Frontline Employees Research Articles

How job stress influences employee problem-solving behaviour in hospitality setting: Exploring the critical roles of performance difficulty and empathetic leadership

The current study examines the effect of job stress on frontline employees' customer problem-solving behaviour, drawing from the cognitive activation theory of stress. The study suggests that job stress, directly and indirectly, affects problem-solving behaviour through perceived performance difficulties. Empathetic leadership is proposed as a mitigating contextual factor for the adverse effects of job stress on customer problem-solving behaviours. Data were gathered from 240 customer service employees and supervisors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) hospitality industry. SmartPLS and the Hayes Process Macro were employed for data analysis. The study results revealed that job stress significantly affects employees’ ability to solve customer problems, directly and indirectly, via perceived performance difficulties. Interestingly, this impact is diminished when the supervisor demonstrates empathy. The implications of the study findings for management practice and future research are discussed.

Investigating the relationship between green human resource management and employees' environmental behavior

AbstractAlthough accumulated evidence has shown that green human resource management (GHRM) has crucial effects on employees' environmental behavior, there is limited research on the underlying mechanisms of the link. Drawing on social information processing theory, we build a multilevel model to test that how and when GHRM has benefits for employees' environmental behavior. For a sample of 866 frontline employees organized into 53 hotels collected from three data sources, we find that GHRM is positively associated with work group green advocacy, which in turn is positively associated with employees' environmental behavior. Moreover, managerial interpretations of environmental issues strengthen the positive effect of work group green advocacy on employees' environmental behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of our results are discussed.

Implementation of the Dementia Isolation Toolkit in long-term care improves awareness but does not reduce moral distress amongst healthcare providers

BackgroundHealthcare providers may experience moral distress when they are unable to take the ethically or morally appropriate action due to real or perceived constraints in delivering care, and this psychological stressor can negatively impact their mental health, leading to burnout and compassion fatigue. This study describes healthcare providers experiences of moral distress working in long-term care settings during the COVID-19 pandemic and measures self-reported levels of moral distress pre- and post-implementation of the Dementia Isolation Toolkit (DIT), a person-centred care intervention designed for use by healthcare providers to alleviate moral distress.MethodsSubjective levels of moral distress amongst providers (e.g., managerial, administrative, and front-line employees) working in three long-term care homes was measured pre- and post-implementation of the DIT using the Moral Distress in Dementia Care Survey and semi-structured interviews. Interviews explored participants’ experiences of moral distress in the workplace and the perceived impact of the intervention on moral distress.ResultsA total of 23 providers between the three long-term care homes participated. Following implementation of the DIT, subjective levels of moral distress measured by the survey did not change. When interviewed, participants reported frequent experiences of moral distress from implementing public health directives, staff shortages, and professional burnout that remained unchanged following implementation. However, in the post-implementation interviews, participants who used the DIT reported improved self-awareness of moral distress and reductions in the experience of moral distress. Participants related this to feeling that the quality of resident care was improved by integrating principals of person-centered care and information gathered from the DIT.ConclusionsThis study highlights the prevalence and exacerbation of moral distress amongst providers during the pandemic and the myriad of systemic factors that contribute to experiences of moral distress in long-term care settings. We report divergent findings with no quantitative improvement in moral distress post-intervention, but evidence from interviews that the DIT may ease some sources of moral distress and improve the perceived quality of care delivered. This study demonstrates that an intervention to support person-centred isolation care in this setting had limited impact on overall moral distress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The role of service robots in enhancing customer satisfaction in embarrassing contexts

The widespread integration of service robots in the tourism and hospitality industry has shifted from human-to-human interaction to human-to-robot interaction during service encounters, thereby affecting customer mood and satisfaction. In contrast to previous research on service robots’ tendency to evoke negative emotions, this paper employs three scenario experiments to analyze the effect of service robots in alleviating social anxiety in embarrassing service context, comparing their effects to those of frontline employees. The study results indicate that the utilization of a service robot can result in higher levels of customer satisfaction than interactions with a frontline employee in embarrassing service contexts, with social anxiety serving as a mediating factor. This study concludes with a discussion of the scholarly and managerial implications for the deployment of service robots in the hospitality industry.

