US Hospitality Research Articles

Travelling together: exploring the impact of support and service animals on travel experiences

ABSTRACT The phenomenon of multi-species families is increasingly linked to the growing awareness of the benefits of emotional support and service animals. As more people adopt various animals into their homes, it becomes crucial to understand how these family arrangements influence travel experiences. The presence of these animals during travel directly impacts the well-being and safety of travellers, contributing to the emotional and behavioural dynamics of multi-species families in transit. Consequently, the hospitality, tourism, and transportation industries must adapt to accommodate the growing number of tourists travelling with their animals, whether for work or leisure. The United States is the focus of this research due to its significant role in regulating emotional support and service animals, allowing for comparisons with the diverse regulations across European countries. This study aims to: (1) investigate current U.S. legislation regarding emotional support and service animals; (2) explore the challenges faced by owners of these animals during travel; and (3) highlight the practical experiences of owners travelling with emotional support and service animals. The methodology used is an exploratory qualitative review. The research highlights the experiences of Em and Jennifer, Brazilian students who travelled to the USA with their animals, illustrating the variations in travel experiences with emotional support and service animals. In conclusion, while acceptance and accommodation of these animals are evolving, particularly in the US hospitality industry and tourist attractions, challenges and a lack of understanding still exist in some establishments. This underscores the importance of studies like this to raise awareness and educate about the needs of families that rely on their animals. The increasing prevalence of multi-species families positively influences the availability of pet-friendly services, which can significantly impact travellers’ choice of accommodation when accompanied by their pets.

Understanding employee reactions to union-busting in the US hospitality industry: An analysis based on union attitudes and cognitive frames

Union-busting, whose purpose is to weaken or eliminate labor unions within an organization, is particularly prevalent in the hospitality industry. This paper, which draws on data collected through semi-structured interviews with 38 US line-level hospitality workers, aims to analyze their reactions to union-busting. In doing so, it introduces an original analysis rooted in union attitudes, cognitive frames, and emotions, employing a lens that integrates framing theory and affective events theory. One of the most important contributions of this research lies in recognizing that employees’ responses to union-busting can deviate from the expected alignment with their union attitudes and cognitive frames. This research broadens their scope to encompass a previously unexplored phenomenon. It deepens our understanding of the complexities characterizing the employment relationship in hospitality, thereby offering insights that could inform contemporary HRM strategies and policy interventions.

Paycheck Protection Program and lending discrimination in the US hospitality industry

This study aims to assess lending discrimination in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in the hospitality industry. PPP is one of the initiatives of the US government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support small businesses. While the US Congress aimed to target minority-owned and other businesses at a disadvantage, early research on the program found lending discrimination. This study contributes to this research stream by being the first to focus on the nationwide hospitality industry and consider all three funding rounds. Specifically, the study analyzed differences in approval amounts based on race and gender and found significant differences between White- and Black or African American-owned businesses and between male- and female-owned businesses, with the latter of these groups at a considerable disadvantage. The results of this study could guide policymakers in creating assistance programs with more stringent clauses to ensure the support gets to those most in need.

The Persistent Urban Shortfall in Leisure and Hospitality Employment

As a high-contact service sector with limited capacity for remote work, the US leisure and hospitality sector—which includes restaurants, bars, hotels, museums, and movie theaters—was hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first two months of the pandemic, leisure and hospitality lost over 8 million jobs, nearly half its employment (Figure 1, solid red line).

