ORCID Profile
0000-0003-3066-7108
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Publisher: Emerald
Date: 23-05-2008
DOI: 10.1108/02621710810871790
Abstract: This study aims to advance and test an argument for the existence of a particular type of organizational culture on board cruise tourism vessels known as an occupational community. The paper used a questionnaire instrument developed from earlier related studies. A strong occupational culture was identified for hospitality workers ( n= 72) amongst a s le of cruise ships. These communities were found to be more acute on longer duration voyages than day trips with in iduals being attracted to opportunities for socialization provided by the work situation rather than the occupation itself. Cruise directors/hospitality managers will need to understand how occupational communities and espoused organizational cultures impact on each other to maintain positive on‐board employee attitudes, effectiveness and efficiency. The novel occupational view of on‐board hospitality work could provide a much‐needed new understanding of employee attitudes and behaviors in the twenty‐first century.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 10-2002
DOI: 10.1108/02621710210437554
Abstract: This paper assesses the reliability and rationale of Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics model among public and private sector hospital chefs in Australia. It continues by focusing on critical job elements of chefs and their motivational outcomes. The job of chef in private sector hospitals was found to be more challenging with greater motivating potential than that in the public sector. Reliance of hospitality services managers upon technology appears to have resulted in a deskilled production process and, consequently, a demotivated workforce.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 04-1996
DOI: 10.1108/09596119610111677
Abstract: Examines variations in the nature of hospitality operations from a strategic perspective. Operational strategy is regarded as a response to environmental risk. Looks at various ways in which organizations have decentralized their operations in response to environmental conditions. Hospitality units may be classified on the basis of customer perceptions, as “transactional” or “experiential” services. This has the merit of being customer‐ rather than operationally‐focused, and also provides insight into the precise nature of hospitality service.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 12-2004
DOI: 10.1108/13527600410797891
Abstract: Whilst cultural variables are likely to have an important bearing on the attitudes and behaviour of hotel employees, anecdotally, a pan‐industrial work orientation has also been long advocated as key in the formation of worker attitudes and behaviour. This study sought to identify and establish the extent to which this occupational view of work exists amongst employees in a number of international hotels based in Greece, Australia, St. Lucia and Britain. Using a survey approach with questions derived from earlier related studies, occupational communities were discovered in all hotels. The findings have significant implications for the recruitment and management of existing hotel workers as the occupational perspective challenges cultural notions of employee motivations and subsequent performance.
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 04-05-2010
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 04-1993
DOI: 10.1108/09596119310042073
Abstract: Evidence suggests that the hotel sector has high levels of labour turnover, especially in seaside resorts. To help explain this, at least in part, management styles and their effect on hotel workers′ perceptions of jobs was investigated. The study was undertaken in five seasonal seaside hotels from April to October 1992. All had between 30‐65 bedrooms. Interviews with managers revealed two supervisory styles “co‐ordinative” whereby for most of the time managers did not work alongside their staff, and “hands‐on”, whereby for most of the time they did. Information about hotel jobs was elicited from managers and staff using Hackman and Oldham′s (1974) job diagnostic survey. This standard questionnaire views jobs as a composite of several “core job dimensions”, each having a possible score of 1 to 7 depending on its perceived degree of presence within a job. It was hypothesized that “hands‐on” managers would score jobs similarly to their workers and that “co‐ordinative” managers would not. Also, that workers experiencing “hands‐on” supervision would score “core job dimensions” higher than their “co‐ordinative” counterparts. The former notion was supported by the results, the latter found partial support. The results indicate that management styles may be important in motivating workers.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-1994
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 14-06-2012
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 14-03-2008
DOI: 10.1108/17538330810865336
Abstract: This study seeks to assess the psychometric properties of SERVQUAL, a prevalent instrument for measuring service quality within the “place” context of a shopping mall. Since, appearing in the management and marketing literature, this instrument has proved popular amongst researchers and practitioners. However, evidence supporting or refuting the tenets of the “gap” model and the dimensionality of the questionnaire is equivocal. Modified versions of the questionnaire were used as a basis for interviewing customers of three retail clusters in the region of far North Queensland ( n =782). Analysis of data failed to support the generic five‐factor structure of service quality amongst these retail outlets. Service quality was perceived to be context‐specific and less multi‐dimensional than contended by the original SERVQUAL authors. Furthermore, little support was found for the concurrent validity of the instrument. Moreover, notions of service quality may have been confused due to the separate perspectives of three retail clusters within the overall context of a shopping mall. The multi‐dimensional nature of intangible service quality and dynamic expectations of customers and clients therefore presents significant challenges for place managers. A practical decision was made to maximize the generalizability of the research by aggregating in idual retail outlets into three overall clusters. Some measure of internal validity may therefore have been sacrificed. It is recommended that future research begins with 360‐degree qualitative analyses of contexts from which new constructs and instruments may be developed. The retail industry in far North Queensland is a previously under researched area in terms of the SERVQUAL instrument. The new factor structures found for clusters should improve service‐quality management and impact on tourism‐related business in the region.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 06-2005
