Dr Shi (Tracy) Xu

Research Summary This report presents the results of analyses of data from three sources: an online, UK-representative survey (n= 850), in-depth interviews (n = 34), and 808 photographs of nature taken by the interview participants. Four research questions were addressed through the analyses: 1. What terms did people use to describe trees and treed places? 2. Were tree-focused places perceived as more natural? And did respondents feel more connected to nature in tree-focused places? 3. How important were trees and different treed settings in participants’ nature engagement experiences? 4. Were trees and treed places associated with greater wellbeing? Key Findings 1. General terms for tree (e.g. “tree”) and treed environments (e.g. “woodland”) are in much wider use than more specific terms (e.g. “grove”, “orchard”, “oak”). 2. Tree-focused places (i.e. places where trees & woodland were mentioned) were perceived as more natural than places without a tree focus, with respondents perceiving more greenery, animals, birds and insects, natural sounds, and natural materials. Respondents also felt more connected to nature in tree-focused places. 3. Both the survey and photo analyses evidenced the key role of trees in participants’ nature engagement experiences, with trees regularly featuring in photographs, and participants engaging with trees in a range of settings (in woodland, outside of woodland, in urban and rural locations). 4. Trees & treed places contribute to perceived wellbeing in a range of ways. Key Recommendations 1. Researchers and practitioners need to take on board peoples’ language preferences and design future studies and interventions according to their level of understanding/usage of various terms for “tree”. 2. Researchers and practitioners could explore the potential value of 'the presence of trees' as a proxy for greater perceived diversity (of sounds, habitats, lifeforms) in an environment. 3. Research should examine the perceptions of trees in different settings (in/outside woodland, in urban/ rural locations), as well as capture a range of activities and motivations for engagement with trees. In particular, more research is needed on the perceptions and benefits of rural trees outside of woodland. 4. Researchers and practitioners should further explore, understand and promote the different wellbeing benefits of trees, as well as explore ways that promoting the public health benefits of trees could further support other areas of tree-related research, policy and practice, such as tree and land management.

It is widely understood that nature engagement benefits human wellbeing. Such benefits have been found for real as well as virtual engagements. However, little is known about the role of nature-based videos in social media on wellbeing. With COVID-19 restrictions limiting people’s direct engagement with natural environments, this study critically examined people’s reactions to nature videos posted on Facebook during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Data consisted of comments on videos containing highlights from the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) Springwatch 2020 television series, and from a UK television presenter and naturalist’s (Chris Packham) livestream videos, posted on Facebook from March to July, 2020. Looking at the quantitative profile of a range of videos (i.e. views, likes and shares) and a detailed analysis of the 143,265 comments using thematic analysis, three major themes were generated as: (1) engaging with nature via social media is emotionally complicated, (2) cognitive and reflective reactions are generated from social media nature engagement and (3) engagement with nature-based social media as a mechanism for coping with stress during COVID-19. These findings inform understanding of how nature-related social media content and associated commentary have supported wellbeing throughout the ongoing pandemic and their importance as a means of continued support for wellbeing. ‘We feel that the injection of wildlife into people’s homes, particularly at this point, would be really valuable and uplifting’. — Chris Packham, 2020

Purpose – The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace is on the rise. To help advance research in this area, we synthesise the academic research and develop research propositions on the antecedents and consequences of AI adoption and application in the workplace to guide future research. We also present AI research in socio-technical system context to provide a springboard for new research to fill the knowledge gap of the adoption and application of AI in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach – This paper summarises the existing literature and builds a theoretically-grounded conceptual framework on socio-technical system theory that captures the essence of the impact of AI in the workplace. Findings – The antecedents of AI adoption and application include personnel subsystem, technical subsystem, organisational structure subsystem and environmental factors. The consequences of AI adoption and application include individual, organisational and employment related outcomes. Theoretical and Practical implications – A research agenda is provided to identify and discuss future research that comprises not only insightful theoretical contributions but also practical implications. A greater understanding of AI adoption from socio-technical system perspective will enable managers and practitioners to develop effective AI adoption strategies, enhance employees’ work experience and achieve competitive advantage for organisations. Originality – Drawing on the socio-technical system theory, our proposed conceptual framework provides a nuanced understanding of the antecedents and consequences of AI adoption and application in the work environment. We discuss the main contributions to theory and practice, along with potential future research directions of AI in the workplace related to three key themes at the individual, organisational and employment level.

