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1 – 10 of 472This study aims to explore the role of frontline service employees’ (FSEs) awareness that their job can be substituted by smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role of frontline service employees’ (FSEs) awareness that their job can be substituted by smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics and algorithms (STARA) in their job autonomy and proactive service performance and when these relationships can be buffered. Drawing on the cognitive appraisal theory of stress, the study examined the mediating relationship between FSEs’ STARA awareness, job autonomy and proactive service performance and the moderating effects of self-efficacy and resilience on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors administered two-wave online surveys to 301 South Korean FSEs working in various service sectors (e.g. retailing, food/beverage, hospitality/tourism and banking). The Time 1 survey measured respondents’ STARA awareness, self-efficacy, resilience and job autonomy, and the Time 2 survey assessed their proactive service performance.
Findings
FSEs’ STARA awareness negatively affected their subsequent proactive service performance through decreased job autonomy. The negative association between STARA awareness and job autonomy was weaker when FSEs’ self-efficacy was high than when it was low. While the authors observed no significant moderation of resilience, the author found a marginally significant three-way interaction between STARA awareness, self-efficacy and resilience. Specifically, STARA awareness was negatively related to job autonomy only when both self-efficacy and resilience were low. When either self-efficacy or resilience was high, the association between STARA awareness and job autonomy became nonsignificant, suggesting the buffering roles of the two personal resources.
Research limitations/implications
Given that the measurement of variables relied on self-reported data, rater biases might have affected the findings of the study. Moreover, the simultaneous measurement of STARA awareness, self-efficacy, resilience and job autonomy could preclude causal inferences between these variables. The authors encourage future studies to use a more rigorous methodology to reduce rater biases and establish stronger causality between the variables.
Practical implications
Service firms can decrease FSEs’ STARA awareness through training in the knowledge and skills necessary to work with these technologies. To promote FSEs’ proactive service performance in this context, service firms need to involve them in decisions related to STARA adoption and allow them to craft their jobs. Service managers should provide FSEs with social support and exercise empowering and supportive leadership to help them view STARA as a challenge rather than a threat.
Originality/value
Distinct from prior research on STARA awareness and employee outcomes, the study identified proactive service performance as a key outcome in the STARA context. By presenting self-efficacy and resilience as crucial personal resources that buffer FSEs from the deleterious impact of STARA awareness, the study provides practitioners with insights that can help FSEs maintain their job autonomy and proactive service performance in times of digitalization and automation.
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Giang Hoang, Tuan Trong Luu, Thuy Thu Nguyen, Thuy Thanh Thi Tang and Nhat Tan Pham
This study aims to investigate the effects of entrepreneurial leadership on service innovation in the hospitality industry and examine the mediating effects of market-sensing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effects of entrepreneurial leadership on service innovation in the hospitality industry and examine the mediating effects of market-sensing capability and knowledge acquisition. Additionally, the study explores the moderating role of competitive intensity in the relationships between market-sensing capability, knowledge acquisition and service innovation, drawing on the dynamic capability theory and resource dependence theory.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this study were obtained from 322 employees and 137 leaders working in 103 hotels in Vietnam, using a time-lagged approach. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in SPSS Amos 28.
Findings
The results of this study reveal a significant positive association between entrepreneurial leadership and service innovation, with mediation effects observed through both knowledge acquisition and market-sensing capability. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that competitive intensity moderates the association between knowledge acquisition and service innovation.
Practical implications
The results of this study provide implications for hospitality firms to cultivate entrepreneurial leadership through leadership training and development programs and enhance their dynamic capabilities (i.e. market-sensing capability and knowledge acquisition) to allow them to survive and develop in a competitive market.
Originality/value
This study advances entrepreneurial leadership research in the hospitality context by identifying mediating and moderating mechanisms that translate entrepreneurial leadership into hospitality firms’ service innovation.
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Islam Ali Elhadidy and Yongqiang Gao
Drawing on social information processing theory (SIP), this paper examines whether and how humble leadership affects employees' service improvisation (ESI) in the hospitality…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on social information processing theory (SIP), this paper examines whether and how humble leadership affects employees' service improvisation (ESI) in the hospitality industry. Further, the study investigates the mediating role of psychological safety and the moderating role of creative self-efficacy (CSE).
Design/methodology/approach
To test the proposed relationships, the study adopts a cross-sectional design, administering questionnaires to 456 frontline staff in Egypt’s hospitality industry across three main sectors: restaurants, hotels and travel agencies. SPSS 27 and AMOS 22 were used for statistical analysis.
