Come Dine with me! Exploring the Behavioural Involvement of Culinary Tourists in Zimbabwe

Restaurants in Zimbabwe have various gastronomic opportunities as Zimbabwean cuisine as it is represented by different ethnic groups, presenting an array of traditional cuisine. At the same time, gastronomic tourism needs to be innovative to survive the harsh travel restrictions and economic downturn caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. As Zimbabwe’s culinary tourism is still in its infancy it will require a post-pandemic recovery strategy. As aspect of this is the attitudes of diners. Thus, the purpose of this study is an examination of the relationship between the Culinary Tourist Value Scorecard (CTVSC) and the behavioural involvement of culinary tourists after visiting Zimbabwean ethnic restaurants. A cross-sectional survey, using a seven-point Likert scale, was employed to generate the data from 500 culinary tourists through convenience sampling. The scores between CTVSC and Culinary Tourist Behavioural Involvement (CTBI) were statistically significant (r = .80, n = 500, p<.001). Thus, hospitality managers must monitor and improve their culinary products while also meeting the needs of first-time and returning diners. It is recommended that state-of-the-art ethnic cuisine menus and refined the service offerings are adopted.

The Effects of Employer Branding on Value Congruence and Brand Love

This study examines the effect of employer brand on employees’ brand love by applying value congruence theory. A survey was conducted with employees of well-known hotel brands in South Korea. The results show that not all employer brand dimensions equally contribute to the formation of brand love. While economic, social, and development values positively influence brand love, interest value and application value did not affect brand love formation. Employees’ value congruence perceptions mediate this effect because employees could infer what values employers care about based on the benefits that a hotel brand offers. This study contributes to the literature by linking value congruence with employer branding and brand love. Based on our findings, hospitality managers can redesign all work activities and apply employer branding principles to reflect employment value to achieve employee’s brand love.

Evaluating hospitality employees' various relationships and the effects on organizational commitment

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate how various relationships an employee builds within the organization affect their willingness to stay with the company. Specific research objective was to examine impact of social exchange on organizational commitment in the hospitality industry.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey using Qualtrics' panel database was used to collect data. The target was full-time employees in the hospitality industry. A total of 245 surveys were collected and used for data analysis. The results were analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsResults of hypotheses testing showed that internal service quality and perceived organizational support have positive relationships with organizational commitment.Originality/valueThese findings can help hospitality managers develop programs and interact with employees in order to increase commitment and a sense of belonging with the company.

Job Satisfaction of Hospitality Managers of the Department of Tourism Accredited Hotels in Baguio City Philippines

Job satisfaction among managers in the hospitality industry has a direct correlation to the ability of the hotels to increase guest satisfaction and improve services. This study aimed to determine the level of job satisfaction of hospitality managers among accredited hotels according to the star classification, their level of management, assigned departments and personal factors. By determining the level of satisfaction of managers according to the identified factors, management and owners of hospitality businesses would be able to focus on sustaining the perceived essential factors and will increase the manager's level of performance. A descriptive survey was used to gather the result of the study involving 91 managers of 4-Star and 3-Star hotels. The findings showed that the managers of the Department of Tourism accredited hotels in Baguio City are very satisfied with their jobs. Managers of 3-Star hotels are very satisfied while those who are in 4-Star hotels are satisfied. Middle managers are satisfied with their jobs, while the top and lower-level managers are very satisfied with their jobs. Managers in the front offices have a higher level of satisfaction than the support departments. The varying levels of job satisfaction among managers are dictated by several factors other than the job. In the personal factors, Millennial managers are satisfied while the Baby Boomers and Generation X are very satisfied. In ranking the most dominant factor that affects the level of satisfaction of hospitality managers, salaries and wages, promotion chances, and company policies emerged as the top three factors.

Ethnic Restaurants: Bringing Uniqueness to the Table Through Handwriting

While the restaurant industry is seeing an unprecedented rise of ethnic restaurants, the existing hospitality literature provides little guidance on how to enhance perceived uniqueness of ethnic menu offerings through visual design. The present research offers an innovative marketing strategy (i.e., using real handwriting in menus) to boost consumer evaluations. From a consumer behavior perspective, we examine the impact of menu style (handwriting vs. print) and the moderating roles of restaurant busyness (busy vs. non-busy) and gender (female vs. male) on consumers’ menu processing. Findings of this research show that handwriting offers a competitive advantage when the restaurant is less busy and when the consumer is a male. Moreover, the moderated mediation results reveal that perceived uniqueness of ethnic menu offerings is the underlying mechanism explaining the impact of menu style, busyness, and gender on consumer attitudes toward the menu. Theoretical and managerial implications for hospitality managers are discussed.

