Personality profiles for hospitality employees: Impact on job performance and satisfaction

Abstract

Prevailing hospitality research has demonstrated the impact of personality traits on various human resource outcomes. However, most studies on employee personality applied a construct-centered approach and treated each personality dimension as a separate construct. Although some psychologists have begun to study the combinations of various personality dimensions as overall individual profiles, much remains unknown about the generalizability of these personality profiles in hotel employees and how these profiles might affect individual work outcomes, including job performance and satisfaction. To address this literature gap and cross-validate the results, data from 1035 respondents was collected from two five-star hotels of Hong Kong with different backgrounds. Drawing on self-regulation theory and using the Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), we identified two major personality profiles from the respondents. Results showed that the personality profiles led to varying levels of job performance and satisfaction, depending on the employees’ frequency of contact with the hotel guests. Conceptual, methodological, and practical implications were discussed. • This study, utilizing person-centered approach and Latent Profile Analysis, explored the Big-Five personality profiles of hotel employees. • We surveyed 1035 employees of two hotel groups (local and international) in Hong Kong and identified two typical profiles. • One profile had relatively higher levels on all five dimensions than the other profile and was labelled as ego-resilient profile. • The two personality profiles led to varying levels of performance and satisfaction, depending on employees’ frequency of customer contact.