Exploring the job demand-job stress-customer service excellence relationship: The moderating role of content- and context- factors on front-line service operatives in the Hong Kong hospitality industry

  • CHIANG, Flora (PI)

    Project: Research project

    Project Details

    Description

    Job stress is a pervasive, costly, and well-known problem facing the hospitality industry in Hong Kong. Prolonged job stress is not only harmful to the well-being of employees but it also adversely affects the operational efficiency, performance, and reputation of organizations (Alarcon, 2011; Karatepe & Aleshinloye, 2009; de Croon, Broersen, Blonk, Frings-Dresen, 2004; Noone, 2008). Poor customer service quality is a particularly harmful side effect of excessive job stress. Left unchecked it can damage the long-term viability of an organization or an entire industry, particularly the Hong Kong hospitality industry which is heavily reliant on the service excellence of its front-line operatives to compete against a growing number of regional rivals. In the proposed study, we draw on job demands-control (J-DC) theory to develop and test a new conceptual model that is relevant and applicable to advancing our understanding of the job demand-job stress- customer service excellence relationship for front-line service operatives in the hospitality industry. By incorporating relevant social aspects of job demands (i.e., customer variability and colleague task interdependence) with other important content- and contextual- resource dimensions (e.g., service discretion, HRM practices, and service customization), which until now have been absent, we intend to offer new and important insights to theory and provide a guiding framework for scholars and managers alike that can be used to help alleviate job stress and ultimately enhance customer service excellence in the hospitality setting. By employing a robust research design, such an advancement in the theory and empirical work has the potential to not only pave the way for future research in this important domain of hospitality scholarship but also offer important implications and lessons to practice that aim to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of one of Hong Kong’s pillar industries – the hospitality industry.
    StatusFinished
    Effective start/end date1/08/1231/07/14

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