Authentic leadership’s effect on customer orientation and turnover intention among Portuguese hospitality employees: The mediating role of affective commitment
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
ISSN: 0959-6119
Article publication date: 9 April 2020
Issue publication date: 9 April 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Hospitality employees’ attitudes and behaviors play a crucial role in enhancing customer satisfaction and service quality and ultimately firms’ success; therefore, organizations must have skilled, customer-oriented staff. More research is required to help hospitality managers gain insights into the best strategies to promote and retain customer-oriented employees. This study specifically sought to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the ways that authentic leadership (AL) can affect employees’ customer orientation and turnover intention, including exploring affective commitment’s (AC) potential mediating role.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample included 350 employees from different hospitality organizations in Portugal. Data were collected using anonymously completed structured questionnaires available online or in a paper-and-pencil format.
Findings
The results demonstrate that AL has a positive effect on customer orientation and a negative effect on turnover intention. Moreover, they indicate that AC mediates the relationships between AL and both customer orientation and turnover intention. All hypotheses received empirical support.
Practical implications
Hotel managers can increase employees’ AC and customer orientation by engaging in AL behaviors. Similarly, management can avoid having employees voluntarily leave their jobs using more AL styles and strengthening employees’ affective bonds to their organization.
Originality/value
Prior hospitality studies have rarely focused on AL. This study is the first to analyze AL’s effect on customer orientation and AC’s role as a mediator variable in the relationships between AL and customer orientation and turnover intention, thus integrating all these variables into a single research model.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the participating organizations and respondents for their assistance, without which this study would not have been possible.
Funding: This work was partially supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal (Grants UID/GES/00315/2013 and SFRH/BPD/76114/2011).
Citation
Ribeiro, N., Duarte, P. and Fidalgo, J. (2020), "Authentic leadership’s effect on customer orientation and turnover intention among Portuguese hospitality employees: The mediating role of affective commitment", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 32 No. 6, pp. 2097-2116. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-06-2019-0579
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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