The impacts of pandemic-related media coverage on workplace ageism among younger hospitality and tourism employees

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impacts of pandemic-related media coverage on younger hospitality and tourism employees’ ageist attitudes toward older people by applying the media priming theory and the terror management theory.Design/methodology/approachThis study takes a mixed-method approach through an online survey. A total of 416 usable responses are collected from current US hospitality and tourism employees under 55 years. Qualitative data were analyzed using word cloud. Partial least squares structural equation modeling is then used to test the hypothesized model.FindingsThe study’s results show that younger employees' cognitive reaction negatively affects aging anxiety and intergenerational tension, which subsequently influence their willingness to work with older people. Negative media-induced emotions are positively associated with aging anxiety, whereas positive emotions exert no significant impact. Intergenerational contact frequency moderates the effect of intergenerational tension on younger employees’ willingness to work with older people.Research limitations/implicationsThis study’s findings contribute to the hospitality and tourism workforce literature by considering the priming effects of media coverage on younger employees’ attitudes toward self-aging and the older group. This study also offers managerial insights on developing effective age-inclusion interventions to reduce workplace ageism in the post-pandemic era.Originality/valueExisting hospitality and tourism studies on older workers are scant and largely descriptive. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study that assesses the effects of pandemic-related media coverage on workplace ageism toward older people among the current hospitality and tourism workforce.

It takes a village: examining how and when brand-specific transformational leadership affects employees in internal brand management

The hospitality work environment presents many unique challenges for employees and organizations, such as the intertwined and collective work nature, implicit job expectations, and a shrinking labor market. The demand for highly skilled employees who are sufficient to deliver the unique brand values to customers is on the rise for building successful service brands through employees. The need to retain talented employees is further intensified by the “great resignation” movement in the USA along with the COVID-19 pandemic. This study demonstrates the positive role of brand-specific transformational leadership in promoting employees’ highly engaged brand building behavior (investment-of-self) and their resistance to outside competing job offers. More importantly, drawing upon cognitive dissonance theory, this study shows that the impact of brand-specific transformational leadership is mediated by employees’ sense of brand community internally, as well as moderated by perceived brand promise accuracy. These results supported the essential role of achieving employees’ cognitive consonance in brand communication both internally and externally. These results are supported by 203 US hospitality employee responses from multiple data collections purposefully designed with temporal and cognitive distance.

Exploring the relationship between managerial overconfidence and investment efficiency in the US hospitality industry

Exploring the relationship between managerial overconfidence and investment efficiency in the US hospitality industry

Stock Market Performance of the US Hospitality And Tourism During the Covid-19 Pandemic

In this study, the stock market performance of the travel and leisure industry during the COVID-19 pandemic is investigated by use of the three-regime Markov switching model. The analysis employs daily data for six subsectors (airlines, gambling, hotels, leisure services, restaurants and bars, as well as travel and tourism) for the US from January 2018 to November 2021. Estimation results provide strong evidence of regime switching behavior with wide differences across subsectors during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. A longer duration of high volatility characterizes the airline and leisure services indices. These sectors exhibit the most pronounced downturn that was not fully recovered in November 2021. In contrast, the period of high volatility in the restaurant, gaming, and hotel industries is relatively short, and stock market performance recovers almost to the general trend. Of all subsectors, restaurants and bars experience the shortest duration of high volatility, limited to the second quarter of 2020. The stock market indices for the travel and tourism industry (mainly car rentals) are also highly volatile, but this pattern was observed already before the pandemic.

Losing talent due to COVID-19: The roles of anger and fear on industry turnover intentions

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the US hospitality industry workforce experienced significant job loss via furloughs and job eliminations. Over a year later, the American hospitality industry is now facing a labor shortage. However, there is a dearth of literature explaining why the hospitality industry's response due to a mega-event, like the pandemic, can motivate employees to leave the hospitality industry. Instead, theory and research have primarily focused on organizations as the focal point for understanding turnover, while neglecting the industry. Using the affect theory of social exchange, this paper examined how anger and fear related to job status changes (i.e., being furloughed or laid-off) due to the pandemic, influence intentions to leave the industry. Study 1 used a survey of management-level employees, whereas Study 2 used an experiment to test the proposed model. Both studies showed that employees who lost their job due to the pandemic felt more anger and fear than those still employed. However, mediation analyses revealed anger, but not fear, as the primary driver of industry turnover intentions. These results highlight a potentially problematic trend. Should skilled hospitality workers switch industries due to job loss amidst an industry-wide negative event, it may become difficult for hospitality businesses to find qualified employees once the industry recovers and rehiring begins.