DOI: 10.1108/02621710510598436
Abstract: To assess the attitudes toward service delivery of employees in Australian hotels with a long‐term view of establishing job service “norms” against which candidates may be ultimately evaluated. Lee‐Ross's Service Predisposition Instrument (SPI) questionnaire was used to elicit information about the attitudes of front‐line hotel workers towards service delivery. This quantitative approach sought to identify the innate presence of service dimensions amongst workers previously found in other studies of service predispositions. After initial analysis, the dimensionality of the SPI questionnaire was found to be less substantial than when tested in other studies. Indeed, a new dimension of “negative service” emerged. Hotel employees rated all “service dimensions” elicited by the SPI as important. However, competence and the provision of “extras” were ranked notably highly. Affinity was scored the lowest of all dimensions. This suggests that workers recognize the particular importance of technical and intangible skills associated with the service encounter. In tourist hotels, short periods of service delivery allow only limited opportunities for workers to establish affinity with customers. The SPI and the theory upon which it is based are relatively novel. The posited innate worker dimensions or attitudes necessary for effective service delivery could provide a new focus for hospitality managers when recruiting staff. Achieving effective “job‐fit” for service employees should deliver higher levels of service quality and ultimately increased organizational productivity. The theoretical originality of this paper rests on the idea that “proximal” attitudinal models are useful in predicting the behaviour of in iduals in the workplace. The SPI is a new and applied construct based on this notion. However, given the moderate support found for the factor structure of the SPI, these results should be treated with caution and further research is recommended.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-1993
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 04-1990
DOI: 10.1108/09513549010000922
Abstract: There are many anecdotes emanating from the hospitality industry which express, albeit vaguely, a vote of limited confidence in contemporary City and Guilds craft courses on offer in catering colleges in the United Kingdom. These anecdotes provided a starting‐point from which to begin a survey (undertaken in both catering colleges and industry) in search of information which would either lend support to these feelings or suggest that they were unfounded. It was concluded that criticism directed specifically at unrealistic conditions existing in colleges especially in food production and service areas was justified and many industrialists felt the need to provide their own training for new employees from colleges.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 03-2000
DOI: 10.1108/02683940010310337
Abstract: Summarizes data from 768 respondents from eight organizations collected using the service predisposition instrument (SPI) and describes the properties, content and some uses of the instrument. The SPI consists of question statements based upon a number of model‐specified variables according to a theory of how service industry workers perceive their respective importance during the service encounter. The SPI may be used to identify attitudes of existing workers and in the recruitment and training of new personnel. The instrument provides measures of service elements, cognitive expressions and a personal service outcome.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-05-2022
Abstract: – The purpose of this paper is to permit further understanding of entrepreneurial personality characteristics of need for achievement, locus of control, innovation, risk-taking and competitive aggression by comparing the self-employed with waged and salaried workers and the general population. – A logistic regression equation was used on the “World Values Survey (WVS)” data set to test the relationship between entrepreneurship and personality characteristics by estimating the probability of an event occurring directly. – This research replicated and extended the earlier work of Beugelsdijk and Noorderhaven (2005). Using two reference groups for comparison, entrepreneurs are different in terms of their psychological characteristics. Specifically, these are need for achievement and locus of control these were the strongest characteristics. Competitive aggression and risk-taking were moderate in this respect with innovation finding least support. – In terms of limitations, the present study does not account for environmental enablers or mitigation of starting and sustaining businesses. Also how do the national media, society and culture regard entrepreneurship? Moreover, is there only one model of entrepreneurship or several? For ex le, amongst indigenous societies, entrepreneurship is more of a collective rather than an in idual pursuit where culture and heritage preservation are more important than purely profit generation. Similarly, no account is taken of the differences (nuanced or otherwise) between entrepreneurial personality characteristics in factor vs opportunity/innovation-driven economies. – The self-employed in this study were different to both comparison groups which is important information for government policy formation at all levels in terms of targeted business/career education, infrastructure, funding, opportunity creation and incubator programmes. Furthermore, rudimentary community and university diagnostics could be formulated around these entrepreneurial characteristics to identify potential entrepreneurs for a “career” of self-employment or placement within large firms as “intrapreneurs” to improve productivity and economic growth. – This study is the first to use the WVS for scrutiny of entrepreneurial personality traits. It expands and augments earlier work in the field which used the smaller “European Values Survey” by including many more questions pertaining to entrepreneurial personality characteristics adding additional robustness to the outcomes.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 04-1997
