Hospitality Frontline Research Articles

The meaning of hospitality: do employees understand?

PurposeThis paper explores how hospitality frontline employees understand, interpret and practice “hospitality” in a hotel industry context.Design/methodology/approachFramed by interpretivist and phenomenological approaches a dual-stage semi-structured interview study design was conducted. A sample was drawn from hotel employees in Australia.FindingsFindings support the proposition that the hospitality workforce tends to favor service management and service processes as the guiding paradigm. The essence of what it means to be hospitable, and the host-guest model, appears to be largely absent in practice.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper contributes to a scarcity of literature exploring the understanding of hospitality, and how this understanding can translate into hospitable behavior, from the employee perspective. Our main implication is that service management terminology colonizes hospitality within a commercial context, while the essence of hospitality and the “hospitality” lexicon is concomitantly diminishing. The authors advocate for developing an inter-paradigmatic view of hospitality management.Practical implicationsWhile the study revealed that the majority of frontline hotel employees struggle with grasping and verbalizing their understandings and perceptions of the hospitality construct, although some acknowledged the importance of hospitality as being an integral component to service delivery. We identified consistent organizational practices and intrinsic employee traits that either enabled or obstructed hospitable behavior in hotel settings.Originality/valueThe study reveals tensions between the hospitality and service paradigms in hospitality literature and practice. We uncover hotel management practices that may help to conserve and foster the essence of hospitality in hospitality organizations.

Work Values: A Formidable Domain Within the Context of People’s Lives

Work values occupy a specific domain within the context of people's lives. They govern the importance placed on work and work-related aspects by individuals (and groups of people) within the context of the entirety of their lives. Research on work values indicates that such values are derived from the same basic value systems which guide individuals through the various facets of their lives. As such, they are a specific subset of general life values and are influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The extant literature contends that various factors, such as demographics, nationality, organisations and occupation have a strong impact on work values. This article utilised an ethnographic approach to examine the ways in which work values can be found in the discursive attitudes and behavioural responses toward work. It explored the literature relating to work values and examined the work values of hospitality workers as a means to understanding differences and dominance in individuals’ work values. It found that the work values of frontline hospitality workers are similar in terms of their attitudes to their work as providers of hospitality and stark differences emerged in relation to the work values of managers when contrasted with those of the frontline workers. Work values amongst managerial staff were not congruent. On the one hand, the managerial staff exerted work values commensurate with a higher emphasis on power and authority and a lack of consideration for social values. On the other hand, they exhibited work values indicative of a more altruistic nature. Through these findings, this study contributes to a greater understanding of work values, the meaning of work and the sustainability of working lives.

Emotional exhaustion and work attitudes: Moderating effect of personality among frontline hospitality employees

ABSTRACTThe construct of emotional exhaustion has been widely investigated in service organizations, particularly in the hospitality industry. Individual differences in experiencing emotional exhaustion, however, have attracted less research attention. The present study explores the moderating effect of personality dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism on the relationship of emotional exhaustion with job satisfaction and organizational commitment among hospitality employees. Data for this study were collected from 250 frontline employees (waiters and waitresses) working in various hotels and restaurants in India. The results of the study indicate that emotional exhaustion is negatively associated with job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The Extraversion dimension of personality was observed to have a significant interaction effect on the relationship of emotional exhaustion with job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Moreover, neuroticism was observed to have a significant interaction effect on the association between emotional exhaustion and organizational commitment. The implications of these findings are mentioned.

