leadership and motivation in hospitality

427 Pages·2012·7.16 MB·English

by  Steven Boyne

LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION IN HOSPITALITY

STEVEN BOYNE

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of
Bournemouth University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

March 2012

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This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that
anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its
copyright rests with its author and due acknowledgement
must always be made of the use of any material contained in,
or derived from, this thesis.

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ABSTRACT

Steven Boyne

Leadership and motivation in hospitality

Customer contact service employees in hospitality organisations have a
critical role to play in satisfying customers’ expectations. However, it is
recognised that hospitality service jobs are often associated with low pay,
long and anti-social hours, unstable and seasonal employment, low job status,
a lack of career opportunities and poor levels of benefits. In the light of
factors such as these, which are likely to militate against high levels of
motivation - and consequently to reduce the quality of customer service -
addressing hospitality customer service employees’ motivation can be viewed
as a priority for hospitality management.

Inspirational, motivational leaders can motivate employees to ‘perform
beyond expectations’ and previous studies of leadership in hospitality have
demonstrated a number of positive outcomes related to the presence of
inspirational leaders. No studies have been identified, however, that have
measured the specific influence of motivational leadership on hospitality
service employees’ job performance.

To evaluate the contribution of motivational leadership to employee work
motivation, work motivation was measured using both employee attitudes and
job performance. Data were collected from a sample of non-supervisory
waiting staff in hotel businesses in the UK. In total, two hundred and thirteen
usable survey forms were returned from twenty seven UK hotels with table
service restaurants. All of the participating organisations were rated as three
or four stars and the mean number of non-supervisory waiting staff in these
hotels was twenty three.

The study finds that motivational leadership, alongside employee perceptions
of empowerment and employees’ work orientations, contributes positively to
both work attitudes and job performance.

The research also finds that motivational leadership enhances employees’
work meaning and understanding of organisational goals (mission clarity).

In addition to its empirical dimensions, the research contributes to hospitality
studies theory by critically appraising the leadership-related hospitality
literature and making recommendations for the future progress of hospitality
leadership studies.

