Professor Emily (Jintao) Ma

Not all recoveries are successful. Previous research mostly focuses on employee service-recovery actions, while limited research examines how customers evaluate the interactions of employees’ diverse appearance features and their performance in service recoveries. To build upon the research gaps, this study examines the two processes of evaluation: inference-based and recognition-based evaluations. To do so, this research examines how service employees’ diversity features (e.g., gender and race) and their organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) performance influence customer evaluations of service recovery. Using a between-subjects experimental research design, the findings contribute to the diversity, service recovery, and OCB literature by adding new evidence on how recognition-based evaluations of employees’ appearances (gender and race) and inference-based evaluations of behaviors (OCB to customers) can affect customer perceptions of employee competence, trustworthiness, and dignity in service recoveries.

Event volunteers are a significant asset for event organisers as they contribute to the successful execution of events. However, organisers face challenges when recruiting and retaining volunteers due to the lack of understanding of factors contributing to volunteering outcomes. Building on the Motivation, Ability and Opportunity (MAO) model, the current study aims to deepen the understanding of antecedents of event volunteer outcomes (satisfaction, intention to volunteer again and Organisational Citizenship behaviour). An online survey distributed via event organisers collected 320 responses from event volunteers in Queensland, Australia. The Structural Equation Modelling underlined the positive effect of event volunteers' motivations on satisfaction. The analysis revealed that event volunteers' perceived opportunities are an antecedent of their satisfaction and intention to volunteer again. Finally, the study found that abilities positively impact event volunteers' organisational citizenship behaviour. Theoretically, the study contributes to the episodic event volunteer literature by systematically identifying the interrelated antecedents of event volunteer outcomes. Managers should consider the impact of MAO elements on volunteering outcomes when attracting and retaining event volunteers.

Building on the linguistic landscape theory and literature on customers' experience with restaurants' authenticity and status, this study investigates whether restaurants' outdoor signs influence customers' perceptions and behavioral intentions. Using an experimental design comprising two studies, supported by data collected from Chinese consumers, we test how display characters and text flow may jointly impact on customers' perceptions of the status and authenticity of ethnic (Japanese and Taiwanese) restaurants, thus influencing their visiting intentions and willingness to pay. We find that display characters influence Chinese customers' perceptions of authenticity and status in both Japanese and Taiwanese restaurants in Mainland China. There is an interaction effect between display characters and text flow on customers' perception of authenticity and status in Japanese restaurants in Mainland China. This study applies the linguistic landscape theory to a restaurant context and examines how such features may influence customers’ perceptions and decisions. The findings have important practical implications on managing customer experiences and perceptions via effective restaurant sign designs. •The study is built on linguistic landscape, restaurant authenticity and status literature.•It tested whether restaurant outdoor signs influence customers' authenticity, restaurant status, and behavioral intention.•Display characters shape customers' perception of both Japanese and Taiwanese restaurants.•There is an interaction effect between display characters and text flow on customers' perception of Japanese restaurants.

Service is entering a 2.0 transformation where service no longer simply involves customer-employee interactions, but customer-technology-employee interactions. However, previous literature predominantly focuses on customers from a marketing approach, failing to incorporate employees' perspective in the face of technology-enabled changes in a service encounter. Building on Job demand-resource model, this study proposes mobile applications as a job resource and examines their impact on restaurant employees. This study conducts interviews and qualitative content analysis in Study 1 and further employs a 2 x 2 between-subjects experimental design in Study 2. The results indicate that mobile orders may assist frontline employees to invest less cognitive and emotional effort, even in the condition of higher order complexity, leading to enhanced employee workplace well-being. This study newly introduces mobile apps as job resources and a potential way to improve employees' well-being at work. This study contributes both JD-R and the well-being literature with practical implications.

Taking a systematic literature review approach, this study examines research on service robot adoption from hospitality employees’ perspectives. The findings reveal the current status of service robot research on hospitality employees by summarizing publication channels, temporal distribution, classifications of publications, and countries of focus of existing studies. This study also identifies key theories and constructs applied in existing research. Building on these, a holistic conceptual model including key antecedents, mediators, outcomes, and moderators in terms of service robot adoption among hospitality employees is proposed. Furthermore, several key promising research directions have been identified and discussed in this study, which serve as important references for researchers interested in pursuing this topic. •This is a systematic review of robotic applications among hospitality employees.•A comprehensive picture of existing service robot studies is provided.•Key theories and models applied in existing studies are identified and discussed.•A conceptual model of service robot adoption from hospitality employees’ perspectives is proposed.•Several key promising directions for future research are recommended and explained.

