Impact of ethical leadership on creativity: the role of psychological empowerment

This study examines the relationship between ethical leadership and employee creativity with mediating role of psychological empowerment. Data were collected from 183 supervisor–subordinate dyads in different hotels across Pakistan. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the distinctiveness of variables used in our study. The results also confirmed that ethical leadership promotes creativity at workplace, while psychological empowerment mediates the effect of ethical leadership on creativity. The cognitive evaluation theory was used to support findings. Implications are also discussed.     

Organisational commitment with respect to gender variable in hospitality: a Turkish case study

This study examines differences in organisational commitment with respect to gender in five-star hotels in Ankara, Turkey. The study was conducted on 397 employees: 234 males and 163 females. The study indicated that the ‘Attitudinal Commitment’ factor as part of the organisational commitment scale was not statistically significant between female and male employees. However, the study also found that there are significant differences between female and male employees with respect to the ‘Behavioural Commitment’ factor of the scale; males reported higher levels in their behavioural commitment than their female counterparts did. This finding is also consistent with the results obtained from multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) in which the independent variable was gender and the two delineated factors were dependent variables. Gender differences in the ‘Behavioural Commitment’ factor remained significant with multivariate analysis of co-variance analysis while controlling for such variables as age, marital status, monthly income level, educational level, type of department, length of time in this organisation, length of time in the tourism sector, and frequency of job changes. However, the significance was mostly attributed to the moderating role of ‘monthly income’.     

Exploring the Moderating Effects of Value Offerings Between Market Orientation and Performance in Tourism Industry

Market orientation as a business strategy has recently been adopted in the travel and tourism industry, as well as other industries, to enhance performance. Value offerings have also emerged as a new research interest within the strategic marketing domain. Based on the theory of strategy–environment fit, this study investigates the relationship between market orientation (i.e. customer and competitor orientations) and performance, and the moderating role of value offerings (i.e. service emphasis and price emphasis), using a sample of 132 Taiwanese travel agencies. The research results obtained from hierarchical regression analyses indicate that only both customer and competitor orientations, but not value offerings, have positive and direct effects on performance. However, the results show that one dimension of value offerings, i.e. service emphasis, has a moderating role in the market orientation‐performance relationship. The managerial implications of these results are also discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of entrepreneurial talent and website type on business performance by rural tourism establishments in Spain

Entrepreneurs provide the engine of development, especially in economically unstable times. In Spain, rural tourism is undergoing a boom, and the Internet plays a vital role for tourism. This study therefore considers: (i) the importance of entrepreneurial talent for implementing a website; (ii) the relations among entrepreneurial talent, website characteristics and business performance; and (iii) the moderating effect of entrepreneurial experience. Using a sample of 150 rural tourism establishments in Spain, this study reveals how website content affects performance and how experience moderates the relationships between entrepreneurial talent and performance, and between entrepreneurial talent and website design. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of airline internal branding on work outcomes using job satisfaction as a mediator

Within the context of the airline industry, this study offers an integrated approach measuring the effects of internal brand communication, brand-centered training, transformational leadership, brand ideology, and internal brand communities on job satisfaction and work outcomes. It further explores the role of job satisfaction as a mediator between internal branding and work outcomes. Following an analysis of 485 responses, we find that leadership, ideology, and communities positively influence job satisfaction, which in turn affects intention-to-stay, team performance, and brand commitment. Job satisfaction is also found to mediate the relationships between internal branding (i.e., transformational leadership, brand ideology, and internal brand communities) and work outcomes. These findings highlight that appropriate branding strategies can enhance airline development through employee satisfaction.     

