wider context of hospitality leadership studies and how this area can be
progressed; the second strand (#5) is specific to this current research. These
strands are closely related insofar as adopting transformational leadership
concepts as a theoretical orientation is the common recommended response to
both.
For hospitality leadership studies, transformational leadership (TL) offers the
greatest potential as a theoretical perspective which can assist in generating a
critical mass of cohesive understanding. There are four key reasons for this:
- contribution to hospitality leadership studies: TL is the leadership theory
which has most frequently been utilised in hospitality leadership studies –
thus providing the largest theoretical and empirical base upon which to build
an augmentative tradition of hospitality leadership research; - context applicability: its applicability to a wide range of sectoral contexts,
including hospitality, has been empirically validated by a large number of
studies (Antonakis et al. 2003); - accommodation of the full range of leader behaviours: TL conceptualises both
transformational and transactional leader behaviours; and - capacity to address key hospitality management issues: this last point is
elaborated in greater detail immediately below.
Transformational leadership - in particular as measured by the Full Range
Leadership Model (see Section 2.4.3) – has the capacity to address a key
management issues in hospitality – that of job performance for service quality.
Specifically, hospitality services are typified by Zeithaml and Bitner’s (1996: 19)
simultaneous nature of production and consumption found in services provision.
This ‘inseparability’ of production and consumption means that service delivery
staff have a critical role in determining service quality through their job
performance and stresses the importance of human resource management in the
hospitality sector (Go et al. 1996: 5).
Reflecting this key staff role in service delivery, Go et al. (1996) proceed to
observe that many organisations with hospitality service functions rely on
“...employees to implement improved service delivery processes” (1996: 1).
However, hospitality service staff are often employed in jobs that offer relatively
low pay, long and unsociable hours, poor levels of job stability and a lack of
promotional opportunities (Hesselink et al. 2004: 11; Wildes 2007: 5-6; Wong