The study proposed a dual-path model to examine the relationship between customer perceived hotel innovativeness and customers’ interactivity, building the signaling theory. The model was tested with hotel customers from China. The findings suggest that customers’ perceived hotel innovativeness not only has a positive and direct impact on their interactivity, it also indirectly contributes to customers’ interactivity via two indirect paths, one featuring a cognitive-economic motivation pathway and the other featuring an affective-motivation pathway.

Wellness value is a neglected research area within the field of wine tourism. The connection between wine and wellness in this context is just starting to appear. Using an inductive approach, we established two research questions (RQs) to guide this study. RQ1: Who is concerned with the health-related values of wine tourism? RQ2: What are the dimensions of health-related values in wine tourism? An in-depth and semi-structured interview was conducted. Informants aged 18-45 years, who have health awareness and suffer from wellness problems, are concerned with health-related values in wine tourism. Findings indicated six relevant dimensions: wine health attributes, knowledge, wine destination attributes, mental benefits, social and space needs, and wellness facilities. Further, this study proposes a conceptual framework linking wine-drinking behaviour and destination facilities and attributes with affective and cognitive beliefs that contribute to the overall value of wellness. This proposition shifts the traditional affective and cognitive approach towards values.

The popularization of smart phones has fostered the use of e-hailing apps, which can effectively reduce information asymmetry and provide ease and convenience during travel. Meanwhile, problems such as product homogeneity, slow operation speed, and interface confusion in travel apps also exist, leading to negative user experience. Building on the theory of planned behavior and technology acceptance model, this study examines multiple features of travel apps and their influence on university students' experience and travel intentions. Findings of the study suggest that, compared to the contents of travel apps, the ease of use seems to have a stronger influence on students' attitude, perceived behavioral control, and travel intention. The study contributes to the integration of the technology acceptance model and the theory of planned behavior in travel contexts. The findings also offer meaningful practical implications and recommendations on product and service design to relevant stakeholders willing to offer a better travel app user experience.

Cost-saving and sanitation considerations and the challenge of labor shortages have catalyzed the application of service robots in restaurants. Although service robots can perform multiple roles and functions, more research attention is needed in hospitality contexts on how different combinations of using robots and humans at different product/service layers may influence customers’ experiences and behavioral intentions. Building on the literature of product level theory and authenticity, this study empirically investigated this issue with data collected from 364 customers in China. The results show that the use of robots in core and facilitating product levels is less effective in improving consumers’ perceived service and brand authenticity. Consumers’ perceived service authenticity positively influences their brand authenticity and repurchase intention. Consumers’ perceived brand authenticity only positively affects their repurchase intention. Both theoretical and managerial implications are discussed in this paper. •Conceptualizes the use of service robots in multiple product levels, authenticity, and behavioral intentions.•Explores authentic hospitality experiences through the adoption of robotic employees.•Examines both customers’ dining and life domains of authenticity behavioral intentions.•Contributes to knowledge in product level theory between robotic employees and human employees.

This study explores Gen Z diners' perceptions of restaurant food waste generation and prevention, as well as their related moral decision-making. Drawing on the norm activation model and moral disengagement theory, a dual-route process model was developed to depict Gen Zers' the moral judgement for wasting food or not at restaurants. Six online focus groups with Gen Z diners in the United States were conducted and thematic analysis was applied. The findings of this study identified multiple underlying psychological mechanisms (e.g., moral obligation activation vs. moral disengagement) for explaining Gen Z diners' food waste behaviors. Situational factors, cultural factors, and restaurant-related factors all play a key role in the moral judgment process. The findings also revealed what Gen Z diners expect restaurants to do in order to address the food waste problem. This study provides valuable theoretical and managerial implications for tackling the food waste issue. The practical contribution of this study supports the restaurant industry to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 "Responsible Consumption and Production".

Building on a three-dimensional cultural competence model and treating customer–employee exchange as a vital form of social exchange, this study examines how different dimensions of cultural competence of service providers and their social investment impact event attendees' perceived destination experience and behavioral intentions in cross-cultural service encounters. Using data collected during a major sports event in Australia, the study found that cultural awareness and skills significantly influenced event attendees' perceived social investment and destination experience, while the role of cultural knowledge was not significant. Employees' cultural awareness and cultural skills had a stronger influence on perceived social investment among international tourists than they did on domestic tourists, but social investment had a stronger influence on domestic tourists' destination experience and revisit intention than it did on that of international tourists. The study contributes to an enhanced understanding of how cultural competence can shape customers’ destination experience. In addition, it introduced a cultural perspective to the social exchange process, contributing to the broadening and deepening of social exchange theory.