Is leader humor a discursive resource for predicting innovative behavior? Examining the role of pro-social motivation and personal need for structure in hospitality industry

PurposeThis research aims to extend the research on humorous leadership and the hospitality industry by using the theoretical framework of affective events theory (AET). This research aims to close this gap by recognizing that leaders' humor may inspire pro-social motivation in tourism workers and can harness the ability of employees to offer innovative ideas. The effect of leaders' humor on employees’ pro-social motivation is moderated by the personal need for structure (PNS).Design/methodology/approachA multi-source time-lagged design was employed in this research. The researchers used survey instruments to collect data from frontline employees and their immediate supervisors working in Pakistan’s two- to five-star hotels. The current study considers 279 useable responses and tested them through Hayes process macros.FindingsResults show that humorous leadership has a significant direct impact on the innovative work behavior (IWB) of hotel employees. Pro-social motivation significantly mediates the relationship between humorous leadership and IWB. Further, the PNS significantly buffers the relationship between humorous leadership and pro-social motivation.Practical implicationsFindings are vital for hotel managers to adopt a more flexible leadership style to promote the pro-social motivation and IWBs of hotel employees.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to use pro-social motivation to explain the relationship between humorous leadership and creative work behaviors. Employees' individual needs for structure have also been utilized as a novel boundary condition. The results are essential for hotel managers to adopt a more adaptable leadership style to encourage the staff’s pro-social motivation and creative work behaviors.

Effect of Strategic Orientation on Organizational Performance of Hotels in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria

The study examined the effect of strategic orientation on organizational performance of hotels in Warri, Delta State. The study used a cross-sectional survey research approach. The survey encompassed a population of 482 employees from 10 selected four- and five-star hotels located in Warri, Delta State. A sample size of 214 employees was chosen from the entire population. A structured questionnaire was employed as the research tool in this study. In order to ascertain the instrument's reliability, a test-retest technique was employed. Data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, including correlation and multiple regression analysis. The analysis was conducted using the SPSS for Windows software, namely, version 25. Findings showed that entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation and customer orientation have a significant positive effect on organizational performance. The study concluded that strategic orientation has a significant positive effect on organizational performance of hotels in Warri, Delta State. The study recommended amongst others that hotels should foster an environment in which all team members, ranging from frontline employees to executives, adopt a customer-focused mentality. Ensure that your employees comprehend the significance of anticipating the wants of guests, providing proactive assistance, and continually giving outstanding service.

The impact of customer misbehavior on frontline employees’ work–family conflict and withdrawal behaviors

PurposeCustomer misbehavior has a negative impact on frontline employees. However, the underlying mechanisms from customer misbehavior to employees’ negative outcomes need to be further unfolded and examined. This study aims to propose that employees’ affective rumination and problem-solving pondering could be the explanatory processes of customer misbehavior influencing employee attitudes in which coworker support could be a moderator.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-method approach was designed to test this study’s predictions. Study 1 conducted a scenario-based experiment among 215 full-time hospitality employees, and Study 2 used a two-wave, longitudinal survey of 305 participants.FindingsThe results demonstrate the impact of customer misbehavior on work–family conflict and withdrawal behaviors. The mediating role of affective rumination is supported and coworker support moderates the processes.Practical implicationsCustomer misbehavior leads to negative outcomes among frontline employees both at work and family domains. Hotel managers should help frontline employees to cope with customer misbehavior by avoiding negative affective spillover and providing support properly.Originality/valueThe studies have unfolded the processes of affective rumination and problem-solving pondering through which customer misbehavior influences work–family conflict and withdrawal behaviors among frontline employees. The surprising findings that coworker support magnified the negative effects have also been discussed.

Internal marketing and employees’ personality traits toward green innovative hospitality

Purpose The current study aims to examine if the internal marketing and employees’ personal traits can predict their green innovative behavior at the workplace. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted with 683 frontline employees working in four- and five-star hotels in Serbia. Zero-order bivariate correlations among variables and linear multiple regression were conducted to predict green innovative behavior based on internal marketing, personality traits and psychological capital. Binary genetic algorithms were used to segregate the subset of predictors that would be most suitable to describe variance in the outcome. Findings The results showed that internal communication, incentive and reward systems, work support, work environment, openness and creative self-efficacy were the most important predictors of almost all the phases of green innovative behavior. Originality/value The research showed that a multidimensional approach in analyzing green innovative behavior is necessary as some factors can be significant or not so significant predictors. Acknowledging that innovation is a multistage process, entailing distinct activities and requiring varied individual behaviors to accomplish each task, amplifies the importance of this inquiry. Employees’ personal characteristics have direct impact on green innovative behavior in hospitality. Further, the results gave an insight into the possible mix of elements of internal marketing that can be used for boosting employees’ green innovative behavior in hospitality. This is important as implementing effective internal marketing practices empowers organizations to motivate employees to invest discretionary efforts.

