JeAnna Abbott

Hospitality and Tourism Research Rankings by Author, University, and Country Using Six Major Journals The First Decade of the New Millennium

This study reports productivity of authors, universities, and countries using research contributions to top hospitality and tourism journals. Since the new millennium, hospitality and tourism research has seen tremendous expansion and diversification. To understand hospitality and tourism research in the first decade of the new millennium, this study examined articles published in the six most commonly cited hospitality and tourism journals: Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, and Journal of Travel Research. To provide more insight, this study classified and analyzed articles from the selected journals into various research agendas. A total of 2,834 research articles in these journals from 2000 to 2009 revealed the 50 most prolific authors and universities and the 20 countries of residence of these authors and institutions in the field of hospitality and tourism. In addition, overall productivity rankings for 100 hospitality and tourism authors and universities and 30 countries are presented. The results of this study provide valuable and detailed information for academic stakeholders such as current and prospect graduate students, faculty, and academic administrators.

Antitrust Regulations and Trade Shows— Can Dealers and Exhibitors Be Excluded?

The antitrust regulations contained in the Sherman Act apply to trade-show promoters, whether the promoter is an individual, a single company, or an association. The antitrust regulations fall into two categories: restraint of trade and monopolization. Successful restraint-of-trade complaints might involve practices or rules designed to exclude some exhibitors from the show based on competitive or business-related criteria. On the other hand, restrictions based on available space that are even-handedly imposed are generally acceptable. Antitrust monopolization involves two conditions: attempts to monopolize and actual possession of a monopoly. The intent to monopolize by engaging in certain conduct is unlawful, yet difficult to prove in court. Moreover, to prevail in court there also must be evidence of control of a large market share and the likelihood of successfully monopolizing that market. Again, any exclusionary rules that favor some exhibitor over another or that influence a shows standing in the relevant marketplace at the expense of other shows should be avoided. Finally, control of an essential facility-that is, a show that exhibitors believe they “must” participate in to stay competitive-raises questions about how the shows resources and access to them may be fairly allocated by the show promoter without raising antitrust concerns.

Internal Relationship Marketing: Korean Casino Employees’ Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

This study examined the relationship between the following key variables: internal service quality, self-efficacy, job satisfaction, self-esteem, and organizational commitment. The study sought to identify ways to improve casino employees’ job satisfaction, further enhance employees’ organizational commitment, and possibly decrease job turnover intention. A total of 328 Korean casino dealers responded to a survey questionnaire developed to test the study model. Results showed that all internal service quality dimensions (i.e., training, communication, and perceived benefits) positively influenced job satisfaction, as did self-efficacy. Job satisfaction subsequently and concurrently influenced self-esteem and organizational commitment. Based on study findings, management can glean practical implications for enhancing the quality of effective communication strategies, career development programs, and empowerment.

The Diversity-Validity Dilemma: Implications from the Ricci v. DeStefano U.S. Supreme Court Case

One of the most critical problems that hospitality firms face in selecting employees is to ensure that any employment tests the employer uses are valid and do not screen out minorities. For example, the use of cognitive ability tests often leads to subgroup differences between majority and minority group members. Such a discrepancy opens an employer to charges of adverse impact (against minorities), and employers often have adjusted (or otherwise disregarded) test scores to avoid potential adverse impact and give minorities an even-handed opportunity for employment or promotion. The practice of adjusting test scores in this way was set aside in 2009 by the U.S. Supreme Court, in Ricci v. DeStefano, in which the city of New Haven, Connecticut, attempted to avoid adverse impact by disregarding test results. The court said this amounted to discrimination against the majority group members who did well on the test. The court’s holding means that if a test creates apparent adverse impact, in the absence of strong basis in evidence for disregarding the test scores, the employer may face the awkward choice of being sued for adverse impact or disparate treatment, depending on how it treats the test. The implications of Ricci v. DeStefano for hospitality employers include ensuring that jobs are correctly analyzed before any test is given and that multiple forms of various valid types of test are used to select job candidates.

Hospitality culture and climate: a proposed model for retaining employees and creating competitive advantage.

In order to gain competitive advantage, companies must determine the relationship between human resource practices and firm performance. This conceptual article proposes a model that highlights the importance of selecting people who “fit” within the organizational culture and climate of the firm. The authors propose combining established scales of hospitality culture and climate in order to assess a candidates fit to the organization. Ideally, these people would be more hospitality service oriented and could foster the “spirit of hospitality” through the organization and thus, on to the customer. Hiring the right people will also lead to increased organizational commitment, consequently, reducing turnover levels. This in turn will lead to higher service levels, increased customer satisfaction, and loyalty.