•Work social support serves as a key boundary condition affecting the relationship between career adaptability and turnover intentions.•When work social support is low, employees with high career adaptability show higher turnover intention than those with low career adaptability.•When work social support is high, employees with high career adaptability show lower turnover intention than those with low career adaptability.•Proactive personality is positively associated with employees’ career adaptability.•Work social support moderates the indirect relationship between proactive personality and turnover intentions through career adaptability. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitality organizations are trying to help their employees overcome various challenges. Career adaptability has proven to be useful in helping employees handle challenges, while proactive personality is a critical factor affecting the formation of career adaptability. However, career adaptability can be a double-edged sword, and it is unclear how it may impact employees’ turnover intentions. Drawing on social exchange theory, the current study reconciles mixed findings in the literature by proposing a moderated mediation model suggesting that work social support moderates the indirect relationship between proactive personality and turnover intentions through career adaptability. Results based on data collected from 339 hotel employees in the United States indicate that proactive personality is positively associated with employees’ career adaptability. More importantly, work social support significantly moderates the relationship between career adaptability and turnover intentions. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Research has been extensively focusing on the overall mean levels of positive and negative emotions, while paying much less attention to how fluctuating they are across time. This research explores the impacts of employee emotional variability with emotional exhaustion as a potential mediator and psychological withdrawal and job satisfaction as outcomes. In a sample of 109 student employees working in two hotels, this study utilized experience sampling methodology to examine the effects of variability in both positive emotions and negative emotions across 9 weeks. The results of the longitudinal design suggested that higher variability in negative emotions predicted more emotional exhaustion, which in turn, was associated with less job satisfaction and more psychological withdrawal. The findings support the notion that too much variability in negative emotions is maladaptive. Findings can inform the practice on reducing employee exhaustion and promoting satisfaction and retention for employees.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of service providers’ attractiveness in service jobs and examine the underlying psychological mechanisms that may explain consumers’ different attitudes and potential behavior. Design/methodology/approach – An experimental design was utilized in this paper. Study 1 used a scenario depicting a front-desk agent performing check-in procedures and Study 2 used a scenario depicting a restaurant server. Data were analyzed using Hayes’ (2013) PROCESS macro. Findings – Study 1 demonstrated the mediating effect of perceived interpersonal skills in the relations between front desk agent attractiveness and participant positive word-of-mouth and service satisfaction. Study 2 reaffirmed this finding and showed that the attractiveness of servers positively impacted participants’ perceptions of the servers’ interpersonal skill and participants’ tipping behavior. Furthermore, the relation between attractiveness and interpersonal skills was moderated by servers’ genders and participants’ levels of self-esteem, such that the effect was stronger in response to female servers for participants with relatively low self-esteem. In addition, the effect of the three-way interaction among server gender, server’s level of attractiveness, and participant’s level of self-esteem on tipping was mediated by participant’s perceived interpersonal skills. Originality/value - This article investigated the under-researched constructs of participants’ self-esteem and service providers’ gender and their moderating roles within the service context. These results suggest that responses to service providers can be impacted by the attractiveness and gender of the provider and customers’ self-esteems, despite equivalent objective performance of the provider.

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.

Employee strain is a significant and costly issue for hospitality organizations. This study investigated the change trajectory of strain pre, during, and post a discrete stressful event, and how cohesion and group emotional variability altered the shape of the trajectory. Using an experience sampling method approach, we gathered 402 daily observations from 84 workers in a period that included a specific stressful event, the opening of a one-night “theme dinner” restaurant that catered to dinner guests from the general public. We used latent growth curve modeling to investigate the change of strain among employees over time. The results showed that indicators of strain displayed inverted U-shaped trajectories (i.e., strain increased before and decreased after the stressful event) and that group cohesion and emotional variability affected the starting value and the change trajectory of strain. By investigating strain on a daily basis and considering group-based influences in response to discrete stressful events, this study provides significant implications to the hospitality literature and suggestions to hospitality managers on how to alleviate the impact of strain among their workforce.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effect of privacy concern, irritation and personalization on Millennials’ perceptions of personalized smartphone advertising avoidance in a restaurant context. The hospitality industry has witnessed a huge surge in mobile activity over the past few years. Mobility opens up a new communication channel and allows industry to connect with their guests in a more personalized way. However, not all customers welcome the personalized advertisements. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 159 Millennials enrolled in a large state university in the Eastern USA using an online self-administered survey. These Millennials were asked to use a restaurant’s smartphone application for 30 days and then complete a survey based on their perceptions of personalized advertising. Descriptive analysis, reliability, factor analysis and regression analysis were used to evaluate the relationships among the four constructs: privacy concern, irritation, personalization and advertising avoidance, with the first three variables as predictors and advertising avoidance as an outcome. Findings The results suggest that advertising irritation is positively related to advertising avoidance, perceived personalization is related with less advertising avoidance, while privacy concern is not related to advertising avoidance. Originality/value Although advertising avoidance has previously been studied for the past few decades, little research has explored the underlying mechanisms of the Millennials’ avoidance of personalized smartphone advertising in a restaurant context. The current research suggests information pertinent to strategies for marketing personalized smartphone advertisement for restaurant companies.

Based on in-depth interviews conducted with working mothers in the U.S. hotels' industry, the current research developed a process model depicting working mothers’ maternity leave and transition experiences under the current framework of maternity leave and other family and work support policies. Drawing on prior theories and interview findings, our research elucidates the process of how female hospitality professionals cope with challenges and strive to navigate post-maternity life while re-adapting to their professional roles and work-life balance. The model developed from our interview findings brings to light the pivotal role maternity leave and other family support policies play in enabling or inhibiting hospitality working mothers to re-adapt during the post-maternity life stage. Based on such findings, we provide discussions on the theoretical and managerial implications as well as future research agendas related to this topic.

Maternity leave policies can have a profound impact on working mothers’ well-being and career advancement. While U.S. maternity leave practices lag behind most developed countries, no study has looked into this issue in the lodging context, leaving an important research gap that needs to be addressed. This research note takes a mixed-methods approach to study maternity leave policies and practices in the U.S. lodging industry via both desk-top research and interviews with human resource managers and working mothers in the lodging industry. This study fills in an important literature gap on current maternity leave policy and practices in U.S. lodging organizations and aspires to stimulate future research on maternity leave policies at the individual, organizational, and societal levels.