Professional identity, passion and career change during the pandemic: comparing nascent and experienced hospitality professionals

PurposeGiven that the recovery of the hospitality industry is hampered by worker shortages resulting from the loss of talents during the ongoing pandemic, the purpose of this study is to examine how professional identity affects hospitality employees’ psychological responses to the COVID-19 crisis and their intentions to leave the industry.Design/methodology/approachThis study sample consisted of 1,188 US hospitality employees. The cross-sectional data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling, analysis of variance and multigroup analysis.FindingsA double-barreled effect of professional identity on career change intention was identified. Hospitality employees possessing a stronger professional identity were found to be more passionate and satisfied with their careers and less likely to switch to other industries. However, these individuals also feel more distressed by the pandemic crisis, which is associated with a heightened level of career change intentions.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study confirm the importance of identity building as a means of sustaining the hospitality workforce. As nascent professionals possess a weaker identity and stronger intention to leave the industry, immediate attention should be paid to these individuals.Originality/valueThis study expands the knowledge surrounding the influences of hospitality professional identity as it exerts a double-barreled effect on career change intention. Further insights regarding how hospitality employees at various career stages respond differently to the COVID-19 crisis are uncovered by examining the moderating effects of industry experience.

The role of (in)congruence modes between supervisor prescriptive and descriptive norms on employee green behavior

Integrating the social norm perspective and regulatory focus theory, this research expands the current understanding of how and why (in)congruence modes between supervisor prescriptive and descriptive norms shape voluntary and required employee green behaviors (EGBs) through a regulatory focus process. It tests a proposed model with two independent studies: an experiment manipulating both supervisor prescriptive and descriptive norms of EGB (US tourism and hospitality employees in Study 1) and a field survey study measuring both supervisor-reported prescriptive and descriptive norms of EGB (Chinese hospitality employees in Study 2). Results reveal that the congruence/incongruence between supervisor prescriptive and descriptive norms of EGB has a positive relationship on voluntary/required EGB through employee promotion/prevention focus of EGB, respectively. This research provides more nuanced understandings into the psychological mechanism that explains how the self-regulatory focus of EGB mediates the interactive influences of supervisor prescriptive and descriptive norms of EGB on voluntary and required EGBs.

Impact of corporate social (ir)responsibility on volume and valence of online employee reviews: Evidence from the tourism and hospitality industry

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and irresponsibility (CSI) can influence employee voice behavior in online review platforms. This study utilizes online employee review (OER), builds upon ethical climate theory, and hypothesizes the independent and joint effects of CSR and CSI on two aspects of employee voice – OER volume and OER valence. Using novel OER data of US tourism and hospitality firms, we perform a panel data regression with industry and year fixed effects. The results indicate that firm CSR engagement increases both the volume and valence of OER, whereas CSI accelerates (attenuates) the positive CSR effect on OER volume (valence). These findings can help tourism and hospitality firms implement CSR strategies for enhancing employees’ word of mouth from both volume and valence perspectives.

“When you mix the best of high society with the best of high society”: culinary cannabis and the US hospitality industry

ABSTRACT The culinary use of cannabis in the US has increased dramatically in the wake of relaxed federal and state laws governing the production, distribution, possession and use of it and its derivatives. While cannabis refers to both hemp and marijuana — both of which produce the chemical compound cannabidiol (CBD) — only marijuana contains delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient traditionally associated with its illicit use. Despite the distinction between the two types of plants and the chemicals that they are prized for creating, edible cannabis, due in part to repeated depictions in popular culture, has long been synonymous with cheap, box-mix, “pot” brownies made by a stereotypical on-screen stoner. Thus, stigmas surrounding its use persist. However, cannabis is becoming increasingly prized for its culinary uses and gastronomic profiles. The changing perceptions, legality and array of available strains of cannabis, as well as the resulting interest in its gastronomy, will no doubt have a significant impact on the American hospitality industry. This article clarifies the term “culinary cannabis” to describe the non-problematic use and/or enjoyment of hemp and/or marijuana (or ingredients derived from the two plant species) in food. It also speculates as to how the trend of culinary cannabis may impact the hospitality industry and identifies avenues for future research.