A third-party perspective for examining employee reactions to witnessing coworker incivility towards customers

Drawing on moral self-regulatory theory, this study uses the experience sampling method to examine how and when employees, as third parties, react to coworker incivility towards customers. Data from 246 front-line employees in China showed that coworker incivility towards customers was positively related to hostility towards coworkers and, in turn, more workplace ostracism towards coworkers. Meanwhile, coworker incivility towards customers was also positively related to state-based moral disengagement and, in turn, more incivility towards customers. The above effects depended on employees’ perceived service climate such that when employees had a higher (versus lower) level of perceived service climate, the above effects were attenuated. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Conceptualizing employees' behavioral pattern changes by experiencing customer mistreatment: Integrating moral self‐regulation and dual process model perspectives

AbstractThis conceptual paper has two aims. The first is to explain how frontline employees' workplace sabotage initially occurs when frontline employees experience perceived mistreatment from customers. Moral outrage arises among frontline employees and mediates the relationship between customer mistreatment and workplace sabotage. The second aim is to address changes in frontline employees' behavioral patterns during working hours. Initial negative workplace behaviors (workplace sabotage) are more likely to shift to good behavior (organizational citizenship behavior toward customer; OCB‐customer) due to a need for moral cleansing, but will eventually revert to negative behaviors (additional workplace sabotage) as continuous customer mistreatment increases stress. To understand this process, moral‐self regulation theory and the dual process model are introduced to support the conceptual model. Implications and future research directions are also discussed.

Employee motivations in shaping customer value co-creation attitude and behavior: Job position as a moderator

The role of Frontline Employees' (FLEs) motives in determining customer Value Co-Creation (VCC), attitude, and behavior is studied less. Following social exchange theory, the study sets two objectives: (1) to examine whether employee motivations (professional identity, financial reward, recognition, and career opportunity) impact customers' ‘attitude’ and ‘behavior’ in VCC; and (2) to explore how job positions (junior/senior) moderate relationships between employee motivations and customer attitudes in VCC. We collected data from 345 FLEs and customers to examine the proposed model using SPSS and AMOS software. The results show that the employees' motives, including recognition, career opportunities, and professional identity, are critical drivers of customer VCC's attitude and behavior. In addition, the findings reveal that the employee's job position significantly moderates the relation that employee motives share with customer VCC attitude. The results exhibit the differences in the relationship of motivational dimensions between junior vs. senior positions. These results provide practical guidelines to marketers seeking to enhance customer VCC's attitude and behavior.

How do service innovation practices develop frontline employee resilience capabilities in not-for-profits?

PurposeThis study aims to explore how not-for-profit organisations (NFPs) adopt service innovation and improve their employee resilience capabilities as a response to environmental changes arising from marketisation of public services.Design/methodology/approachUsing a multiple case-study research design, this study involved 32 interviews with frontline employees working in a not-for-profit care-providing organisation.FindingsThis study finds that the development of absorptive capacity can facilitate service innovation adoption in NFPs and improve employee resilience in times of transition.Originality/valueThis study offers theoretical insights on service innovation, absorptive capacity and employee resilience in NFPs. It makes practical recommendations that will enable NFPs to help frontline employees better adopt service innovation practices in business models endorsed by the private sector.