Building on Trait Activation Theory, this study explored whether, how, and why proactive personality and inclusive leaders can foster creativity at both individual and team levels. Using multi-wave data collected from hotel frontline employees and their supervisors, the study first found that at individual level, proactive personality could influence creativity via psychological safety, with inclusive leadership moderated the indirect relationship. The study further tested at team level, using lab experiment with hospitality majored students, the relationship between proactivity and creativity. The findings at the team level suggested that teams with highly proactive members exhibited higher levels of creativity than teams without highly proactive members. This research revealed the psychological mechanism of how proactivity contributes to individual creativity, and teams can benefit from having proactive members. •The study explored whether, how, and when proactive personality and inclusive leaders can foster team creativity.•The study employed a mix-method research design, examining individual level relationships and team level relationships.•At individual levle, psychological safety mediated the relationship between proactive personality and individual creativity.•At team level, teams with highly proactive members outperform teams without.

The sustainable development of tourism is essential for revitalizing historically and culturally significant ancient villages in China. Despite the longstanding recognition of the relationship between the spatial distribution of village destinations and their sustainable development, there is a dearth of longitudinal studies in village tourism. Using the geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis method and the exploratory spatial data analysis model, this study explored the spatial-temporal features of ancient village tourism over three important time nodes of rural tourism development (in Zhejiang, China), as well as the contributing factors at both the provincial and prefectural city levels. The findings of this study suggested a spatial inequality in the distribution of ancient villages, in terms of tourism development over time. In particular, tourism development was clustered in the southern region, with a noticeable spillover effect. Meanwhile, transportation, source markets, and physical topography are essential factors contributing to this spatial distribution. The study contributes to ancient village tourism development literature and offers meaningful, practical implications for regional governments and business investors.

Although work-family issues have received nascent attention in the hospitality industry due to their value to stakeholders (e.g., organizations, employees, and their families), the existing literature is not conclusive. And there is a need to seek ways of creating work-family support to help employees balance between work and family spheres. Taking a systematic review approach aided by structured synthesis and meta-analysis across disciplines, this research provides a comprehensive conceptual model of work-family support literature. The model includes formal work-family support policies, supporting theories, and outcomes on multiple levels, thus representing the relational mechanisms of key variables. By doing so, this study presents the current status of hospitality literature. It offers valuable future research avenues: increased academic attention to a need for more research on work-family support policy in the hospitality industry, a call for studies on childcare policies, and a comprehensive perspective of work-family issues by taking into account individual differences of employees, various countries as a research context, and far-reaching outcomes of work-family support policies. •This study assesses the current status of workplace work-family support research.•A systematic literature review on the topic was performed both within and outside of the hospitality discipline.•A conceptual framework on mechanism of key ariables and supporting theories was developed.•Meaningful research gaps in and future research directions are discussed.

The creation of wellness values in wine tourism is at the heart of this chapter based on two distinct value generation approaches: service-dominant and customer-dominant logics that prevail in the service marketing arena, reflecting divergent worldviews. This chapter investigates which logic dominates the establishment of wellness values. Moreover, in attempting to better understand the factors that drive its creation, an inductive technique was used to make four breakthroughs. First, the study of wine tourism has expanded into wellness value development, increasing the scope of both wellness tourism and wine tourism. Second, this chapter reveals that the wellness value of wine is not intentional but rather based on individuals, with wine firms and wineries co-creating this value. Third, "wine," "reality and life" and "intangible culture" are variables found in this study that contribute to the establishment of wellness values. Finally, the proposed framework makes three additional contributions. Meanwhile, online and offline data collection offer a richer picture of the service providers' sphere.

This study proposes a moderated mediation model of customer-driven hotel employee service innovations. Building on social exchange and social identity theories, we suggest that positive customer-employee exchanges influence employees' service innovations via direct and indirect paths. While the reciprocal nature of social exchanges was used to explain the direct path from customer-employee exchange to employees' service innovation, social identity theory was used to explain the indirect path whereby customers' inputs shape employees' creative role identities, thus fostering innovation behaviors. The study further tests how organization openness serves as a boundary condition, and the results support the moderating role of organization openness, suggesting that while positive customer-employee exchanges help shape employees' self-identification (as being creative) and trigger employees' service innovation, an open organization encourages employees to actively engage in service innovations.