Applying complexity theory to solve hospitality contrarian case conundrums

PurposeThis paper aims to advance a configural asymmetric theory of the complex antecedents to hospitality employee happiness-at-work and managers’ assessments of employees’ quality of work performance. The study transcends variable and case-level analyses to go beyond prior statistical findings of small-to-medium effect sizes of happiness–performance relationships; the study here identifies antecedent paths involving high-versus-low happy employees associating with high-versus-low managers’ assessments of these employees’ performances.Design/methodology/approachThe study merges data from surveys of employees (n= 247) and surveys completed by their managers (n= 43) and by using qualitative comparative analysis via the software program,fsQCA.com. The study analyzes data from Janfusan Fancyworld, the largest (in revenues and number of employees) tourism business group in Taiwan; Janfusan Fancyworld includes tourist hotels, amusement parks, restaurants and additional firms in related service sectors.FindingsThe findings support the four tenets of configural analysis and theory construction: recognize equifinality of different solutions for the same outcome, test for asymmetric solutions, test for causal asymmetric outcomes for very high versus very low happiness and work performance and embrace complexity.Research limitations/implicationsAdditional research in other firms and additional countries is necessary to confirm the usefulness of examining algorithms for predicting very high (low) happiness and very high (low) quality of work performance. The implications are substantial that configural theory and research will resolve perplexing happiness–performance conundrums.Practical implicationsThe study provides useful case-level algorithms involving employees’ demographic characteristics and their assessments of work facet-specifics which are useful for explaining very high happiness-at-work and high quality of work performance (as assessed by managers) – as well as algorithms explaining very low happiness and very low quality of work performance.Originality/valueThe study is the first to propose and test the tenets of configural theory in the context of hospitality frontline service employees’ happiness-at-work and managers’ assessments of these employees’ quality of work performances.

When Customers Complain

Frontline hospitality employees inevitably face customer complaints and verbal aggression from time to time. Some employees seem to be able to shake off this negative energy and offer service recovery, while others collapse under such onslaughts. This study of 243 frontline employees of casual dining restaurants in Korea found that customer orientation is an important factor in employees’ ability to avoid emotional exhaustion and provide service recovery. The study first establishes the harmful relationships among customer verbal aggression, emotional exhaustion, and (successful or failed) service recovery performance. By incorporating customer orientation into the model, the study documents its buffering role as a personal coping resource. In summary, (1) customer verbal aggression intensifies emotional exhaustion, (2) emotional exhaustion mitigates service recovery performance, (3) customer verbal aggression does not mitigate service recovery performance, (4) emotional exhaustion fully mediates the harmful relationship between customer verbal aggression and service recovery performance, and (5) the detrimental effects of customer verbal aggression are greater among employees with low customer orientation than high orientation employees with regard to the effect of emotional exhaustion on service recovery performance.

The Effects of Transformational Leadership and Perceived Creativity on Innovation Behavior in the Hospitality Industry

Determinants of creative or innovative behavior among frontline employees have been examined rarely in the literature, which is unfortunate as such information may help managers to benefit from their employees’ potentials. This study first identifies conceptually transformational leadership and employee-perceived creativity as two salient determinants of innovative behavior, and then tests this using data collected from a sample of 345 hospitality frontline employees. Moreover, it is then examined whether the relationship between these two determinants and innovative behavior may be moderated by the employees’ length of time at the workplace. The results of the study indicate that both transformational leadership and employee service creativity influence innovative behavior significantly. However, as this study proposes, these effects are indeed moderated by time in that despite initially different magnitudes, they approach each other over time. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are also provided.

The Impact of Supervisory Support on Organizational Commitment, Career Satisfaction, and Turnover Intention for Hospitality Frontline Employees

This study explores the relationships among supervisory support, organizational commitment, career satisfaction, and turnover intention of frontline employees in the hospitality industry. The results indicate that supervisory support had a positive effect on both employees’ organizational commitment and their career satisfaction. Although organizational commitment had no direct effect on career satisfaction, a higher level of organizational commitment reduced turnover intention. Moreover, organization commitment mediated the relationship between supervisory support and turnover intention. The results of this study will assist operators in selecting effective employee training and development approaches, as well as researchers in further investigating impact of supervisory support.

Promoting frontline employees' quality of life: Leisure benefit systems and work-to-leisure conflicts

This study explores how leisure benefit systems affect frontline employees' quality of life while they encounter work-to-leisure conflicts. This study uses leisure benefit system satisfaction as a moderator between work-to-leisure conflict and quality of life, based on a conceptual framework and a cross-industry survey of 587 frontline hospitality employees in hotel/resort, tourist attraction, and airline industries. Results show that work-to-leisure conflict is negatively related to quality of life, leisure benefit system satisfaction is positively related to quality of life, and the direct effect of leisure benefit system satisfaction on leisure satisfaction is greater than it is on job satisfaction. When a frontline employee is highly satisfied with a leisure benefit system, leisure benefit system satisfaction is observed to exert a moderating effect between work-to-leisure conflict and quality of life. Results also show that a leisure benefit system is a coping resource for frontline employees' work-to-leisure conflict. This study discusses the implications of leisure benefit systems and work-leisure balancing strategies.