Does family matter? The moderating role of family involvement on the relationship between CSR and firm performance

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the moderating role of family involvement on the corporate social responsibility (CSR)-firm performance (FP) relationship in the US hospitality industry. Building on agency theory, this study examines how family ownership, management and board control influence the relationship between CSR and FP.Design/methodology/approachTo examine the moderating effect of family ownership, family management and family board control, this study adopts the two-way fixed-effects model and performs a panel regression analysis with robust standard errors. The sample period spans 1994–2018 and 565 firm-year observations are included.FindingsThis study finds that the impact of CSR on FP is positively moderated by the extent of a firm’s family member involvement. In specific, all three aspects of corporate governance (i.e. ownership, management and board control) positively moderate the relationship between CSR and FP.Research limitations/implicationsFindings of this study yield several recommendations for hospitality managers, including shaping strategic decisions for implementing CSR, by providing a unique perspective that the involvement of founding family members can be helpful in enhancing firm value through CSR activities.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on the further understanding of the CSR-FP link in the hospitality literature. In addition, this study provides practical guidelines for hospitality firms in the context of CSR by revealing possible advantages of strengthened founding family involvement.

Momentum investing: evidence from the US tourism and hospitality

PurposeThe present research aims to examine a range of momentum trading strategies for the tourism and hospitality sector.Design/methodology/approachThe paper followed the methodology of Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) to construct the portfolios. In this methodology, all portfolios were formed and evaluated by their cumulative stock returns over the past J periods and holding the position for the next K periods. In total, nine formation and holding periods were used, represented by 3, 6 and 12. For example, strategy 3–3 (that is, strategy with J = 3 and K = 3) refers to the strategy that stocks are ranked based on their previous three months and then held for the next three months.FindingsThe findings demonstrated that none of these momentum investing strategies was profitable. Most of the results, however, show positive, but insignificant momentum returns. This finding can be interpreted as price reversal over a horizon of three to twelve months in the US hospitality and tourism sector. These results are robust to size, different formation and holding combinations, beta and turnover.Research limitations/implicationsRegarding the research limitations, this paper only considers the US tourism and hospitality sector. Therefore, the extension of results to other developed and developing markets should be taken carefully. Also, this paper relies only on the methodology of Jegadeesh and Titman (1993). Other methodologies could be suitable avenues for future research.Practical implicationsInvestors and portfolio managers who seek for earning abnormal returns by investing in the US HT stocks can attain their hopes by constructing portfolios based on existing guidelines in the literature and adopting a short-term reversal trading strategy or by buying past losers and selling past winners of the US tourism and hospitality stocks.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the hospitality finance literature by offering the investors who are interested in the US hospitality and tourism sector an uncomplicated trading rule that uses real return data and is expected to generate actual returns. Moreover, the momentum strategy of Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) is never used in the hospitality finance literature.

COVID-19 and sectoral employment trends: assessing resilience in the US leisure and hospitality industry

ABSTRACT This study explores the vulnerability and resilience of the US Leisure and Hospitality industry sector-wise by taking employment levels in seven different business segments. An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model approach was applied to daily time series data of employment and COVID-19 to assess each sector's fragility and resilience. The findings reveal that museums and historical places, performing arts, and sports are the worst influenced sectors and exhibit low resilience. The accommodation sector initially shows high vulnerability; however, it bounces back by showing high resilience compared to some of the other sectors. The rest of the sector presents the same story negatively influenced by pandemic but eventually reveals a sign of recovery. A detailed discussion with the theoretical and practical implications is provided.