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List of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................... 17
1.1 Background and rationale .......................................................... 17
1.2 Aims, objectives and research design .......................................... 19
1.3 Structure of the thesis .............................................................. 22
2 LEADERSHIP .............................................................................. 24
2.1 Definitions of leadership ............................................................ 24
2.2 Reviewing the reviews: complexity and contestation in leadership
studies ............................................................................................. 27
2.2.1 Summary of paradigmatic progression in leadership studies .... 31
2.3 Major theories of leadership ....................................................... 33
2.3.1 Trait theories ..................................................................... 33
2.3.2 Behavioural theories ........................................................... 34
2.3.3 Situational or contingency approaches .................................. 40
2.3.4 Relational theory: Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) ................ 47
2.3.5 Antonakis et al.’s Schools: Skeptics, Information-Processing,
Contextual and New Leadership ....................................................... 48
2.4 Transformational leadership ....................................................... 50
2.4.1 Origins and essence ............................................................ 50
2.4.2 Transformational leadership in organisations ......................... 51
2.4.3 The evolution of transformational leadership theory for
organisations ................................................................................. 52
2.4.4 Transformational leadership outcomes .................................. 58
3 LEADERSHIP IN HOSPITALITY ................................................... 61
3.1 Review strategy and analytical framework ................................... 61
3.2 Early research (1970s) .............................................................. 65
3.3 Behavioural theory work ........................................................... 66
3.3.1 Initiating structure / consideration focused studies ................. 68
3.3.2 Leadership competencies approaches ................................... 69
3.3.3 Implicit leadership theory (ILT) approaches ........................... 71
3.4 Contingency theory work ........................................................... 73
3.5 Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory work .............................. 74
3.6 Transformational leadership theory work ..................................... 76
3.6.1 Transformational leadership in hospitality: rationales and
outcomes ...................................................................................... 79
3.7 Miscellaneous studies ................................................................ 82
3.8 Summary of hospitality leadership findings .................................. 84
3.9 Leadership in hospitality: the state of the art ............................... 85
3.10 Evolution of leadership studies in hospitality ............................. 87
3.11 Pittaway et al.’s (1998) paradigmatic framework ....................... 89
3.11.1 Pittaway et al.’s paradigms: a critique .................................. 91
3.11.2 The trouble with the taxonomy ............................................ 93
3.12 Reconceptualising the research agenda .................................... 97
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4 DEVELOPING THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ......................... 101
4.1 Work motivation research ........................................................ 103
4.1.1 Making sense of work motivation ........................................ 109
4.2 I/O Psychology and Organisational Behaviour ............................ 110
4.3 Motivation research in hospitality studies ................................... 117
4.3.1 Core articles from Simons’ review ....................................... 119
4.4 Exposition of the latent variables and hypotheses ....................... 125
5 MEASURING THE LATENT VARIABLES ....................................... 130
5.1 Dispositional factors / individual values ..................................... 131
5.2 Interpersonal, group and organisational processes...................... 135
5.3 Primary organisational outcomes: employee attitudes ................. 146
5.4 Secondary organisational outcomes: individual, group and
organisational outcomes ................................................................... 159
5.5 Summary of Chapters 4 and 5.................................................. 168
6 METHODS FOR DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS ................... 170
6.1 Structural equation modelling .................................................. 170
6.2 Modelling approach ................................................................. 173
6.3 Data assumptions and software ................................................ 174
6.4 Modelling strategy .................................................................. 176
6.4.1 Building the models .......................................................... 178
6.5 Instrumentation ..................................................................... 179
6.5.1 Questionnaire design and refinements ................................ 180
6.5.2 Administration of the full survey ......................................... 188
6.6 Data screening ....................................................................... 197
6.6.1 Treatment of missing data ................................................. 197
6.6.2 Distributional normality ..................................................... 206
7 ANALYSIS ................................................................................. 208
7.1 Re-statement of the analytical framework ................................. 208
7.2 Model 1, Step 1: the measurement model ................................. 208
7.2.1 Measurement model specification ....................................... 209
7.2.2 Measurement model identification ...................................... 210
7.2.3 Measurement model estimation .......................................... 212
7.2.4 Measurement model testing ............................................... 212
7.2.5 Assessment of construct validity ......................................... 213
7.2.6 Assessment of model fit .................................................... 217
7.2.7 Testing the measurement model (CFA 1:1) .......................... 221
7.2.8 Measurement model modification ....................................... 223
7.2.9 Measurement model: first respecification (CFA 1:2) .............. 227
7.2.10 Measurement model: second respecification (CFA 1:3) .......... 228
7.3 Model 1, Step 2: the structural model ....................................... 230
7.4 Model 2 ................................................................................. 234
7.5 Model 3 ................................................................................. 242
7.6 Model 3b ............................................................................... 248
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7.6.1 Model 3 / Model 3b summary ............................................. 259
7.7 Model 4 ................................................................................. 261
7.8 Model 5 ................................................................................. 267
7.9 Model 5b ............................................................................... 277
7.9.1 Employee attitudes and discretionary service behaviour ........ 284
7.9.2 Model 5 / Model 5b summary ............................................. 286
7.10 Model 6 .............................................................................. 286
7.11 Model 7 .............................................................................. 287
7.12 Post-development validation of the model .............................. 288
7.13 Post-modification construct identities ..................................... 294