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 03-2005
DOI: 10.1108/02621710510584062
Abstract: Currently, a gap exists in the area of cross‐cultural research in organisations. Moreover, there is a consensus that many models of organisational behaviour have a Western ethnocentric bias. That is, they are unlikely to explain worker behaviour in non‐Western firms. The present study aims to test this notion by comparing the attitudes and work motivation between hotel workers in Australia and Mauritius. A convenience s le of three 200+ bedroom, five‐star resort hotels, two from Mauritius and one from Australia, was identified for this study. All hotels were similar in size and key managerial and operational aspects. Using Hackman and Oldham's Job Diagnostic Survey , quantitative results from 125 respondents show that motivational disparities between hotel workers are likely to be culturally driven. These suggest that, while Hackman and Oldham’s model is not wholly appropriate outside a Western culture, it provides a reasonable basis for future research and could be adapted by incorporating previously unaccounted‐for non‐Western cultural variables. The main limitation of the study was the convenience s le used. However, findings are consistent with the initial proposition that models of organisational behaviour have a western ethnocentric bias. In practice, managers should avoid a parochial perspective and canvass for discrete, culturally‐based attitudinal information about their workers. For ex le, an increasingly participative style of management is currently popular in Western organisations. This would be unsuitable for Mauritian workers because autonomy is a “foreign” concept with which they struggle. Moreover, deference appears to be a powerful antecedent of motivation in the workplace irrespective of other model‐specified antecedents. Future research would need to explore them and scrutinise their exact relationship with worker motivation. International managers would be well advised to plan their behavioural diagnostics around these two variables. This paper questions the role of “participative styles” of management among Mauritian hotel workers and the impact of deference as a cultural moderator of employee workplace behaviour. This represents a new area of research and thus has value for researchers and practitioners.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-1995
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 06-1999
DOI: 10.1108/02621719910265531
Abstract: This paper investigates the perceived presence of core job dimensions and motivating potential of the job of chef in 14 UK hospitals using Hackman and Oldham’s job diagnostic survey (1980). The validity of the survey instrument was also assessed using a principal components analysis with orthogonal rotation. Overall, the job diagnostic survey (JDS) was found to be reliable and chefs using large‐scale catering systems tended to be engaged in less challenging work than chefs using traditional cook and serve operations. In addition, the former jobs engendered less motivating potential than those using small‐scale processing and production techniques.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 09-1998
DOI: 10.1108/09596119810227703
Abstract: The preponderance of small hotels in peripheral tourist locations is a universal phenomenon. This comment paper sets the scene for this special issue of IJCHM by analysing the small hotel sector in Australia. This sector shows many similarities with that of other countries, but in a somewhat more exaggerated form, which makes it possible to highlight some of the issues addressed by other authors, later in the issue.
Publisher: Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center
Date: 29-06-2018
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 04-1998
DOI: 10.1108/09596119810207219
Abstract: Examines the reliability of Hackman and Oldham’s (1974) Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) and the validity of their Job Characteristics Model (JCM) among seasonal hotel workers in the UK. In general, reliability scores supported the validity of the JDS. A simple technique for job data analysis is outlined together with some practical recommendations for use of the JDS in hotels.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 04-2003
DOI: 10.1108/09596110310462959
Abstract: Hotels in Mauritius have faced difficult times during the 1990s because of changing customer demands and increasing competition from other tourist destinations like the Seychelles, the Pacific and Caribbean islands. The country’s hospitality and tourism sectors are trying to augment and offer more than the traditional “sea, sun and sand” concept which, until recently, has formed the core of the tourism product. Hotels have also not responded satisfactorily to the demands of customers owing to lack of management and staff training in service quality. The purpose of this study was to assess customers’ expectations and perceptions of service provided by hotels of Mauritius and to highlight how the service factors were related to customer satisfaction. The hotel managers’ perceptions of tourists’ expectations and the tourists’ actual expectations were also evaluated. Factor analysis with Varimax rotation was carried out and nine service quality dimensions were derived of 39 service attributes. The results also showed that customers’ perceptions of service quality in the hotel industry for Mauritius fell short of their expectations, with the “empathy” dimension having the largest gap.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-1995
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Darren Lee-Ross.