The study reported here investigated how hospitality students’ perceptions of a required hospitality industry work experience changed over time. By means of an experience sampling method, we captured information about the students’ emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, psychological withdrawal, and performance on an ongoing basis over a 9-week period during which they were required to work weekly shifts in 2 campus hotels. We found that whereas job satisfaction and job performance followed a linear decrease over time, psychological withdrawal followed a linear increase. Prior work expectations predicted the students’ initial levels of job satisfaction and psychological withdrawal. We elaborate on the benefits and future uses in hospitality research of latent growth curve analysis and experience sampling, which are relatively unexplored data collection and analytical tools in the field of hospitality management that enable researchers to measure trajectories of change in subjects’ attitudes and Q4 perceptions over time.

In light of the conspicuous absence of workplace harassment (“acoso laboral”) in the Ecuadorian Constitution and the country’s Labor and Penal Codes, this article reports on an exploratory study about abusive supervision, a form of workplace harassment, in the country’s hospitality industry. Based on a review of the literature on various forms of workplace harassment, the study investigated employee opinions about their supervisors’ behaviors and found that abusive supervision is a prominent issue in the Ecuadorian hospitality industry and that it is signifcantly related to employees’ intentions to leave the organization. The study advocates future research into other components of workplace harassment in these and other industries in the country and into the development of measures that reduce abusive supervision and workplace harassment.

The incidence of depression has been increasing. One of the best interventions for depression is taking antidepressant medications. However, the stigma of taking antidepressants has been shown to be a barrier not only to seeking an antidepressant regimen but also adhering to it. This may have negative consequences for people who suffer from depression. Thus, in two studies, we investigate the incidence of felt stigma of taking antidepressants among clinically depressed individuals who take antidepressants and the effectiveness of two possible interventions to reduce this stigma among others. Study 1 revealed that stigma toward individuals who take antidepressants is a reality, either because people were not educated about depression and antidepressants, or because they did not show empathy or did not take on perspectives from the victim’s point-of-view. Based on these results, we used an experimental design in Study 2 to investigate the effects of education and perspective-taking interventions in diminishing the stigma of taking antidepressants. These results suggest that participant gender played a moderating role in the effectiveness of education and perspective taking, such that a combination of the two interventions resulted in lower stigma for men but not for women. These results suggest that people can be trained (using a simple, low-fidelity intervention) to be more accepting of antidepressant use among their friends, family members, and colleagues, resulting in better outcomes for those who benefit from taking antidepressants.

Purpose – Incivility is pervasive in organisational settings, particularly in healthcare, and is associated with negative employee outcomes. The aim of this study was to analyse the relationships between experienced incivility, sleep quality, and emotional outcomes, positioning sleep quality as a mediator. Additionally, the protective role of tenure and unique effects of incivility from different sources were examined. Design/methodology/approach – This study used a daily diary longitudinal design using self-report questionnaires with 92 nurses of varying tenure. Findings – This research demonstrates that experiencing incivility negatively impacts sleep quality, which, in turn, increases surface acting, and emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, the negative relationship between incivility and sleep quality is attenuated among nurses who have longer tenure. Practical implications – These findings are helpful in developing targeted practical practices, such as incivility interventions and mentorship programs in order to reduce the incidence and impact of incivility. Originality – We draw upon theories of self-regulation and emotion regulation to examine how incivility diminishes self-control resources, leading to negative outcomes. We also position job tenure as a buffer against incivility and examine the differential impact of different sources of incivility.

Research shows that gardens are important for wellbeing. To examine garden use and wellbeing during the first Covid-19 lockdown, a sample of 850 UK respondents were asked to recall their experiences and use of their home gardens between March and May 2020. Key findings include: • Gardens were used frequently during the lockdown, with around 60% visiting their garden at least once a day. • Gardens were used more frequently than other natural environments during lockdown. • More frequent garden visits were associated with better wellbeing. • But more than 1 in 10 either had no access to a garden, or found it difficult to access one. • Ethnic minorities and those with a low household income were more likely to have no garden access or find access difficult. • Younger respondents were more likely to have difficult or no garden access than older respondents, with those under 47 years of age reporting the greatest difficulties. • The more nature in the garden, the greater the wellbeing of respondents. • Certain aspects of nature were particularly associated with improved wellbeing: natural sounds and smells, and animals, birds and insects. • Respondents did multiple activities in their gardens, with 43% gardening, 27% spending time resting, sitting and lying down, 21% reading, 14% watching and feeding nature, 13% listening to music, radio and podcasts, and 11% enjoying the weather.

Purpose – This paper aims to introduce Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGCM) as a statistical technique to analyze repeated measures of longitudinal data to researchers in hospitality management. Design/methodology/approach – First, the basics and extensions of LGCM are explained. Second, this paper reviews three existing empirical hospitality research studies that could have benefitted from LGCM but did not use this methodology. Third, this paper provides an overview of two specific illustrative examples of how the current authors have already utilized LGCM for hospitality research. Findings – Based on explaining the basics of LGCM, delineating two examples using LGCM method, and presenting new research avenues that would utilize LGCM to advance theoretical knowledge, this paper shows how LGCM represents a leap forward in the promotion of more rigorous research in hospitality management. Originality/value - This paper is the first in hospitality to call for research based on LGCM and provide hands-on demonstrations and an agenda for this methodology.

(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.

The kitchen is a gendered realm dominated by masculine culture, but some female chefs challenge this norm by introducing soft skills. This paper conceptualizes the multilayered cultural realm of food waste management in professional kitchens and pinpoints the critical role of individual gender traits of chefs in food prevention and reduction (‘preduction’). The paper outlines directions for future research on the gender-related position of chefs.