Abusive supervision and job outcomes: a moderated mediation model

PurposeThis study examined the link between abusive supervision and subordinates’ turnover intentions via job dissatisfaction. In addition, this study examined the moderating effect of continuance commitment in this process.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected three-wave time lagged data (N = 190) from the hospitality industry in China.FindingsThe analysis showed that abusive supervision predicts subordinates’ turnover intentions both directly and indirectly via job dissatisfaction. Moreover, continuance commitment was considered to be a boundary condition such that the mediated link was weaker when higher levels of continuance commitment were present.Practical implicationsThis study explains how and when abusive supervision leads to turnover intentions in the hospitality industry. This study also helps hospitality managers to understand the abusive supervision prevalence and provide interventions that can reduce detrimental effects of abusive supervision in hospitality organizations.Originality/valuePrior research examining the influence of supervisor abuse in hospitality organizations was scant. To bridge this noteworthy gap, this study examined the influence of abusive supervision in Chinese hospitality organizations. This study also discussed the theoretical and practical implications for the hospitality industry.

Temporal Orientation and Customer Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs play a prominent role in many firms’ customer relationship management programs, but not all programs are successful. Providers need to understand not only what benefits customers want in a program, but also how they want to be treated as a loyalty member. We posit that because loyalty programs offer rewards that are time-bound (immediate or delayed), and that loyalty programs seek to develop a relationship that extends over time, an important, but overlooked dimension for hospitality managers to consider is how their customers view time. Our research focuses on customers’ temporal orientation—the tendency to think in the present, future, or past. We use depth interviews to explore existing casino loyalty program participants’ thoughts and feelings about their ideal loyalty program. We find the customers’ temporal orientation influences the type of relationship as well as the type of benefits sought in the loyalty program. Our research offers managerially practical insights for identifying customers more likely to engage in co-production of a long-term loyalty relationship as well as for creating communication strategies that are likely to interest and provoke different temporal mindsets.

Study suggests mindfulness training could reduce stress for tourism and hospitality frontline employees

Purpose The authors wanted to explore how mindfulness training could help frontline employees in tourism and hospitality to regulate their emotions. They argued that it could potentially reduce employee burnout and raise levels of work engagement. Design/methodology/approach The two authors reviewed the existing literature in order to explore the mitigating effects of mindfulness training. They explored two propositions. First, that “training could potentially help to regulate the emotional labor of frontline employees in tourism and hospitality”. Second, that “Mindfulness-related training can potentially reduce burnout and enhance work engagement of tourism and hospitality frontline employees”. Findings Mindfulness training can be useful, the authors say, in helping employees to become more natural and present in the moment. This is because mindfulness practices can “help to regulate and control individual’s emotions, attention, thoughts and feelings”. This makes them better at managing relationships with customers. Originality/value The value of their conceptual paper, they said, is twofold. First, it has practical implications for tourism and hospitality managers. They can use mindfulness training to improve the wellbeing of frontline staff, and also boost work outcomes. Managers can also provide training to alleviate emotional exhaustion. The second benefit is for academics. Researchers could study outcomes of training and identify which factors maximize the effectiveness.

Customer online reviews and hospitality employees’ helping behavior: moderating roles of self-efficacy and moral identity

Purpose Online reviews are perceived as credible and trustworthy across various business sectors; thus, they influence customers’ purchase decisions. However, the potential role of customer online reviews as feedback for employee performance and employee reactions to customer reviews remain largely unclear. To address this knowledge gap, this study proposes that employee characteristics, namely, self-efficacy (Study 1) and moral identity (Study 2), moderate the effect of the valence of customer reviews on hospitality employees’ helping behavior. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a scenario-based, quasi-experimental design in two studies. They recruited a total of 215 frontline employees at independent casual dining restaurants in Istanbul, Turkey (Study 1) and 226 US residents who have worked in the restaurant industry for more than six months (Study 2). Multiple linear regressions via PROCESS and moderation analysis via Johnson–Neyman technique were used. Findings Study 1 demonstrates that when employees’ self-efficacy is low, positive (vs negative) customer reviews enhance employees’ helping behavior. By contrast, when employees’ self-efficacy is high, their helping behavior is invariantly high regardless of the valence of customer reviews. Study 2 reveals that when employees’ moral identity is low, their helping behavior decreases in the presence of negative (vs positive) customer reviews. Conversely, when employees’ moral identity is high, their helping behavior is similarly high regardless of the valence of customer reviews. Practical implications Hospitality managers may need to develop training programs to enhance their employees’ self-efficacy and moral identity. They may also provide necessary organizational support to induce their employees’ self-efficacy and moral identity, given that such psychological resources help buffer the dampening effect of negative reviews on helping behavior. Last, hospitality managers may consider incorporating customer reviews as part of employee performance feedback. Originality/value This study advances the understanding of employees’ responses to customer reviews, with the performance appraisal feedback framework as fresh theoretical lens. This study is among the first to demonstrate the relationship between the valence of customer reviews and subsequent helping behavior of employees toward customers. It also contributes to the emerging literature that identifies boundary conditions for employees’ responses to customer reviews.