Examining the spillover effect of frontline employees’ work–family conflict on their affective work attitudes and customer satisfaction

This study examines the negative spillover effects of hospitality frontline employees’ work–family conflict on their affective reactions, commitment, and customer satisfaction. A field survey was conducted to obtain a dyadic data set (148 paired employee–customer responses). Our results indicate that frontline employees’ role conflict between work and family results in less positive affective reactions to the job, decreased emotional attachment to the organization, and lower levels of customer satisfaction. These findings suggest that hospitality firms need to understand that factors outside the workplace influence service excellence, thus calling for a family-friendly organizational culture.

Antecedents and effects of engaged frontline employees

PurposeThe aim of this study is to examine factors related to employee engagement in frontline jobs in service firms.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model was developed and tested on a survey in which 279 hospitality frontline employees participated.FindingsThe findings show that employee engagement is closely linked to employees' innovative behaviour. Accordingly, the study clearly reveals the value of having an engaged frontline workforce. Moreover, the results show that perceptions of role benefit, job autonomy, and strategic attention were all significantly related to greater employee engagement.Research limitations/implicationsThis study limits its examination to the antecedents and effects of employee engagement for two types of service organizations.Practical implicationsThe study has demonstrated the importance for managers of having an engaged workforce. In particular, it is important for managers to notice that engagement is a major driver to innovative behaviour. Consequently, one general and key practical implication from this study is the importance for mangers to measure regularly the engagement of their workforce.Originality/valueThis paper enhances one's knowledge of factors linked to employee engagement.

Assisting problem gamblers in the gaming venue: An assessment of practices and procedures followed by frontline hospitality staff

This study examined how frontline hospitality staff respond to patrons with gambling problems in gaming venues. Personal interviews with 48 staff in Queensland Australia yielded rich in-depth data. While overall, staff were confident they could identify signs of problem gambling and procedures to follow if patrons ask for assistance with a gambling problem, uncertainty and unresolved challenges persist over how to respond to problem gamblers who do not request assistance. While better training, systems and processes may improve staff interventions, continued reliance on human judgement and discretion are likely to see the vast majority of problem gamblers in venues ignored.

Burnout and Perceived Organisational Support Among Front-Line Hospitality Employees

This article describes research designed to investigate the relationship between burnout and perceived organisational support (POS) among front-line hospitality employees. Three hundred front-line employees of a multisite hospitality firm were surveyed using an instrument comprising the general survey version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the 17-item version of the Survey of Perceived Organisational Support (POS). Significant relationships were found between POS and each of the three burnout dimensions of exhaustion, cynicism and personal efficacy. The findings of this study contribute to the existing academic literature and provide hospitality managers with a better understanding of the factors that contribute to the problem of front-line employee turnover.

Hard-skills, soft-skills: undervaluing hospitality’s ‘service with a smile’

Hospitality gains profitable value-added from the highly developed social skills of its so-called ‘unskilled’ labour force. Applying terms such as ‘skilled’ and ‘unskilled’ to a post-industrial workforce, especially in services, is not only anachronistic but, in the case of front-line hospitality workers, creates something of a myth that serves to undermine their contribution to bottom line results. This paper examines two key human resource areas. The first concerns categorising workers as either ‘skilled’ and ‘unskilled’, floating a postmodernist idea that perhaps this is something of a social construct, being rooted both in ‘modern’ manpower planning for heavy industries and in the former power of trade unions to control entry into the workplace through lengthy apprenticeships. The second area reviews the quantitative approach to manpower planning. The contextual frame is characterised by a two-sided cross-cultural theme; first, that the male-dominated culture of Fordism and ‘scientific management’ socially constructs skill definitions so as to allow management more control over the workforce. Second, that there is evidence of a culture clash when ideas based on this (i.e. essentially Western industrial culture) are superimposed on Third World countries through the manpower planning component of aid-assisted tourism master plan programmes. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.