How hospitality firm executive diversity affects firm performance

PurposeWomen make up approximately 47% of the workforce and 51% of hospitality employees but account for 70% of travel buying decisions. Even with these high statistics, women are still underrepresented in many high-level positions. This paper aims to evaluate the financial effects of diversity in top paying management positions within US hospitality companies from 2006 to 2018 and also evaluate the change in female representation from the Great Recession and the #metoo scandal.Design/methodology/approachFirm performance and diversity were studied using fixed effect and random effect models due to the panel nature of the data. ANOVAs and t-tests were conducted to determine the change in female representation.FindingsOn average, companies report 5.55 top paying executives and only 0.75 of them are female. Results show that earnings before interest and taxes, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization are both significantly higher with 15–30% diversity and even higher with 30–50% diversity. After the Great Recession, hospitality companies significantly increased the percentage of females in top positions from 11.5 to 14.1%, while resorts increased female representation from 7.5 to 12.2% after the #metoo scandal.Originality/valueTo the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first known study to evaluate gender diversity in top hospitality executives and not just female representation. This is also the first paper to evaluate the effect of the #metoo scandal on hospitality firms’ percentage of females in top executive positions.

Sexual Harassment of Hospitality Interns

ABSTRACTIt is widely known that the hospitality industry is rife with sexual harassment of especially female employees, yet every year hospitality programs send out thousands of students to complete internships making them vulnerable to sexual harassment, which is a violation of their Title IX rights. The purpose of this descriptive study was to be the first to survey US hospitality students to see if they experienced sexual harassment during a recently completed internship. The majority of the 297 respondents did not experience sexual harassment but a sufficient number experienced sexist and sexual hostility mostly from male managers, coworkers, and customers. The majority of respondents were not informed as to the inappropriate sexual behaviors they may encounter during their internship; over half were given no training by the internship coordinator or employer on what to do if harassed. It is clear that more needs to be done by internship coordinators and employers to protect student interns Title IX rights.

Psychosocial work environment, work engagement, and employee commitment: A moderated, mediation model

• Workplace bullying was found to be prevalent in the US hospitality sector. • Work engagement was found to be a full mediator of the relationships between HPWS, POS, and affective commitment. • Workplace bullying mediated the relationship between HPWS and affective commitment, while psychosocial safety climate moderated this mediating impact. This paper contributes to the growing body of literature on the wellbeing of hospitality employees from a perspective of strategic human resource management. The role of high performance work systems (HPWS) in enhancing the affective commitment of hospitality employees is examined. The study found work engagement to mediate the relationships between HPWS, perceived organizational support, and affective commitment. Workplace bullying, a highly prevalent phenomenon in the hospitality sector, was found to mediate the relationship between HPWS and affective commitment, while psychosocial safety climate moderated this mediating impact. We will suggest the implications for managing psychosocial work hazards in hospitality organizations.

Hospitality career retention: the role of contextual factors and thriving at work

PurposeThis study aims to understand employee career retention in the hospitality industry. Building on the socially embedded model of thriving, signaling theory and social cognitive career theory (SCCT), the study examines a structural model of psychological contract fulfillment (PCF), perceived organizational support (POS), thriving, career satisfaction and career turnover intention.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed research model was tested using structural equation modeling with responses from 300 US hospitality employees. Data were collected using an online survey available through a panel service at Qualtrics.FindingsEmpirical results supported all proposed hypotheses and confirmed the critical mediation role of thriving for workplace contextual factors and employee career retention. As predicted, both PCF and POS positively influenced employee thriving, which positively influenced career satisfaction and negatively influenced career turnover intention.Practical implicationsFindings of this study yielded several recommendations for hospitality managers, including using the concept of thriving as an indicator and a remedy for employee career development and retention.Originality/valueGiven the increased need for qualified talent and reduced career satisfaction, this study sheds light on the further understanding of sustainable employment in the hospitality industry. Using signaling theory and SCCT as an overarching framework, this study extends the socially embedded model of thriving as well as SCCT and supports combining psychological contract theory and organizational support theory to better understand hospitality career retention.