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.