China has become Australia’s most important source market and there are growing number of visitors participated in wine tourism. Using in-depth interviews, the study looked into Chinese tourists’ preferences, motivations and barriers to participate in wineries tours in Australia. The study enriched to literature on wine tourism. It offered practical implications for wineries and destinations to better understand and accommodate Chinese wine tourists’ needs and preferences.

Using a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design supported by quantitative and qualitative evidence, this study explored how local residents can trigger tourists' pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) from three theoretical perspectives: social learning, norm activation, and reference group theories. Our findings suggested that residents' PEBs trigger tourists' PEBs by serving as reference groups for tourists' personal norms, helping tourists become aware of environmental consequences, and making tourists learn that they have a role to play in protecting destinations. Tourists may bring this influence back home, turning them from bystanders into regular actioners of PEBs. The study makes important contributions to Norm Activation Theory, Social Learning Theory, and the reference group literature by integrating three theoretical perspectives. It highlights the important roles destination residents can play in influencing and transforming tourists’ PEBs and thus has important implications for local government authorities and destination management companies and professionals. •The study explored how local residents can trigger tourists' PEBs.•Social learning, norm activation, and reference group perspectives were used.•The study used a mixed-method sequential explanatory design.•Both quantitative and qualitative evidence were used.•Tourists can carry forward residents' influence and continue to practice PEBs.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to critically reflect on visually impaired customers' technology assistance needs and the perceptions of existing technologies' performance in the contexts of hospitality and tourism. Design/methodology/approachFollowing a qualitative approach, this study used in-depth semistructured interviews with 19 participants with visual impairments. FindingsPositive and negative sides of technology-assisted experiences in the hotel, restaurant, and travel domains were summarized, and room for improvement was discussed to enhance the quality of life and travel experience of visually impaired customers. Practical implicationsFindings from this study offer actionable implications and future directions to technicians and managers to make hospitality and travel experiences more inclusive. Originality/valueThis timely reflection addresses a critical situation by offering original ideas and calling for more discussion of under-represented groups with visual impairments. Shi (Tracy) Xu can be contacted at: s.xu@surrey.ac.uk.

(2023) critically reflect on diversity and inclusion research in the hospitality and tourism literature by integrating two separate perspectives: human resources and customer behavior. The second study recruits 116 hospitality employees to complete a two-wave time-lagged survey on abusive supervision and gender-leadership bias, followed by questions on external attribution and insubordination two weeks later. The findings reveal three main themes and 10 subthemes related to women’s professional identity, highlighting the importance of work environment, social evaluation, perception of work and demonstrating professional competence. The authors argue that to truly promote diversity, the events industry must acknowledge the role of racial power dynamics and implement interventions to address these issues.

An organization that highlights the necessity to promote ethnic diversity will not only meet the demands of the market for a diverse customer base in a global hospitality setting but will also benefit the employees of an organization, with staff more likely to present higher levels of cultural competency, work motivation, and organizational commitment. Taking a systematic literature review approach, this chapter discusses the concepts of diversity and ethnic diversity and examines the importance of diversity management and ethnic diversity. More importantly, it illustrates a detailed description of status, conceptual frameworks, related theories, measurement scales, methods, antecedents, moderators, mediators, and consequences among common variables, drawing upon a comparison with critical literature on ethnic diversity in the hospitality field. The discussion provides meaningful contexts and broadens and deepens the scope of diversity-related theories. The study contributes to an enhanced understanding of how ethnic diversity can provide more advantages than it does challenges. In addition, it brings a cultural perspective to the common identity process, contributing to the broadening and deepening of social identity theory.

This paper aims to provide a critical reflection on diversity and inclusion research from the hospitality and tourism literature. Design/methodology/approach Through conducting a critical reflection, this paper used a thematic analysis focused on integrating the scholarly literature that has developed separately: one focusing on the human resources perspective and another concentrating on customer behavior. This critical reflection bridges the gap between these two perspectives. Findings The authors develop and offer a research agenda for future research drawing from three areas ripe for future research: human resources management, diversity resistance and marketing. They focus on theory-driven research that has practical applications to make hospitality and tourism more inclusive for both the workforce and consumers. Practical implications Meaningful research must be translated into practice, and by addressing these research gaps, organizations can gain insights into diverse worker and customer experiences and create more effective diversity initiatives. Originality/value The current literature often lacks an integrated approach that bridges the gap between the two reviewed perspectives: the human resources management and marketing perspectives. A holistic understanding of diversity and inclusion is vital, as it recognizes the interconnectedness between employees and customers within the context of the hospitality and tourism sector is important for several reasons.

