Promoting innovation in hospitality companies through human resource management practices

In this study, we investigate how hospitality companies can promote incremental and radical innovation through human resource management practices (i.e., selection and training). Data from 196 independent hotels and restaurants operating in the People's Republic of China show that hiring multi-skilled core customer-contact employees and training core customer-contact employees for multiple skills both have significant and positive effects on incremental and radical innovation among hotel and restaurant companies. The two human resource management practices are also found to have a negative joint impact on incremental but not radical innovation. The implications for promoting innovation in hospitality companies are discussed.     

Recruitment and Retention Practices in Independent and Chain Restaurants

Abstract

The management of employees in the restaurant industry is a major challenge that operators must address as companies work to find the best employees in a shrinking labor market. An exploratory study of twenty restaurants (ten independent and ten chain restaurants) investigated similarities and differences in employee recruitment and retention practices. Personal face-to-face interviews with managers disclosed a variety of interesting practices and ideas in the management areas of recruitment, interviewing and hiring, incentives, discipline, and retention. Environmental issues (relating to atmosphere and work environment) were most frequently cited by managers as reasons employees choose to work and remain in restaurants. Compensation and monetary awards were second in importance, followed by work schedule. This analysis provides an understanding from the manager's viewpoint of why employees work in restaurants and offers a perspective in current practices in employee recruitment and retention processes.     

Human resource management approaches in Spanish hotels: An introductory analysis

Although Spain is one of the most important tourism destinations in the world, Spanish tourism firms need to be more competitive in order to continue attracting citizens from other countries and human resource strategies can help. The present study aims to identify the specific human resource practices applied by hotels. The variables of interest are those related to human resource profile (number of employees, nationality and sex) and to human resource strategies (recruitment, hiring and training strategies). A survey of the hotel establishments in the Valencian Autonomous Region shows that a hard human resource approach prevails and that hotels apply the same human resource strategies regardless of their category or competitive strategy (universalistic approach).     

Burnout and food safety: Understanding the role of job satisfaction and menu complexity in foodservice

This study measures job motivation, satisfaction, and burnout amongst foodservice employees, as well as the menu complexity in foodservice establishments. It verifies the relationship between these factors and food safety practices. We visited 20 foodservice establishments and interviewed 202 foodservice employees. Job motivation, satisfaction, and burnout were assessed using validated questionnaires. Menu complexity was evaluated by considering the number of meals prepared in different courses. Data relating to food safety violations were obtained using a food safety checklist. Our findings show that foodservice employees exhibit high levels of job motivation, job satisfaction, and personal burnout. In restaurants with more complex menus, instances of burnout as well as food safety violations are higher, and these have a negative impact on foodservice employees’ job motivation. Job satisfaction is positively affected by job motivation and negatively affected by burnout. Cognitive aspects of food safety, practical implications, and limitations of this study are discussed.     

Does transformational leadership style influence employees’ attitudes toward food safety practices?

The objectives of this study were to examine whether transformational leadership style (TL) and organizational climate (OC) impact employees’ attitudes and intentions to follow safe food handling practices. We also set out to investigate the moderating effect of food safety certification on the relationships among TL, OC, and employees’ attitudes and intentions to follow food safety practices in restaurants. Questionnaires were distributed to restaurants in one state. Structural equation modeling techniques and multiple group analysis were used. The results of this study indicate that TL did not impact employees’ attitudes and intentions. However, TL significantly impacted OC, and OC significantly impacted employees’ attitudes and intentions to follow safe food handling practices; additionally, employees’ attitudes significantly impacted intentions to perform safe food handling practices. Furthermore, the moderating effect of food safety certification on the relationships among TL, OC, and employees’ attitudes and intentions was also significant. The results of this study not only provide a theoretical framework but also present more detailed diagnostic information regarding the impact of TL and OC on employees’ attitudes and intentions to follow safe food handling practices.     

Explicit expression of anti-black biases in the full-service restaurant industry: Legal responsibilities and risks

Anecdotes detailing racial prejudices and discriminatory treatment of Black Americans while dining in full-service restaurants surface routinely in the popular press. These anecdotes are buttressed by a small number of studies documenting evidence of racist language and observed mistreatment of Black restaurant customers. In an effort to further explore the pervasiveness and correlates of such explicit expression of anti-Black biases in restaurant workplaces, this study presents findings from an online survey that was administered in two independent, large, and demographically diverse samples of current restaurant employees. We find that on average between 15 % (Qualtrics sample) and 24 % (Facebook sample) of participants agreed with statements indicating that racist language and discrimination against Black customers is common in the restaurants where they work. We explore the individual and organizational correlates of such explicit expression of anti-Black biases in restaurant workplaces and highlight the associated legal ramifications. We conclude by encouraging restaurateurs to take action against manifestations of racial prejudice in their establishments in order to fulfill their legal responsibilities to both their customers and their employees and thereby to minimize the threat of litigation.     