7.14 Construct relationships and effect sizes .................................. 298
7.15 Multi-group analyses............................................................ 302
7.15.1 Demographic variables ...................................................... 303
7.15.2 Supervisor contact, training and information ........................ 307
7.15.3 Work values .................................................................... 308
7.15.4 Summary of multi-group moderator analyses ...................... 311
7.16 Model 8: Mission Clarity ....................................................... 312
8 REVIEW, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ................................ 314
8.1 Précis of the research ............................................................. 314
8.2 The model development process .............................................. 319
8.2.1 Additional analyses ........................................................... 328
8.3 Contributions, new conceptualisations and areas for further research .
............................................................................................ 334
8.3.1 Work motivation: behavioural measures ............................. 337
8.3.2 Work motivation: attitudinal measures ................................ 341
8.3.3 Work Values .................................................................... 346
8.3.4 Motivational leadership ..................................................... 348
8.3.5 Employee Empowerment ................................................... 348
8.3.6 Limitations of the current study ......................................... 352
8.3.7 Implications of the data collection outcomes for the research
findings ...................................................................................... 355
8.3.8 Other areas for further research ......................................... 357
8.4 Conclusions ........................................................................... 357
9 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................... 360
10 APPENDICES ......................................................................... 393
10.1 Appendix I: Complete list of hypotheses following model
developments ................................................................................. 393
10.2 Appendix II: Univariate normality for all item scale variables .... 394
10.3 Appendix III: SEM estimates and matrices ............................. 396
10.4 Appendix IV: Bootstrap estimates and distributional normality .. 403
10.5 Appendix V: Hospitality leadership literature ........................... 411
10.6 Appendix VI: The pre-test survey form .................................. 413
10.7 Appendix VII: The pilot survey form ...................................... 420
10.8 Appendix VIII: The full survey form ....................................... 424
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List of Figures
Figure 2-1 Van Seters and Field’s Evolutionary Tree .................................. 29
Figure 2-2 Situational Favourability in the LPC Contingency Model .............. 41
Figure 2-3 The full range model of transformational leadership ................... 54
Figure 2-4 The augmentation model of transactional and transformational
leadership ............................................................................................ 54
Figure 3-1 Summary of hospitality leadership LMX research findings ........... 76
Figure 3-2 Summary of Pittaway et al.’s paradigms ................................... 91
Figure 3-3 Hospitality leadership studies categorised according to Pittaway et
al.’s framework .................................................................................... 94
Figure 4-1 Example of a variable as both dependent and independent ....... 112
Figure 4-2 Organising framework for the identified factors ....................... 113
Figure 4-3 Organising framework with hypothesised causal links .............. 114
Figure 4-4 Latent variables identified from the reviews of literature .......... 125
Figure 4-5 Organising framework including the DSB construct .................. 126
Figure 5-1 The source of the Work Values indicator variables ................... 133
Figure 5-2 The Work Values construct ................................................... 134
Figure 5-3 The Motivational Leadership construct .................................... 137
Figure 5-4 The Empowerment construct ................................................ 141
Figure 5-5 The Social Support construct ................................................ 145
Figure 5-6 The Job Satisfaction construct ............................................... 149
Figure 5-7 Wollack et al.’s domains and constructs ................................. 153
Figure 5-8 The Work Meaning construct ................................................. 154
Figure 5-9 The Affective Organisational Commitment construct ................ 159
Figure 5-10 The Job Performance construct ............................................ 161
Figure 5-11 The Discretionary Service Behaviour construct ...................... 162
Figure 5-12 Analysis of Bitner et al.’s customer/employee data ................ 165
Figure 5-13 The Service Quality construct .............................................. 167
Figure 6-1 Example structural equation model ........................................ 171
Figure 7-1 Organising framework including the DSB construct .................. 208
Figure 7-2 Specification for the measurement model CFA 1:1 ................... 210
Figure 7-3 Summary of acceptable threshold levels ................................. 221
Figure 7-4 The structural model specification SEM 1:1 ............................. 231
Figure 7-5 Estimates for SEM 1:1 ......................................................... 231
Figure 7-6 Structural specification for Model 2 ........................................ 234
Figure 7-7 Estimates for SEM 2:1 ......................................................... 239
Figure 7-8 Constrained model SEM 2:1b ................................................ 240
Figure 7-9 Constrained model SEM 2:1c ................................................ 241
Figure 7-10 Structural specification for Model 3 ...................................... 243
Figure 7-11 Structural specification for Model 3b .................................... 248
Figure 7-12 Interpretations for the Employee Attitudes construct .............. 255
Figure 7-13 Wollack et al.’s Work Meaning domains ................................ 256
Figure 7-14 Parameter estimates and model fit for SEM 3b ...................... 258
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Figure 7-15 The original Model 3 specification ........................................ 259
Figure 7-16 Model 3b structure, estimates and fit statistics ...................... 260
Figure 7-17 Structural specification for Model 4 ...................................... 262
Figure 7-18 Estimates for Model 4 (SEM 4:2) ......................................... 265
Figure 7-19 Structural specification for Model 5 ...................................... 268
Figure 7-20 Estimates and model fit for SEM 5:2 .................................... 272
Figure 7-21 Structural specification for Model 5b .................................... 277
Figure 7-22 Estimates and model fit for SEM 5b:2 .................................. 280
Figure 7-23 SEM 5b:3 with the EPA→DSB path ....................................... 285
Figure 7-24 Summary of modified construct definitions ........................... 298
Figure 7-25 Contact, training and information statements ........................ 307
Figure 7-26 Distribution of the Work Values summated scale variable ....... 310
Figure 7-27 Estimates for Model 8: Mission Clarity .................................. 313
Figure 8-1 Organising framework for the research .................................. 318
Figure 8-2 Model 2.............................................................................. 321
Figure 8-3 Model 3b ............................................................................ 323
Figure 8-4 Model 5b ............................................................................ 325
Figure 8-5 Job Satisfaction predicting Job Performance ........................... 331

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