It is widely understood that nature engagement benefits human wellbeing. Such benefits have been found for real as well as virtual engagements. However, little is known about the role of nature-based videos in social media on wellbeing. With Covid-19 restrictions limiting people's direct engagement with natural environments, this study critically examined people's reactions to nature videos posted on Facebook during the first UK Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Data consisted of comments on videos containing highlights from the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) Springwatch 2020 television series, and from a UK television presenter and naturalist's (Chris Packham) livestream videos, posted on Facebook from March to July 2020. Looking at the quantitative profile of a range of videos (i.e., views, likes and shares) and a detailed analysis of the 143,265 comments using thematic analysis, 3 major themes were generated: (1) engaging with nature via social media is emotionally complicated, (2) cognitive and reflective reactions are generated from social media nature engagement, and (3) engagement with nature-based social media as a mechanism for coping with stress during Covid-19. These findings inform understanding of how nature-related social media content and associated commentary have supported wellbeing 2 throughout the ongoing pandemic and their importance as a means of continued support for wellbeing.

This study investigates the relationships between three different emotional labor strategies (surface acting, deep acting, and genuine emotions) and turnover intentions and introduces the role of in-depth communication with colleagues as a potential moderator. This study was administered to employees in four Chinese hotel companies. Frontline employees were asked to participate in the survey and 216 valid responses were obtained for data analysis. The results showed that surface acting and deep acting were associated with turnover intentions, and in-depth communication with colleagues moderated the relation between deep acting and turnover intentions. Although there was not a direct effect of genuine emotions on turnover intentions, in-depth communication was a significant moderator of this relation. These findings extend previous literature by demonstrating the role of in-depth communication in shaping employees’ retention.

Purpose Based on imprinting theory and episodic future thinking, this paper aims to study how CEOs’ attributes and experiences inform innovation in tourism and hospitality businesses. It also explores ways to quantify innovation in this sector. Design/methodology/approach The authors quantitatively analysed innovation in tourism and hospitality using extensive data from companies’ annual reports. They further adopted multivariate regression to test how CEOs’ experience affects enterprise innovation. Findings Results demonstrate that CEOs’ academic education and rich work experience can promote corporate innovation. The authors also identified a mediating role of the tone of narrative disclosure in annual reports between CEOs’ academic education and corporate innovation. The imprinting effects of career experience and educational experience appear both independent and interactive. Research limitations/implications CEOs are more inclined to engage in corporate innovation when influenced by the combined imprinting effects of strategic management training and work experience. Additionally, leaders should consider how communication styles indirectly influence innovation activities. Originality/value This paper introduces an integrated perspective that blends imprinting theory and episodic future thinking to bridge knowledge gaps regarding the interaction of CEOs’ past experiences. This work enhances understanding of how CEOs’ imprinted experiences, together with their capacity for envisioning future scenarios, can drive corporate innovation.

Ram (2015. Hostility or hospitality? A review on violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry. Current Issues in Tourism. doi:10.1080/13683500.2015.1064364) posits that violence and harassment are areas of concern within the hospitality industry, and scholarly interest in abusive supervision in the workplace has grown since the last decade. This study extends Ram's (2015. Hostility or hospitality? A review on violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry. Current Issues in Tourism. doi:10.1080/13683500.2015.1064364) assertion by examining the effect of abusive supervision experiences on student employees’ turnover intentions in a hospitality and tourism context in a high power distance culture, Ecuador. The results showed that abusive supervision was positively related to turnover intentions, and its effect was stronger than co-worker support, with the abusive supervision–turnover intentions relationship being fully mediated by perceived organizational support (POS). In addition, co-worker emotional support was found to attenuate the negative effects of abusive supervision on POS. All in all, the findings highlight the roles of POS in explaining the relation between abusive supervision and turnover intentions and co-worker emotional support in buffering the negative effect of abusive supervision. The important role of culture is discussed.

This study examined the relationships between abusive supervision, subordinates' work engagement and their emotional labour on a daily basis. Based on an experience sampling study of 95 frontline hospitality employees over 10 working days, the results revealed the complex consequences of abusive supervision on subordinates in the hospitality industry. The results showed that daily abusive supervision was positively related to employees' daily surface acting through their daily work engagement, but it was not significantly related to daily deep acting. In addition, subordinates' mindfulness moderated the relationship between daily abusive supervision and subordinates' daily work engagement. These findings reveal employees' daily responses to abusive supervision and can help tourism and hospitality managers develop relevant training programmes and policies to reduce the negative impact of abusive supervision and thus protect employee well-being.

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.