Does mandatory food safety training and certification for restaurant employees improve inspection outcomes?

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between mandatory food safety training and certification and inspection results of chain restaurants and independent restaurants, using current food safety inspection results of food service establishments in Central Florida. More specifically, this study examines whether there is any statistically significant difference in the violation frequency among chain and independent restaurants. Reducing the risk of any foodborne illness is a critical strategy that industry stakeholders should pursue in an area dominated by tourism such as Orlando, Florida. A one-way ANOVA was used to determine the differences between the two types of restaurants. Findings indicate that there is significant difference between chain and independent restaurants for critical violations. No difference was found when comparing chain verses independent restaurants for non-critical violations.     

Ethical purchasing perceptions and practices of Oklahoma restaurant managers

This study examined ethical business perceptions and practices in purchasing dealings between junior and senior managers in the U.S. restaurants. This study investigated the managerial style in the context of business ethics relative to employees’ loyalty, ethical working behavior, attitude, and decision‐making process of restaurant's food purchasing personnel. Additionally, organizational business ethics training for employees is a crucial component to enhance adherence to an ethical code of conduct. The findings revealed that the managers’ ethical purchasing perceptions and practices of their employees’ behaviors were not different in terms of gender, age, and years of experiences as a manager. Corporate ethical standards and managerial ethical practices can guide managers and employees as to how to behave when confronted with a dilemma with regard to ethics and personal interest. Consequently, the prime principle of management or purchasing personnel in terms of ethical dealings has tremendous impact on a firm's operational performance and employees’ morale.     

On-Job Training—A Critical Human Resources Challenge in China's Hotel Industry

Abstract

The strategic role of human resources function in China's hotel industry is more important than ever before. An increasing number of hotels begin to recognize its significance of such role in sustaining growth in the competitive hotel marketplace. This study focuses on the on-job training aspect of the human resources by first identifying the major problems faced by the industry. The underlying factors of the problems are then investigated; and possible solutions are recommended. The discussion is in the context of five stakeholders in the on-job training function of China's hotel industry. They include hotel employees, hotel management, government agencies, universities, and non-university training institutions.     

The cause-effect relationship between negative food incidents and tourists’ negative emotions

Tourists often experience negative food incidents at tourism destinations, which can elicit negative emotional reactions. However, this important topic has been examined only in the narrow context of restaurants with a particular focus on customers’ negative restaurant experiences. This study is the first to incorporate three types of food establishments, namely, full-service restaurants, limited-service restaurants, and street stalls, to investigate the effects of negative food incidents on tourists’ negative emotions. Using a qualitative approach to capture the cause-effect relationship between negative food incidents and tourists’ negative emotions, this study found that food-related issues trigger tourists’ sadness and shame; queue management leads to fear; and high prices, unethical business practices and poor service quality result in anger. The three types of food establishments are correlated with different negative food incidents. In addition to providing theoretical contributions, this study also provides practical suggestions for food outlets at any destination.     

Effects of calorie information disclosure on consumers’ food choices at restaurants

Menu labeling is a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but mandatory calorie information disclosure by restaurants is currently under consideration as a potential regulatory initiative to help curb excess calorie intake and encourage healthier food choices. There is much debate about the effectiveness of such legislation. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of calorie information disclosure on consumers’ food choices at restaurants. Results of an online experimental study using real menu boards suggest that the effect of calorie information disclosure interplays with perceived healthfulness of restaurants to jointly affect consumers’ food choices and underlying psychological processes. Upon exposure to calorie information, divergent food choice patterns at restaurants of varying levels of perceived healthfulness were observed. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Skills and Competencies Needed for the Hong Kong Hotel Industry

ABSTRACT

The tourism industry is one of the main sources of income to Hong Kong. If qualified employees provide better service, Hong Kong can potentially attract even more visitors. The training of new recruits and existing staff is therefore vital, but views on the value and the type of training vary amongst the stakeholders. This study of the views of hotel human resources managers revealed that they considered that people who were interested in developing their career in the hospitality industry must be prepared to start at the bottom. The hotel human resources managers strongly believe that employees must have a positive service-mind and commitment to the industry with a certain degree of working experience. Employers perceived these were important components to success for every member of staff, rather than having a good educational background. Such qualifications will raise the status of the hotel industry in general and enhance the status of the service providers as professionals.     