Findings
The study reveals a positive relationship between humble leadership and ESI, partially mediated by psychological safety. Furthermore, CSE not only strengthens the relationship between psychological safety and ESI but also enhances the indirect effect of humble leadership on ESI via psychological safety.
Practical implications
The study offers valuable insights for practitioners in the hospitality industry. To boost ESI, organizations can incorporate humble leadership attributes into their leadership development programs. Fostering a psychologically safe workplace would facilitate the positive impact of humble leadership on ESI. Recognizing CSE as a pivotal moderator underscores the importance of strategically selecting and developing employees with high CSE. These insights aim to cultivate a more service-oriented and effective workforce in the hospitality industry.
Originality/value
This study significantly contributes to leadership research in the hospitality industry by uncovering a previously unexplored link between humble leadership and ESI. Exploring psychological safety as a mediator and CSE as a moderator enhances our comprehension of how and when humble leadership influences ESI.
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Ahmad Abualigah and Kamal Badar
Anchored in the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this research aims to examine the effect of spiritual leadership on green creativity via the mediating role of green work…
Abstract
Purpose
Anchored in the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this research aims to examine the effect of spiritual leadership on green creativity via the mediating role of green work engagement (GWEN).
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from 254 frontline hotel employees in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the hypothesized relationships were assessed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS SEM).
Findings
The findings suggest that spiritual leadership boosts GWEN and green creativity, and GWEN positively affects green creativity and mediates the nexus between spiritual leadership and green creativity.
Practical implications
Top management in the hospitality industry should focus on building spirituality and spiritual practices among their managers to accomplish organizational green goals. The hospitality industry is a highly competitive service sector that contains several unique challenges for workers, such as growing customer demands and asking for employee creativity while concurrently producing and delivering high-quality, differentiated services. In such tense and demanding professional settings, employees require intrinsic motivation to achieve something “out of the box.” Organizations should understand that intrinsic motivation implanted by spiritual leaders can encourage individuals to engage in green tasks and ultimately go beyond the script to achieve green creativity.
Originality/value
This study advances the extant literature by highlighting the role of spiritual leadership, as an emerging leadership style, in fostering GWEN and green creativity. It also adds to the existing research by examining the underlying mechanism through which spiritual leadership nurtures green creativity.
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Abd Al-Aziz Hamed Al-Refaei, Hairuddin Mohd Ali, Abdulmajid Mohammed Aldaba and Abdul Rahim Zumrah
This study aims to examine the constructs of job satisfaction and organizational commitment (OC) as the determinants of customer-perceived service quality in higher education…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the constructs of job satisfaction and organizational commitment (OC) as the determinants of customer-perceived service quality in higher education context. It also explores the role of OC in mediating the dynamics of the relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
It applied the cross-sectional, ex post facto survey method to acquire data from 1,776 respondents at Aden University. Two sets of questionnaires on job satisfaction, OC and perceived service quality were filled out by 296 academic staff and 1,480 students. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results showed that job satisfaction exercised a significant positive effect on OC and students’ perception of service quality (i.e. the quality of lectures delivered in class that shaped their learning experiences). OC also significantly affected students’ perception of service quality and partially mediated the effect of job satisfaction on perceived service quality.
Research limitations/implications
The current research only investigated the outcomes of job satisfaction and did not cover critical antecedents of job satisfaction, such as employee training and development, rewards and benefits and the like. Its outcomes have important implications for managing the link between organizational practices and customers perception of service quality in higher education context.
Practical implications
The results have accentuated the importance of universities’ ensuring and increasing faculty’s job satisfaction and commitment if they seek to enhance students’ perception of service quality. Universities can do so by improving their organizational practices, which are expected to result in faculty well-being and improved working conditions.
Originality/value
The results have contributed new insights into the current understanding of the dynamics between and among job satisfaction, OC and customers’ perceptions of service quality. It has demonstrated how OC is shaped by job satisfaction and can influence the quality of services rendered by employees if they are happy and satisfied with the organization.
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Nadia Aslam and Umar Farooq Sahibzada
The study seeks to propose a linear model by applying complexity theory and resource-based theory to investigate how hotels achieve competitive advantage and organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
The study seeks to propose a linear model by applying complexity theory and resource-based theory to investigate how hotels achieve competitive advantage and organizational performance during the Covid-19 pandemic from the perspective of hotel leaders.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a standardized questionnaire and convenience sampling approach hotel managers and administrative employees were surveyed online. A total of 354 participants from five provinces in China were examined using Smart PLS and fsQCA 3.0 for analysis. The utilization of the asymmetric method facilitates the elucidation of relationships that may not be readily apparent when employing conventional symmetric approaches.