Purpose Why would a hospitality or tourism enterprise’s talent program backfire to demotivate interns from engaging in their jobs? This study aim to synthesize theoretical strands from the self-determination theory, person–environment fit theory and conservation of resources theory to investigate the predictors of perceived person–job fit and how such a fit causes changes in interns’ job motivation over time. Design/methodology/approach A four-wave longitudinal study was conducted. The four waves of data obtained from over 251 interns in China were analyzed using latent growth curve modeling. Findings The findings demonstrate that abusive co-worker treatment moderated the impact of perceived negative social status and perceived overqualification on perceived person–job fit. Moreover, perceived person–job fit is a significant predictor of the initial level of job motivation and flattens the decrease in job motivation over time. These findings demonstrate that interns’ job motivation generally decreased over time, and perceived person–job fit may help dampen the change trajectory of job motivation. Practical implications This study contributes to the practice of education and organizations in hospitality and tourism management by advocating for better interventions to improve interns’ work experience and motivations. Also, organizations can create team-building opportunities and promote teamwork that contributes to the formation of cohesive relationships and improve personal bonding. Originality/value This longitudinal inquiry conducted in China underscores the perils of hospitality/tourism internship by synthesizing a framework based on the theoretical strands germane to person–environment fit, resource conservation and self-determination. It uncovers the dark side of internship – not only due to mismanaged internship experience, but also because it could backfire to create a demotivational spiral that may ultimately drive potential talents away from hospitality/tourism organizations and industry.

Purpose – This study aims to provide researchers in hospitality management with a comprehensive understanding of the experience sampling method (ESM) and to engage them in the use of ESM in their future research. With this critical discussion of the advantages and challenges of the method, researchers can apply it appropriately to deepen and broaden their research findings. Design/methodology/approach – This study chooses an empirical example in the context of hotel employees’ surface acting, tiredness and sleep quality to illustrate the application of ESM. Based on the example, this paper conducts two-level modeling in Mplus, including a cross-level mediation analysis and mean centering. Findings – This paper demonstrates the applicability and usefulness of ESM for hospitality research and provides a detailed demonstration of how to use the statistical program Mplus to analyze ESM data. With this paper, researchers will be able to consider how to engage ESM in their future studies. Originality/value – This paper is among the first to provide a hands-on demonstration of ESM to hospitality researchers. We call for more research in hospitality management to use ESM to answer complex and pressing research questions.

With the increasingly diverse workforce in the hospitality and tourism industry, it is imperative to identify strategies to reduce biases in the workplace. Across two studies, we examined the utility of providing individual-level positive individuating information as a strategy to combat customers’ stereotypes in service encounters. In Study 1, we explored the effectiveness of providing either positive stereotypical or counter-stereotypical individuating information to remediate negative perceptions toward older workers in an experimental vignette study using a hypothetical customer service encounter. In Study 2, we demonstrated the robustness of this technique with a group that has opposing stereotypes compared with older workers (Asian adults). Across these two studies, we found that providing positive counter-stereotypical individuating information most strongly affected customers’ satisfaction ratings of employees by boosting positive counter-stereotypical perceptions of both older and Asian targets. We discuss the implications of our study along with possible future research related to individual-level strategies to reduce workplace discrimination.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to deepen our understanding of the well-being of transient organizations/groups and to use this to develop a novel conceptual framework of gig worker well-being during times of crisis. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach was adopted combining in-depth semi-structured interviews and daily diaries. Twenty-two workers working in the sharing economy were recruited. Thematic analysis was conducted for the diary and interview data. Findings The findings illustrate a complex picture of sharing economy workers’ four dimensions of well-being, including physical, subjective, psychological and social well-being. A number of the COVID-19 pandemic contexts, such as more time, restriction, economic recession and uncertainty, were seen to influence these workers’ well-being in different ways including both positive and negative impacts. The precarious nature of gig work within the sharing economy was also found influential, which includes flexibility, uncertainty, temporality and diversity. Furthermore, the specific contexts of the hospitality, tourism and event industry (such as labor-intensive, low esteem, self-value and purpose in life) had also impacted gig workers physical and psychological well-being in various ways. Research limitations/implications This study complements the gig workers’ view of the sharing economy by investigating their well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this study reveals the complex and various influences hospitality, tourism and events industry contexts made, amplified by the pandemic. Methodologically, the daily diary approach applied in this research has captured gig workers’ instant feelings and thoughts, which enriches the current understanding of gig workers’ well-being. Practical implications From the findings and the newly developed conceptual framework, practical implications are proposed focusing on how the tourism, hospitality and event industries should look after their gig workers’ well-being in the COVID-ized environment. From the physical well-being perspective, businesses should consider partnering with gym operators to provide corporate packages or discounted membership to their gig workers. From psychological well-being perspective, a recognition system integrating gig workers would be useful to strengthen gig workers’ perception of value in their jobs. In addition, technology can be used to introduce more resources to their gig workers, particularly when distancing. Originality/value A conceptual framework is developed, which captures the influence of both “internal” and “external” determinants of gig worker well-being during times of crisis. This research contributes to theory by developing a framework of well-being in the context of the sharing economy, as well as explicitly addressing how the uncertainty and precariousness of sharing economy work and the hospitality, tourism and event industry contexts relate to well-being. This model is likely to have applicability beyond COVID-19 as the pandemic made clear many existing challenges – rather than just simply creating new ones.

This article explores the relationships among employee moral efficacy, coworker emotional support, coworker instrumental support, and employee voice behavior regarding abusive supervision in the hospitality industry in Ecuador: a high power distance culture. The results indicate that employees’ moral efficacy predicted their voice behavior with regards to abusive supervision and that coworker emotional support strengthened this relation. However, an interaction effect between moral efficacy and coworker instrumental support on voice behavior was not found. This study provides a theoretical extension of the voice literature by introducing the roles of moral efficacy and coworker support, and has practical implications for the hospitality workplace.