Role stress,burnout and their effects on frontline hotel employees' job performance: evidence from Northern Cyprus

Based on data obtained from frontline hotel employees in Northern Cyprus, this study investigated the effects of role stress and burnout on job performance. It was found that role ambiguity decreased job performance while role conflict enhanced job performance. The results indicated that diminished personal accomplishment exerted a significant negative influence on job performance whereas the rest of the burnout dimensions did not. The results further showed that both role conflict and ambiguity exacerbated emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. Role ambiguity was found to have a significant positive relationship with diminished personal accomplishment whereas role conflict was not. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Linkages between customer service, customer satisfaction and performance in the airline industry: Investigation of non-linearities and moderating effects

The paper investigates the linkages between customer service, customer satisfaction, and firm performance in the US airline industry. In particular, the moderating effects of market concentration and firm dominance on the service-satisfaction-performance relationship are examined. Our major finding is that market concentration dampens the relationship between customer satisfaction and airline profitability. Although the same moderating relationship was not found for market power, these results, combined, indicate that airlines can increase profits in concentrated markets without providing for the same, concomitant increases in customer satisfaction as airlines operating in more competitive markets. From a public policy perspective, our results point to the importance of regulators monitoring airline actions, such as mergers and alliances, that serve to increase the concentration of markets, but may result in lower levels of customer satisfaction.     

Threshold and moderating effects of land use on metro ridership in Shenzhen: Implications for TOD planning

Although many studies investigate the association between land use and station ridership, few examine their nonlinear and moderating relationships. Using metro smartcard data in Shenzhen, we develop a gradient boosting decision trees model to estimate the relative importance of land use variables and their threshold and moderating effects on ridership. We found that station betweenness centrality has the largest predictive power, followed by employment density and commercial floor area ratio (FAR). Results suggest that employment density, commercial FAR, and aggregate residential density should be set at 40,000 jobs/km², 2, and 77,000 persons/km², respectively, for maximizing ridership. The moderating effects show that population densification is more effective at terminal stations, whereas the policies intensifying nonresidential use work better at middle stations. These findings help planners prioritize land use strategies, identify effective ranges of land use metrics, and propose land use guidelines adaptive to the network position of stations.     

Customer satisfaction and loyalty to Alpine ski resorts: the moderating effect of lifestyle,spending and customers' skiing skills

Customer satisfaction and loyalty are key drivers of performance. However, there is increasing evidence that good attribute performance and high overall satisfaction do not always automatically lead to higher loyalty. In this paper, we put forward a study on customer satisfaction and loyalty to Alpine ski resorts. We analyse the moderating effects of three important factors in the attribute performance–overall satisfaction–loyalty relationship: lifestyle, consumer spending and customers' skiing skills in a sample of 6172 skiers. The results show that all studied variables have a moderating effect. The findings have implications on both theory and practice. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring the effect of geographic convenience on repeat visitation and tourist spending: the moderating role of novelty seeking

This article investigates the relationships among geographic convenience, tourists' visit frequency and travel spending as well as the moderating effect of novelty seeking. A curvilinear relationship between geographic convenience and visit frequency is first identified. The mediating role of visit frequency is then tested through path analysis, followed by an invariant model test that examines the moderating effect of novelty seeking. The findings reveal that frequency of visit fully mediates the relationship between geographic convenience and travel spending. The moderating effect of novelty seeking is also warranted in that the effect of geographic convenience is only significant for low-novelty seekers while the frequency-of-visit effect is more salient for high-novelty seekers.     

How airlines learn from airline accidents: An empirical study of how attributed errors and performance feedback affect learning from failure

This research examined organizational learning factors by asking whether airlines learn more from internally or externally attributed causes of airline accidents. Our dependent variable, organizational learning, was defined as a decrease in subsequent airline accident rates. To test the moderating effect of performance feedback, we predicted that performance relative to aspiration level would negatively moderate the relationship between the attribution of airline accidents and the subsequent accident rate. Overall, the findings of this research revealed that the greater the proportion of internally attributed causes is, the more likely it is that an airline will learn from its accidents and will experience a lower subsequent accident rate. In addition, our findings regarding the moderating effect of performance feedback showed that airlines performing below their aspiration levels are more likely to learn from internally attributed causes of accidents and will therefore experience a lower subsequent accident rate. We conducted this investigation by collecting data from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) database for all of the accidents (accidents and incidents) experienced by U.S. commercial airlines during the 1990–2014 period. Our research findings provide implications for future studies that discuss the factors affecting organizational learning.     