Findings
The results display a significant impact of transformational leadership (TL) on market orientation (MO), competitive advantage (CA) and organizational performance (OP). The results show numerous combinations using fsQCA that can be utilized to increase OP within the hotel industry.
Originality/value
At present, there is a lack of substantial empirical evidence to comprehensively investigate the impact of TL on MO, CA and OP in the field of hospitality research specifically in the context of the Covid-19. The study also contributes by providing an explanation of the factors that contribute to the development of a higher organizational performance base through TL, MO and CA during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Undertaking the theoretical lens of “The need to belong” theory, the present study intends to explore the aftermath of internal whistleblowing and the behavioral outcomes that…
Abstract
Purpose
Undertaking the theoretical lens of “The need to belong” theory, the present study intends to explore the aftermath of internal whistleblowing and the behavioral outcomes that follow by linking it to the literature on workplace ostracism, loneliness and intentions to quit.
Design/methodology/approach
The respondents were hotel employees in the Delhi NCR region of northern India. A hypothesized sequential mediation model was tested on a sample of employees from a hotel using a three-wave time-lagged multistudy design.
Findings
The findings of the study established that internal whistleblowing leads to intentions to quit via workplace ostracism and loneliness at work.
Originality/value
The unique contribution of this study lies in understanding the underlying mechanisms and discussing the behavioral outcomes that follow post-whistleblowing. HR managers need to develop a work environment that protects whistleblowers and has a zero-tolerance policy against employees engaging in any form of retaliation or unethical business practices. Managers must be more proactive and sensitive to the social cues that will make them aware of the presence of acts of ostracism. Upon encountering such acts, managers can consider counseling employees engaging in such unhealthy practices.
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Osman M. Karatepe, Ülker Çolakoğlu, Gülseren Yurcu and Şule Kaya
This paper aims to explore financial anxiety and generalized anxiety as the serial mediators linking perceived organizational support (POS) to career commitment.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore financial anxiety and generalized anxiety as the serial mediators linking perceived organizational support (POS) to career commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 388 managerial and nonmanagerial employees in diverse service areas, such as restaurants, airlines and hotels in Turkey. The direct and mediating effects were tested via the PROCESS macro.
Findings
Financial anxiety partly mediates the impact of POS on career commitment. The findings further reveal that financial anxiety and generalized anxiety serially mediate the effect of POS on career commitment.
Practical implications
Management should work with mentors to provide employees with psychosocial support during the COVID-19 pandemic. When employees perceive that the firm really cares about them and values their contribution during these challenging days, they display lower anxiety and higher career commitment. Management should also retain employees who are high on career commitment because such employees possess a sense of calling and are unlikely to quit. These implications may not be considered new. However, management would need such employees concerning the firm’s performance recovery after COVID-19.
Originality/value
Workers in the service industries suffer from financial and generalized anxieties and display reduced career commitment during COVID-19. However, little is known about the antecedents and outcomes of financial anxiety among hospitality and tourism workers. More importantly, no empirical piece has tested these anxiety variables as the mediators linking POS to career commitment in the pertinent literature so far.
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Sana Aroos Khattak, Muhammad Irshad and Um-e-Rubbab
This 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…
Abstract
Purpose
This 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/approach
A 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.
Findings
Results 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 implications
Findings are vital for hotel managers to adopt a more flexible leadership style to promote the pro-social motivation and IWBs of hotel employees.
Originality/value
This 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.
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You-Chien Tsung and Lu-Ming Tseng
Studies have shown that customer orientation has a substantial impact on a business's success. This study examines the effects of positive personality on salespeople's proactive…
Abstract
Purpose
Studies have shown that customer orientation has a substantial impact on a business's success. This study examines the effects of positive personality on salespeople's proactive customer orientation (PCO) and responsive customer orientation (RCO) by incorporating the effects of job enthusiasm and transformational leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire survey is conducted. A total of 511 questionnaires are received from Taiwan's life insurance salespeople. Partial least squares (PLS) regression is used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that positive personality influences PCO and RCO both directly and indirectly through job enthusiasm. The effect of transformational leadership is also found to be significant. Financial service companies should be concerned about the important role of positive personality and transformational leadership in promoting job enthusiasm, PCO and RCO among salespeople.
Originality/value
Previous studies mostly focused on the direct relationship between customer orientation and organizational outcomes, neglecting the role of individual personality. This gap leaves us wondering how a positive personality influences a salesperson's proactive and responsive customer orientation. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to examine the mechanisms of a positive personality, job enthusiasm, and transformational leadership on salespeople's PCO and RCO.
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