Online employee scheduling has increased in popularity in recent years, especially among hourly workers who have grown up in the information age and the flexibility it provides increases their sense of job autonomy. This article reports on two studies that investigated the impact of work scheduling flexibility on employees’ personal well-being. One study collected data from current users of an online scheduling product and the other study collected information from hospitality management students who are potential future users of online scheduling software. The studies found that online scheduling helps to enhance employees’ personal well-being through satisfaction with schedule flexibility and job autonomy.

The extant literature has suggested that high-performance human resources practices (HRPs), such as employee training, employment security, and a results-oriented appraisal system, promote favorable employee behaviors. This research predicts that such practices render a mechanism that reduces hotel employees’ propensity to quit through lowering their emotional exhaustion. However, does this mechanism work more effectively in hotels with a strong brand? To address this question, we propose a multilevel research model to assess the effectiveness of HRPs under different conditions of brand equity. Drawing on both social exchange theory and social identification theory, the current study works to advance the literature by investigating the cross-level brand equity boundary condition on the HRPs−intention-to-quit moderated mediation process from two independent sets of data. It advances the literature by bridging the research gap between human resource management and brand management.

Purpose: This paper aims to provide researchers and practitioners with an understanding of abusive supervision in the context of hospitality. It seeks to conduct a comprehensive review of the area and offer recommendations for future research by exploring the antecedents, consequences, mechanisms, and designs of research on abusive supervision. Design/methodology/approach: Content analysis was conducted to review and analyze studies on abusive supervision in the context of hospitality. Previous studies were searched in the EBSCO, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar electronic databases. Findings: Thirty-six referred articles related to abusive supervision in hospitality were reviewed across four key areas, namely, antecedents, consequences, mechanisms, and research design. After reviewing the research on abusive supervision in the context of hospitality, this paper offers future research directions with respect to research focus and research design. Research limitations/implications: This paper only included English articles from peer-reviewed journals on abusive supervision. The number of reviewed articles was relatively small. This limitation may have arisen because abusive supervision is a new research field and is still a sensitive topic. Practical implications: The results of this work may encourage managers to minimize or even halt abusive supervision. From an organizational perspective, formal policies may be developed to regularize supervisors’ behavior. In turn, employees could use this paper to learn further about abusive behavior and how to handle it effectively. Social implications: The review highlighted the negative consequences of abusive supervision. Managers should urgently realize the seriousness of abusive supervision and develop effective policies to minimize its negative effect. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the emerging literature on abusive supervision in the context of hospitality by identifying key research trends and framing the outlines of empirical studies. It identifies research gaps, and as the first review of abusive supervision in hospitality, it may encourage researchers to explore the topic on the basis of the characteristics of the sector and offer suggestions for future research.

Cultivating high-quality internship is essential for both interns and organizations. Yet there is little understanding of how parental support impacts outcomes of internship. This research drew on career construction theory to test a conceptual model suggesting that parental support improves an intern's person–organization fit and the internship quality. We tested our hypotheses using a longitudinal design with Generation Z interns in the hospitality industry, across five time points. We further assessed a serial moderated mediation model which predicts that parental support will mitigate the negative effect of abusive supervision. Results first warrant serial mediating effects between parental support and internship satisfaction/industry commitment through person–organization fit and internship quality. More importantly, we also unravel a cross-domain buffering effect operating in such a way that abusive supervision could erode supportive efforts emanating from family members and could undermine the relationship between parental support and person–organization fit. Receiving a high level of parental support from one domain would buffer the negative impact of abusive supervision from another domain.

Although past research has examined the link between emotional labor and turnover in organizational contexts, relatively little research has focused specifically on supervisors' experiences of emotional labor and turnover. In the present study, supervisors' levels of communication are posited to affect the interactive relation between expressing genuine emotions and engaging in surface acting because the interactive relation is expected to be more pronounced for supervisors who communicate less. This study was administered to 144 supervisors in four Chinese hotel companies. The results showed that the interactive effects of genuine emotions and surface acting on turnover intentions were strengthened when supervisors communicated with other colleagues less intimately but that there was not an effect related to the extent to which they communicated with many colleagues. The findings extend previous literature by demonstrating that a lack of intimate communication will increase intentions to leave among supervisors who express less genuine emotions and who engage in more surface acting.

This study examines whether and how employee perfectionism influences the mechanism of customer-driven organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and the later formation of employee well-being. Customer-driven OCB, conceptualized in this study, comprises the dual effects of OCB toward customers (OCB-C) on OCB toward a work organization (OCB-O) and OCB oward coworkers (OCB-I). Drawing on a perfectionistic perspective with the conservation of resources theory (COR), this study proposes that perfectionism leads to customer-driven OCB, which then influences employee work and home well-being. Using multi-phase data collected from hotel employees, results confirm that self-oriented perfectionism improves OCB-C, as well as the positive effects of OCB-C on OCB-O, OCB-I, work well-being, and home well-being. Moreover, OCB-O supports employee work well-being. This study not only demonstrates the importance of service employees’ self-oriented perfectionism in motivating OCB-C but also clarifies the effects of OCB-C on improving other types of OCB and well-being.

Social distancing is an effective way to reduce infection risk during pandemics, such as COVID-19. It is important for the tourism industry to understand the effect of social distancing on tourist behavior to better adapt to this emerging environment. This study investigates the role of social distancing in tourists’ preferences for anthropomorphism. Based on three experimental studies, this study found that tourists tend to prefer anthropomorphism more under conditions of social distancing (vs. nonsocial distancing). This effect was induced by the higher perceived warmth of anthropomorphism when one had to practice social distancing. Such effects are only significant among tourists with higher levels of interdependent self-construal. This study makes significant theoretical contributions and provides important practical implications for tourism marketing and service design during pandemic and epidemic crises.