An empirical investigation of psychological capital among flight attendants

Our paper develops and tests a research model that examines whether psychological capital (PsyCap) mediates the relationship between servant leadership and work engagement (WE) and whether WE mediates the effect of PsyCap on service recovery performance and life satisfaction. Data were collected from flight attendants with a two-week time lag in three waves and their pursers in the private airline companies in Iran. The results suggest that servant leadership influences WE indirectly only through PsyCap. The results also suggest that WE is a partial mediator between PsyCap and the aforesaid attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Our study discusses theoretical implications and provides recommendations for managers in the airline industry.     

In-flight physical surroundings: quality,satisfaction, and traveller loyalty in the emerging low-cost flight market

The purpose of our research was to investigate the relationships among overall service quality, customer satisfaction, and behavioural intentions by considering the moderating impact of in-flight ambient conditions (air quality, temperature, odour, and noise) in the low-cost airline industry. A survey was conducted on international flights. Results of the structural equation modelling from a sample of 402 passengers indicated that quality and satisfaction are significant drivers of intentions; and satisfaction acted as a significant mediators. Additionally, supporting the moderating impact of ambience, findings from the tests for metric invariance revealed that the effect of satisfaction on intentions was stronger for the high air quality, temperature, odour, and noise groups than for the low groups; and the strength of the relationship between quality and intentions was greater in the high noise group than in the low noise group. Our results will help practitioners/researchers develop effective strategies/theories for passenger satisfaction and retention.     

Evaluating corporate social responsibility of airlines using entropy weight and grey relation analysis

This paper applies entropy weight and grey relation analysis to evaluate corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of eight Chinese major airlines. This paper intends to achieve two main aims. First, this study uses entropy to find the relative weights of performance measures of CSR. In so doing, we find that on-time performance, accident rate, flight frequency, growth of employees revenue, and employees revenue are relatively most important measures. Second, based on the results of entropy analysis, this study ranks the airlines in terms of CSR performance by grey relation analysis. This result shows that most of the larger state-controlled airlines perform better in performance of CSR. Furthermore, the private airline has made relatively large improvement in its CSR performance. In addition, the listed airlines are better than non-listed airlines in CSR performance.     

Paternalistic leadership and cabin crews’ upward safety communication: The motivation of voice behavior

Being the frontline operators in the airline industry, flight attendants constantly obtain and collect first-hand information from their interactions with passengers and other crew members. Their experiences and observations may contribute greatly to airlines' safety management and policy making. It is thus critical to learn how to enhance cabin crews' voice behavior, particularly communicating safety related issues upward through specific leadership styles. The current research aims at the flight attendants working for Taiwanese international airlines. The cabin crew department managers' paternalistic leadership style is adopted to observe how it may trigger cabin crews' different types of voice behavior. This research addresses the following two major questions: 1. What is the motivation for cabin crew to conduct upward safety communication? 2. How does department managers' paternalistic leadership style impact cabin crew's voice behavior? Regression analysis is used to analyze the empirical data collected by the questionnaire survey. The results are applied to provide airlines with practical references for constituting human resource management policies, and the findings also enhance existing literature regarding management applications and employees voice behaviors.     

The impact of airline service quality on passengers’ behavioral intentions using passenger satisfaction as a mediator

This research study measures the perception of airline service quality based on data collected from Pakistan International Airline (PIA) passengers using SERVQUAL. It investigates the impact of service quality dimensions on passenger's behavioral intentions in presence of mediator (passenger satisfaction). The data is collected through an adopted SERVQUAL instrument from the respondents in the domestic and International waiting lounges of PIA. The data is analysed using reliability statistics, correlation analysis and through hierarchal regression analysis. A systematic random sampling technique is used to analyze the study sample and PROCESS macros was used to run mediation analysis. The results reveals that passenger's satisfaction mediates the relationship between airline service quality and behavioral intentions. Practically, PIA should not only improve on Service Quality but should build up quality consciousness among on ground and inflight employees; pay attention to reliable factors and establish customer goodwill through enhanced services; regard reliability factors and enhance employee accomplishment. Implications of these results for management policy and practice are highlighted as guidelines. PIA managers can now better understand the importance of service quality and its long-term benefits in the form of customer loyalty.     