Research on mechanism of servant leadership on employees' customer-oriented deviance: the mediating role of psychological security and the moderating role of error management climate

PurposeIn the era of the service economy, the personalized needs of customers are increasing rapidly. It often occurs that front-line employees bend organizational rules to help customers. The study sought to explore the influence mechanism of servant leadership on specific dimensions of customer-oriented deviance from the manager’s perspective, examine the mediating role of psychological security, and the moderating role of error management climate in the process.Design/methodology/approachWe conducted an online survey study in China from April 10 to 29, 2023. We use online survey questionnaire technique and random sampling method for data collection. The authors collected 385 questionnaires from China and tested the model by SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0.FindingsThe results show that servant leadership significantly promotes employees' deviant customer-oriented behaviors, psychological security plays a mediating role between servant leadership and deviant customer-oriented behaviors, and error management climate has a positive moderating effect between servant leadership and deviant customer-oriented behaviors.Originality/valueThis study explores the influence mechanism of servant leadership on deviant customer-oriented behaviors. The results of this study not only enrich the theoretical research on the formation mechanism of deviant customer-oriented behaviors but also provide a reference for leaders to correctly view and effectively manage employees' deviant customer-oriented behaviors.

Factors affecting organizational citizenship behavior of budget hotel employees in Indonesia: Examining the mediating role of work engagement and affective commitment

Organizational citizenship behavior pertains to the voluntary actions undertaken by individuals inside an organization to enhance its overall efficacy, especially in the absence of express acknowledgment from the formal incentive system. This study aims to investigate the role of work engagement and affective commitment in mediating the effect of perceived organizational support on organizational citizenship behavior. This quantitative design uses survey methodologies by sending questionnaires to frontline staff in budget hotels in Medan, Indonesia. The sample includes 225 frontline employees with at least a year of experience working in budget hotels in Medan, Indonesia. Data were collected through a Likert scale questionnaire and analyzed using SEM-PLS processed with SmartPLS 4.0 software. The findings suggest a significant relationship between perceived organizational support, work engagement, affective commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior (p < 0.05). In addition, the influence of perceived organizational support on work engagement and affective commitment is noteworthy (p < 0.05). Organizational citizenship behavior is affected by perceived organizational support through work engagement (p < 0.05) and affective commitment (p < 0.05). The results have significant ramifications for organizations. Organizations should establish frameworks that foster employee engagement and dedication. In addition, organizations should actively promote and incentivize employees to dedicate their time, exertion, and innovative thoughts for the betterment of their colleagues and the organization.

Frontline employees' responses to citizens' communication of administrative burdens

Executive SummaryThe literature on administrative burdens demonstrates that citizens may experience different kinds of administrative burdens when interacting with the state. However, we know little about whether citizens' communication of these experiences affects how frontline employees implement compliance demands. Building on the street‐level bureaucracy and administrative burden literature, we hypothesize that citizens' communication of direct and indirect psychological costs affects frontline employees' inclination to accommodate citizens. Furthermore, we expect this effect to be stronger for members of the ethnic majority than for ethnic minority members. We test these expectations using a preregistered survey experiment on a sample of 1048 Danish public caseworkers from 32 employment agencies. Results show that frontline employees are indeed more willing to reduce demands and help citizens that communicate their experiences of direct and indirect psychological costs. Further, we find some evidence that frontline employees are more responsive to citizens from the ethnic majority.

Mediating roles of frontline employees in transformative service processes

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the role of frontline employees (FLEs) as mediators in transformative service processes within services targeting vulnerable users.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on a case study of the development and implementation of a dementia village, and the data consist of documents, in-depth interviews and field observations.FindingsThe analysis identifies FLEs as mediators in six different roles. These roles highlight how FLEs perform as mediators, acting in between and for vulnerable users and thus supporting their well-being. Specifically, the roles explicate the mediating role of FLEs in the design and planning of transformative changes and in daily work practices.Practical implicationsThe different mediating roles of FLEs presented here should inform care providers and managers of how employees can become assets for supporting vulnerable users’ well-being during the design and planning stages of transformative change and through daily service work.Originality/valueThis paper offers novel insights into the multifaceted roles of FLEs in transformative services. The findings add to the current debate on mediation in transformative services and contribute to the literature by extending and refining the established conceptual and empirical understandings of the role of transformative service mediators in consumers’ well-being.

