal Life for Lodging Managers

ABSTRACT

The hospitality and tourism industry is characterized by long and erratic work hours. Many jobs are unsuitable for working at home. The unique features of the lodging industry and the demands of lodging managers' jobs often have interfered with the personal lives and marital relationships of these managers. The situation may even lead to a decision to leave the specific occupation or the industry permanently. The primary goal of this research was to investigate the perspectives of Taiwan hotel managers' regarding work-personal life balance and its relationship to various demographic variables, such as gender, marital status, etc. Results indicate that very few of Taiwanese managers had difficulty balancing work and personal lives. Indeed, the majority of these managers reported their perception of success in balancing work and personal life as from neutral to very successful. No statistically significant differences were found between female and male managers in terms of perceived difficulty or success in work and personal life balance. Neither was there a significant difference among married or single female/male managers. Results also suggested that work interfered with personal life more frequently than personal life did with work.     

Fostering intergenerational learning in the hotel industry: A multiple criteria decision-making model

The current research aims to identify the most suitable intergenerational learning activities for the Romanian hotel industry. A multiple criteria decision-making model is developed in order to determine the most appropriate intergenerational learning activities and the factors that strongly influence human resource managers’ decisions. Data are collected from 35 human resource managers who have extensive work experience in the hotel industry and in managing intergenerational learning activities, and processed using the analytic network process. The results prove that the most appropriate IGL activities for the Romanian hotel industry are mentoring, on-the-job education, and storytelling. Furthermore, the most influential factors are collaboration, commitment, job satisfaction, reward management, and organizational culture. These results have both theoretical and practical implications. On the one hand, they extend the literature regarding intergenerational learning in the hotel industry and on the other hand, they bring forward how the managers could foster intergenerational knowledge sharing and avoid corporate amnesia.     

Supervisory hotel employee perceptions of management careers and professional development requirements

Attracting and developing top flight management personnel for hotel companies is a continuing challenge. In many instances, such organizations fail to capitalize on the benefits of drawing such management recruits from within the ranks of their existing supervisory staff. This resource represents a potentially valuable source of condidates with a solid appreciation of how the company operates. However, this approach to management staffing is not without its own particular barriers. While many supervisory staff may have interest in management positions, they frequently are hesitant about making such career shifts. This hesitancy may be related to such factors as limited awareness of management opportunities and job requirements; perceived inability to perform such work; actual qualitative and technical characteristics of the job; and a lack of encouragement from within the organization. This paper provides insights into some of the critical factors necessary for attracting and developing supervisors for management positions. This is accomplished by surveying hotel supervisors with respect to their perceptions of management work in the hotel industry. By identifying these perspectives, the report suggests how hotel organizations may be able to modify their current in-house management recruiting systems so as to attract and nurture top flight supervisory personnel for management careers.