Impact of error management practices on service recovery performance and helping behaviors in the hospitality industry: The mediating effects of psychological safety and learning behaviors

Abstract This study used a 2 × 2 × 2 experimental research design to examine the influence of organizational support, supervisor support, and coworker support for error management practices on employees’ service recovery performance and helping behaviors during service recoveries. More importantly, the current work examined the mediating role of psychological safety and learning behaviors on the proposed relationships. Two hundred eighty-four undergraduate students from a large university in the southwestern United States participated in the study and were randomly assigned to one of the eight experimental conditions. All respondents worked either full-time or part-time in various hospitality organizations, including hotels and restaurants. Results indicate that organizational support, supervisor support, and coworker support for error management had a positive effect on employees’ service recovery performance and helping behaviors. Moreover, the study found the mediating effects of psychological safety and learning behaviors. The studys implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

Attributing Corporate Responsibility for Sexual Harassment The Supervisory Connection

This study examines circumstances under which observers might consider an organization to have responsibility for its employees’ actions, based on their reading of a scenario of sexual harassment. By changing the details of the scenario, we examine the influence of (a) the harasser’s organizational role (i.e., a supervisor or coworker), (b) the existence of corporate sexual harassment policies, and (c) the company’s past responses to sexual harassment complaints. The results suggested that the harasser’s organizational role is the most important factor for predicting whether an individual would consider pressing a sexual harassment claim. Respondents’ assessment that the victim should make a claim is higher when the harasser is an immediate supervisor rather than a nonsupervisory coworker. Perceived organizational responsibility is also a direct predictor of intent to make a claim. The results provide a clearer understanding of when an individual is more likely to favor making a claim in response to perceived sexual harassment. The practical implications include the following: (a) Sexual harassment training for supervisors is important because their sexual harassment is most likely to lead to a legal claim, (b) antisexual harassment policies have the effect of reducing the likelihood that a victim will perceive the organization as responsible for failing to prevent a supervisor’s action, and (c) organizations should make clear their opposition to sexual harassment both to discourage harassers and to divert a victim’s attribution for responsibility away from the organization if an incident takes place.

Curriculum Development in International Convention and Conference Management at Meio University, Okinawa, Japan

Abstract Many factors, political, economical, and environmental, are conducive to the introduction of a specialized convention and conference management curriculum in Okinawa, Japan. Recent changes in the Japanese governments industrial policies to expand and reinforce the Okinawa Free Trade Zone by 2005 is one such factor. To handle this increase, Okinawa will require an infrastructure that will support and maintain this expansion, which includes educating the workforce with a sound convention and conference university curriculum in Okinawa. Therefore, this study documents the process and results of a convention and conference management curriculum development endeavor between Meio University in Nago, Okinawa, Japan, and the University of Houston in the United States.

Development and Validation of a Measure of Ebullient Supervision: The ES Scale

In an increasingly service-oriented economy, the importance of understanding supervisors’ impact on employees working in a fun work environment continues to grow. While researchers have learned much about the negative outcomes of abusive supervisors, relatively little is known about ebullient supervisors and the beneficial outcomes caused by leaders who create fun work environments for employees. The purpose of this article is to define the concept of an ebullient supervisor and develop and validate a scale to measure the construct of ebullient supervision (ES). A brief overview of the construct is presented along with its anticipated theoretical and empirical relationships with constructs that might be closely related. Construct definitions are developed and items for an ES measure are evaluated using a three-sample validation study. A combined exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis approach was used. This was followed by an analysis of the criterion-related validity. The results show that the ES has convergent validity with other supervisor support measures. One of the distinguishing factors of an ES, however, is that through the supervisor’s actions and behaviors the ebullient supervisor helps create a fun work environment for employees that may have many beneficial outcomes for organizations. Developing a measure of ES allows future researchers to add new insights to the management literature by being able to better investigate the unique benefits of this type of supervision for both organizations and employees.

Educators: Steps to Minimize Liability in Food Production Laboratories

The hotel, restaurant, and food service industry is one of the largest employers in the world. The National Restaurant Association estimates that there will be over 793,000 food service and lodging managers by the year 2005. This epresents a 33% increase over 1990 employment figures. The growing need for food service and lodging managers has resulted in an increase in the number of programs at institutions of higher education geared towards preparing individuals. Most two- and four-year hospitality programs require handson training. This is usually accomplished in food production laboratories. As with other types of laboratory activities on campus students are at risk of injury. This article explores the extent to which colleges and universities may be responsible for damages if a student is injured in a restaurant or food production laboratory on campus.