The growing popularity of robot-related research contexts in hospitality and tourism calls for in-depth analysis of how different product/service designs strategies integrating robots may influence customers' experiences. Employing a scenario-based 2 × 2 × 2 experimental research design, this study assesses service robots applied at three different product/service levels (i.e., core, facilitating, and augmented). From surveying 378 customers of mid-priced casual restaurants and 312 tourists of a mid-priced theme park restaurant, findings of the study suggest that using robots at all three product/service levels lead to a more positive educational experience but not entertainment experience. The study further extends the literature by positioning dining at a robotic restaurant as an important occasion to showcase the latest technologies to customers. By providing memorable entertainment and educational experiences, customers’ technology readiness could be enhanced, making them more willing to try new technologies. Such a focus brings in unique contributions both in literature and practice.

Hospitality management research pays much attention to how work-related factors affect employees’ extra-role behaviors, while the potential role of work-family factors seems to be neglected. Using a sample of employees and their direct supervisors from several five-star hotels in China, a three-wave survey study was conducted to explore the effects of family motivation on employees' organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and voice behaviors, as well as to clarify the underlying mechanisms. The results show that family motivation stimulates employees to see their jobs as a means to obtain financial rewards to support their families (i.e., job instrumentality) and then to be more concerned about their jobs’ security. Further, job security concern would enhance employees’ impression management motives, leading to more OCBs toward different targets while inhibiting voice behaviors. Implications for family motivation and extra-role behaviors research and practice are discussed.

Purpose Drawing on person–environment fit theory, this study aims to investigate how the relationships between service task types (i.e. utilitarian and hedonic service tasks) and perceived authenticity (i.e. service and brand authenticity) differ under different conditions of service providers (human employee vs service robot). This study further examines whether customers’ stereotypes toward service robots (competence vs warmth) moderate the relationship between service types and perceived authenticity. Design/methodology/approach Using a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design, Study 1 examines a casual restaurant, whereas Study 2 assesses a theme park restaurant. Analysis of covariance and PROCESS are used to analyze the data. Findings Both studies reveal that human service providers in hedonic services positively affect service and brand authenticity more than robotic employees. Additionally, the robot competence stereotype moderates the relationship between hedonic services, service and brand authenticity, whereas the robot warmth stereotype moderates the relationship between hedonic services and brand authenticity in Study 2. Practical implications Restaurant managers need to understand which functions and types of service outlets are best suited for service robots in different service contexts. Robot–environment fit should be considered when developers design and managers select robots for their restaurants. Originality/value This study blazes a new theoretical trail of service robot research to systematically propose customer experiences with different service types by drawing upon person–environment fit theory and examining the moderating role of customers’ stereotypes toward service robots.

Building on Agency Theory and Job Characteristics Theory, this study examines how the autonomy of work interacts with individual proactivity and jointly enhances hotel frontline employees’ self-affirmation and performance. Using a longitudinal research design of three-wave data collection, the findings of this study suggested that the autonomy of work enhances employees’ perceived self-efficacy and sense of personal control. Although the perceived sense of control did not lead to employees’ organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), self-efficacy can facilitate employees’ OCBs directed toward both internal and external customers. In addition, the autonomy of work’s influence on employees’ perceived self-efficacy and sense of control was stronger among employees with relatively proactive personalities. The study adds empirical evidence to Agency Theory and Job Characteristics Theory and supports the importance of autonomy at the workplace as a necessary factor to encourage employees’ OCBs. •This study examines how autonomy of work and individual proactivity jointly enhances hotel frontline employees’ self-affirmation and performance.•We found autonomy of work enhances individual employees perceived self-efficacy and sense of personal control.•Self-efficacy can facilitate employees’ OCBs directed toward both internal and external customers.•The autonomy of work’s moderation effects was stronger among employees with relatively proactive personalities.

Based on trial-and-error learning theory, this study proposes an OCB-C (Organizational Citizenship Behavior towardcustomers)-driven social learning mechanism for the formation of other two types of OCB (OCB-O toward organizationsand OCB-I toward coworkers). In this process, we propose that each of the employee empowerment factors play vitaltrial-and-error opportunities for employees to perform OCB-C, offering employees chances to learn from errors andgain positive affect. A total of 422 respondents were collected from employees at upscale hotels. We found that twoempowerment factors (i.e., work competency and employee impact) supported OCB-C. Engaging in OCB-C not only ledto the increase of learning from errors and positive affect, but also the increase of OCB-O and OCB-I. In addition, whilelearning from errors assisted employees to exercise OCB-O and OCB-I, positive affect helped employees to contributeOCB-O.