A Study of TV Drama Series,Cultural Proximity and Travel Motivation: Moderation Effect of Enduring Involvement

This paper empirically investigates the relationships of TV drama series, cultural proximity and travel motivation, especially examining the moderating effect of enduring involvement in this relationship. The findings reveal that only TV drama series, not cultural proximity, has positive effects on travel motivation. The viewer's enduring involvement with the drama shows its moderating effects on the drama–motivation relationship but only on the cultural proximity–motivation relationship for the high‐enduring‐involvement viewers. Overall, this study highlights a viewer's enduring involvement role in enhancing/changing the effects of TV dramas and cultural proximity on the viewer's travel motivation to the places depicted in the programs. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceived organizational support as the mediator of the relationships between high-performance work practices and counter-productive work behavior: Evidence from airline industry

In light of Signaling theory, this study investigates the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) in the relationship between high-performance work practices (HPWPs) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Judgmental sample of flight attendants in Iran was used to asses this relationship. The results of multiple regression analysis indicate that empowerment, reward and promotion as indicators of HPWPs are negatively related to CWB. Further, the results support the mediating role of POS in this relationship. Specifically, results indicate that POS acts as the partial mediator in the relationships between empowerment, reward and CWB. Moreover, results support full mediating role of POS in the relationships between promotion and CWB. This study advances our understanding of organizational level antecedents of CWB and mediating role of POS as the social mechanism through which HPWPs predict employees’ behavioral outcomes.     

Investigation of entrepreneurial orientation development with airline employees: Moderating roles of a cooperation-competition mechanism

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) represents a powerful predictor of firm performance, and the cooperation-competition mechanism is gaining importance in entrepreneurial development. In this study, we propose three research paths: (1) exploring how knowledge sharing influences EO; (2) exploring how knowledge sharing correlates with EO as a mediator of motivation, creativity, and human capital; and (3) exploring how cooperation, climate and competitive intensity as critical moderators affect motivation and creativity. We tested our hypotheses using data collected from 505 airline employees from airline organizations. The following findings were identified: (1) knowledge sharing is positively and directly correlated with EO; (2) knowledge sharing affects EO through motivation, creativity, and human capital but creativity does not indicate mediation effects between motivation and human capital; (3) both cooperative climate and competition intensity are positively affected by motivation and creativity; and (4) competition intensity positively affects knowledge sharing and motivation. To address the theoretical and managerial contribution of this study, a robustness examination was conducted to generalize the findings. Furthermore, this study further enriches the creativity and EO theory of uniqueness and identification. More importantly, this study provides effective and appropriate methods for airline organization management by guiding their employees to conduct entrepreneurial orientation in a cooperative circumstance successfully, and it especially emphasizes the role of knowledge sharing in facilitating motivation, creativity and human capital. Lastly, limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Beyond the Work‐to‐Leisure Conflict: A High Road through Social Support for Tourism Employees

The purpose of this study was to test the direct and moderating effects of job strain variables on the Job Demand–Control–Support model. A total of 422 tourism employees completed a questionnaire. Hierarchical and moderated regression models were employed to test the proposed relationships between job strain variables and work‐to‐leisure conflict. Results indicated that job demands had a positive relationship with work‐to‐leisure conflict, whereas the schedule flexibility and the time‐off flexibility were negatively related to work‐to‐leisure conflict. Results also found that supervisor support could moderate the influence of tourism employees' job demands on work‐to‐leisure conflict. Implications of stress management and job design for human resource department are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.