•During Covid-19 people visited a wide range of nearby places to get away from everyday demands, without needing to travel.•People engaged with a wide range of activities in those places, but many activities were place dependent.•All place visits benefitted hedonic and eudemonic wellbeing, but outdoor activities were more beneficial than indoor activities.•Place and activity choices varied between people. Younger people and those living in urban areas visited less outdoor places.•To support wellbeing for all it is important to identify the variety of nearby places people visit and manage access and provision of such places. Being able to get away from everyday stressors and demands, even if close to home and just for a few minutes, is important for wellbeing. During the Covid-19 lockdown periods, people’s ability to get away changed significantly. An increase in visits to nearby natural places is well documented. Little is known about other types of places people visited to get away. An online UK survey was conducted in 2020 (N = 850) investigating what places people visited to get away during the pandemic, what they did in those places, how place and activity choices were related to each other and to demographic variables, and to recalled hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing during those visits. Participants visited a rich array of places and engaged in a variety of activities that supported their hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing needs. Responses were grouped into four types of places (at home outdoors, at home indoors, away from home outdoors, and away from home indoors) and seven activity types (cognitive, walks, nature engagement, social activities, technology use, relaxing, and exercise). Place and activity choices were strongly linked. Visiting outdoor places was most beneficial for wellbeing (and most common), especially when it involved mindful engagement with nature (bird watching, gardening) or exercise. Staying indoors, engaging with technologies (computers, television) was least beneficial and more common among those with no degree or job, living in urban areas, and identifying as male. The findings demonstrate the importance of understanding place-activity interactions to support the wellbeing benefits derived from visits to places to get away.

Many hotel organizations were helping their employees remain engaged in the workplace during the pandemic. From the perspective of social exchange theory, the antecedents and outcome of this engagement were explored in two studies. A qualitative interview investigation of U.K. hotel employee engagement as reported by Senior Managers (n = 9) was carried out in Study 1 from which a theoretical model to investigate the antecedents and outcome of this engagement was developed, and tested with U.K. hotel employees (n = 163) in Study 2, with both studies conducted sequentially during the pandemic. Study 1 found that the emergence of new methods and styles of communication, the provision of and increased access to training, and employees’ adaptation to changes positively facilitated employee engagement through the pandemic. Results of Study 2 suggested that employee resilience, perceived communication quality, and workplace health and safety training are positively related to employee engagement, which in turn improves employee performance. This research enhances the theoretical understanding of the personal factor (i.e., employee resilience) and situational factors (i.e., perceived communication quality, and workplace health and safety training) that help enhance employee engagement and ultimately improve performance. The practical implications of the study propose means of effective communication with employees, mechanisms to bolster employee resilience and proactive health and safety training and reinduction of employees ahead of their return to work with guests during times of extreme turbulence.

Using social information processing theory, this study aims to examine the relationships among an abusive work environment, mindfulness, employee well-being, and turnover intentions. This study was conducted based on a quantitative survey of employees working in the lodging industry in the United States. The findings reveal the joint impacts of abusive supervision, abusive coworker treatment, and mindfulness on employee well-being and turnover intention. Specifically, the results show that mindfulness exacerbates the relation between abusive behaviors and employee well-being, providing evidence of a moderated mediation effect in the relationship between abusive supervision/coworker treatment and turnover intentions through employee well-being. This research contributes to the literature and theory by demonstrating the potential dark side of employees' mindfulness.

Although organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) attracts increasing research attention in tourism and hospitality contexts, there remains a lack of consensus on the multidimensional structure and measurement of OCB. To fulfill these knowledge gaps, we employed three studies using data collected from the U.S., China, and Australia to cross-culturally validate OCB as a third-order multidimensional construct, holistically integrating both target-specific and nature-specific OCB measures. In Study 1, we sampled U.S. hospitality employees to explore (N=271) and confirm (N=473) the sub-dimensional structure of OCB. In Study 2, we conducted cross-cultural validation using samples from Australia (N=348) and China (N=388). In Study 3, we implemented a longitudinal research design and tested predictive validity of the third-order OCB. The study clarified the dimensional structure of OCB measures in hospitality, resolved the over-lapping issues between different measures, and helped to pave the way for more advanced analysis for future research.

This study focuses on the relation between emotional variability and job satisfaction and examines emotional exhaustion as a potential explanation for why variability may result in lower satisfaction. In addition, this study examines organizational identification as a potential moderator of the relation between emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. A total of 244 nonacademic staff in two universities in Ecuador responded to the surveys. The results demonstrated that emotional exhaustion mediated the relation between emotional variability and job satisfaction and that organizational identification weakened the negative relation between emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. This research is among the first to investigate emotional variability in organizations and examine the role of organizational identification in buffering the negative effect of emotional variability.