Service Climate in Restaurants

This study focused on identifying the most relevant dimensions of service climate in restaurant settings. A series of confirmatory factor analysis were performed to check the construct validity of the service climate using data collected in a field survey of 452 frontline employees working in 31 different foodservice establishments. Four dimensions of service climate were identified: service vision, service training, supervisor support, and reward and recognition. The validated 22-item scale of service climate can be used as a potential tool for evaluating the service climate in foodservice establishments.     

Employee Commitment and Restaurant Profitability

Abstract

A pilot study was conducted in two Las Vegas restaurants. Both restaurants were operating at a loss and suffering from a lack of employee commitment. Previous research has identified a relationship between effective people management and a firm's financial success. In response to managers' request, this study applies qualitative methods to explore the underlying reasons for the lack of employee commitment. The study concluded that the employees did not identify with their companies' values, which was manifested in their complete lack of internalization levels of commitment. Management implications include the need to communicate the companies' values to the employees and the establishment of a service culture in order to create employee and customer loyalty.     

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.     

Human Capital,Organizational Orientations and Performance: Evidence From the Restaurant Industry

ABSTRACT

The study examines how human capital combines with and influences organizational orientations to determine performance. Specifically, this study investigates small restaurant businesses’ ability to effectively exploit intangible resources and capabilities, rather than tangible resources, in order to produce sustainable competitive advantage. A structured questionnaire was used to survey owners/managers of small independent restaurants in the United States. The results demonstrate that human capital, market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation serve as intangible resources and capabilities that can augment the competitive position of independent restaurants, and thereby improve performance. Human capital also combines with and influences the adoption of market orientation and subsequent performance.     

Fostering employee-customer identification: The impact of relational job design

By integrating insights from the literature on relational job design and relational identification, we provide theoretical and empirical account of whether relational job design can foster employee-customer identification (ECID) and subsequently, enhance service performance. This research suggests that relational job characteristics likely foster service employees’ ECID by relating employees to the positive impact they have on customers as well as by leading employees to gain valuable personal resources from customer interactions. Using time-lagged data collected from 255 frontline service employees matched with 92 supervisors in 47 restaurants, we found that job impact on customers positively influenced service performance, and this influence was mediated by ECID. Results also showed that job contact with customers positively influenced service performance, and this influence was partially mediated by ECID.     

Hotels' environmental policies and employee personal environmental beliefs: Interactions and outcomes

Recent trends in green consumerism are leading the hotel industry to assume corporate social responsibility that may place the industry at the forefront of green innovation. Research reveals that adopting green practices is beneficial for the hotel and tourism industry. Nonetheless, a corporation's success in adopting green practices depends not only on corporate attitudes towards environmental issues but also on its employees' personal beliefs and everyday actions. This study fills the gap in existing research by adopting the concept of a “green organisational climate” and using personal belief variables to explore the contextual and individual variation in hotel employees' environmental behaviour. The results from two-level linear hierarchical models (HLM) show that individual- and group-level factors are significantly associated with the employees' environmental beliefs and behaviour. In other words, personal environmental norms explain within-hotel variance, but green organisational climates explain between-hotel variance and moderate the effect of personal environmental norms on employees' environmental behaviour. Greater emphasis on intense corporate engagement in incorporating environmental policies, human resources management and provision of environmental education for employees should be introduced and implemented.     

Strategy Communication in Family-Owned Restaurants: Ad Hoc and Ad-Lib

ABSTRACT

Most New Zealand restaurants are small family-owned businesses, which could be expected to communicate their purpose, business strategy, and goals to their employees. However, this expectation may be at odds with the informal mode of a family operation. This exploratory study therefore examines the communication of strategies in family-owned restaurants to determine the likely impact of family ownership on strategy communication. Interview data from family business owners and employees indicate that communication was largely ad hoc, relating to tactics more than strategies, and that many owners lacked the skills needed to operate a profitable and successful business. The weak understanding of strategic business skills identified may explain the high rate of failures identified in the New Zealand restaurant industry.     

Procedural justice,ethical climate and service outcomes in restaurants

The literature suggests that ethical climate may actually contribute to organizational success by enhancing employee performance. Ethical climate is considered to be highly relevant to the hospitality industry, since it enhances service-providers’ contact with customers. This study reinforces previous researches by exploring the relationships between ethical climate, service, and customer satisfaction in restaurants. We have also examined the relationship between ethical climate and the fair treatment of employees by an organization. The study was conducted in 20 restaurants, with 171 employees and 103 customers. Data were obtained from employees, customers, and “mystery shoppers”. As expected, ethical climate was found to be related to service performance which, in turn, was found to fully mediate the relationship of ethical climate with customer satisfaction. Ethical climate was also found to correlate positively with procedural justice. Our results indicate the benefits of the ethical message conveyed through consistent managerial practices in service organizations.