Leadership and motivation in hospitality.

Abstract

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.