Purpose Different from the previous organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) literature, this study aims to propose an OCB-O (organizational citizenship behavior toward organizations) and OCB-I (organizational citizenship behavior toward individual coworkers) driven mechanism for the formation of OCB-C (organizational citizenship behavior toward customers). Based on the social exchange and agency theories, the authors propose that perceived leadership support and work autonomy contribute to both OCB-I and OCB-O, which contributes to proactive and reactive customer service attitude as well as OCB-C. Design/methodology/approach A three-wave survey was conducted in five-star hotels in Mainland China, and a sample of 410 hotel frontline employees was used to test the model. Findings Findings of the study suggested that perceived leadership support positively led to OCB-O and OCB-I while work autonomy led to OCB-I, demonstrating the importance of employees’ perceived leadership support on motivating employees to perform OCB-I and OCB-O. OCB-I and OCB-O directly improved OCB-C, confirming the proposed spillover effect from OCB-I and OCB-O to OCB-C. OCB-I supported both proactive and reactive customer service attitudes, revealing OCB-I as more effective than OCB-O on influencing employees’ service attitudes. Furthermore, OCB-I, OCB-O and proactive customer service attitude lead to OCB-C. Practical implications This study suggests that it is important for leaders to show care and support to employees and design jobs with a certain level of flexibility, so that employees are motivated to go the extra mile to do a good job. When employees make helping others a habit, they will provide more genuine care to customers and do a better job in serving customers. Originality/value This study supports the spillover mechanism of OCB-I and OCB-O on OCB-C. Specifically, the spillover mechanism starts from a workplace-driven model with employees’ perceived leadership support and work autonomy to enhance OCB-O as well as OCB-I. Then, spillover effects stem directly from OCB-I and OCB-O to OCB-C and indirectly to proactive customer service attitude.

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.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to extend research on fun in the workplace by focussing on its relationship with job embeddedness among Millennials. This research examined the influence of four dimensions of fun, including fun activities, manager support for fun, coworker socializing, and fun job responsibilities, on embeddedness. In addition, this research assessed the impact of fun relative to other aspects of the employment experience. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from 234 full-time working Millennials via survey methodology. Findings Fun job responsibilities were the most dominant predictor of embeddedness followed by perceived career opportunities and praise and rewards. The other dimensions of fun accounted for significant variance in embeddedness, yet their influence was more modest. Research limitations/implications The research demonstrated that fun plays a role in enhancing Millennials’ embeddedness, accounting for significant additional variance beyond other important aspects of the employment experience. At the same time, some aspects of fun were more dominant predictors of embeddedness than others, and other aspects of the employment experience were more dominant predictors than certain aspects of fun. These findings should be interpreted in the context of the primary limitation that the data were cross-sectional. Practical implications Workplace fun may play a role in enhancing embeddedness, but organizations should not lose sight of other human resource management practices. Originality/value The present study examined the role of workplace fun in a more nuanced perspective by examining its relationship on embeddedness relative to other important constructs.

In this research the authors investigate the relationship among emotional labor strategies, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intention, specifically in the hospitality industry. The sample comes from hotel employees in China. The conclusions obtained by the authors are: (1) Surface acting positively influences emotional exhaustion; deep acting negatively influences emotional exhaustion; automatic emotional regulation, however, has little significance on emotional exhaustion. (2) Emotional exhaustion positively influences turnover intention. (3) Emotional labor strategies influence turnover intention through the role of emotional exhaustion. Implications and suggestions for human resource management practice are discussed in the study.

In this study, we used deonance theory, attribution theory, spillover effects, and power distance to explore how abusive supervision influences bystanders in the hospitality and tourism industry. In-depth semi-structured interviews revealed an integrated representation of bystanders' emotional and behavioural reactions, ranging from negative emotions to unconcerned and exclusionary feelings, from supportive behaviours to avoidance, gossip, and learning behaviours. We also identified important factors influencing these emotional and behavioural reactions such as trust, power distance, social-cultural context, the tourism and hospitality context, victims' spillover, and bystanders' attribution. This study is one of the first to investigate the influence of abusive supervision from a bystander's perspective. Thus, the findings provide a novel perspective for assessing and understanding abusive supervision through a critical and comprehensive theoretical lens.

Pregnancy and motherhood are often stigmatized as negatively impacting women's careers. Yet skills and capacity unlocked/enhanced during this stressful coping process may be transferable to facilitate improved job performance and career advancement in the workplace. Using a mixed methods sequential explanatory research design comprised of a systematic synthesis of multi-disciplinary literature and in-depth interviews with working mothers in the U.S. tourism and hospitality industry, this study explored the bright side of motherhood. The findings of the study suggested that motherhood and the coping process can enhance women's knowledge, skills and capacity, while strengthening women's mindset, willpower, and overall emotional intelligence — all of which are desirable attributes in the workplace. Further, motherhood experiences can unlock women's potential and prepare them for management and leadership positions. Yet to capitalize on this, working mothers need to believe in themselves and also need support from family, organizations, and society at large.

Purpose - Many hospitality organizations see the benefits of engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR), which can take many forms. This study aims to examine one relatively unique form of CSR: hiring individuals experiencing houselessness. This research aimed to investigate the impact of hiring individuals experiencing houselessness on customers’ behavioral intentions, attitudes toward an organization and perceptions of CSR actions. Design/methodology/approach - Across two experiments, this study investigated the impact of employing individuals experiencing houselessness on customers’ perceptions of the employee and organization using organizational legitimacy theory. Findings - Results demonstrate that employees known to be houseless elicited more positive employee and organizational perceptions from the customers, mediated by CSR perceptions. In addition, the gender of the employees or the quality of the organization did not impact these findings. Practical implications - Hospitality and tourism organizations should consider using available resources or tax benefits to make a deliberate effort to employ those experiencing houselessness. Originality/value - Using organizational legitimacy theory, this study examines CSR perceptions as a potential explanatory mechanism between houselessness and customers’ reactions.

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.