Analysis of the Current Situation and Problems of Technical Personnel in Material Production Enterprises

With the rapid development of high- temperature industry, our country has become the largest country in the world in the production, consumption and export of refractory products. However, the technical quality of front-line employees in refractory enterprises is generally low. Especially with the continuous upgrading of refractory production equipment, process and quality control, the problem of lack of technical and skilled personnel is becoming more and more serious. From the perspective of human resources, and in-depth investigation on the development of refractory industry and its personnel status, the current situation and problems of refractory enterprise technical personnel are analyzed. It is found that leading large enterprises are still in short supply of high-tech application-oriented technical personnel and operational personnel even though the structure of senior technical personnel is relatively reasonable, and small and medium-sized Enterprises gradually enter into a vicious circle of low wages, low technology, low labor productivity because they only focus on production, not research. In addition, vocational students working in different refractory enterprises often face a dilemma, some feeling lack of relatively complete theoretical knowledge, some wanting to improve the ability to operate and deal with faults.

Peers’ unethical behavior and employees' discretionary behavior: Role of employees’ duty orientation

As unethical behavior is of significant concern for organizations, this study examines the effect of peers’ unethical behavior (PUB) in the hospitality sector. Though earlier research suggests the impact of PUB on employees’ ethical intentions, the influence of PUB on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and interpersonal deviance (ID) is unexplored. To address this gap, this study uses social learning theory and social information process theory to examine the effect of PUB on OCB and ID through psychological safety as a mediating mechanism and duty orientation as a moderating variable. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling on a three-wave (time lag) survey of a sample of 316 frontline employees in the hotel industry, findings suggest PUB reduces employees’ perception of psychological safety and subsequently reduces OCB and enhances ID. However, high-duty orientation helps to mitigate the negative effect of PUB on employees’ OCB and IDs. The paper concludes with suggestions to reduce unethical behavior and create a positive work context.

The impact of core self-evaluations and person-job fit on work-related outcomes.

The aim of this study is to explore the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion (EE) between core self-evaluations (CSE), person-job fit (PJ fit) and service recovery performance (SRP). The current research also examines whether organizational dehumanization (OD) moderates the relationship between two antecedents, EE and SRP. We collected time-lagged and multi-source data from star-rated hotels in three cities in China. In particular, direct supervisors of frontline employees (FLEs) rated their SRP (N = 32 supervisors and their 212 immediate employees). The hypotheses were gauged via PROCESS (version 3.4). The results indicate that CSE and PJ fit alleviate FLEs' EE, which subsequently advances their SRP. OD moderates the direct impact of two antecedents on EE and SRP. Moreover, OD moderates the indirect influence of two antecedents on SRP through EE. The hospitality literature currently lacks an in-depth understanding of the underlying mechanism through which CSE and PJ fit affect FLEs' SRP. This study incorporates EE as a mediator of the CSE's and PJ fit's impact on SRP, and to the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to evaluate whether OD moderates the direct influence of CSE and PJ fit on SRP and the indirect impact of CSE and PJ fit on the aforementioned outcome via EE.

The Influence Of Personal Grooming And Interpersonal Communication Capability Of Frontliner Employees On Customer Satisfaction Of Bank Syariah Indonesia (Bsi) Kcp Batulicin Jhonlin

This research aims to determine the satisfaction of Indonesian sharia bank customers on the influence of personal grooming and interpersonal communication of frontline employees. This research is motivated by the requirements for recruiting new employees or opening job vacancies which always contain the requirements of having an attractive appearance and being able to communicate well.This research is field research using a quantitative research approach using descriptive methods in explaining casual relationships and influences between variables through hypothesis testing. To obtain data using a questionnaire filled out by customersThe results of this research show that the variables Personal Grooming and Interpersonal Communication have a significant effect on Customer Satisfaction with a Rsquere value of 0.797 or 79.7%. In the t test for the Personal Grooming variable, the value of tcount was 2.655 > ttable 1.986 with a significance value of 0.00 < 0.05, so that the Personal Grooming variable (X1) was partially declared to have an influence on customer satisfaction. In the t test for the Interpersonal Communication variable, the t value was 12.003 > ttable1,986 with a significance value of 0.00 < 0.05, so that the Interpersonal Communication variable (X2) is partially stated to have an influence on customer satisfaction. In the F test, the Fcount value was 182,713 > Ftable 2,700 with a significance value of 0.00 < 0.05, so it can be concluded that the variables of personal grooming and interpersonal communication together (simultaneously) are stated to have an influence on customer satisfaction.