The hospitality and tourism industry stands to gain from understanding how employees’ attitudes influence customers’ loyalty, says a study by a team of researchers including a scholar from UTM
A study involving a scholar from UTM has revealed insights into the role of employee commitment in fostering customer loyalty within the hospitality and tourism industry. By implementing strategic training, encouraging customer feedback, and rewarding employees, the sector can enhance employee commitment, which in turn contributes to building a loyal customer base, ultimately driving long-term success, the study suggested.
The research was conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Agyeiwaah, currently with The University of Queensland in Australia, Dr. Frederick Dayour from the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies in Ghana, and UTM’s Dr. Joe Zhou Yong. The study, titled “How does employee commitment impact customers’ attitudinal loyalty?”, was published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights.
Their work delved into how committed employees can significantly enhance customers’ ‘attitudinal loyalty’. The latter refers to willingness to repeatedly buy products or services that customers know and trust; their consistent attitudes resulting in habitual buying behaviour.
The research focused on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It included a comprehensive survey of 664 customers visiting hotels and tourist attractions in Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai. In Hong Kong, data was collected at popular attractions including Hong Kong Disneyland and Lantau’s Big Buddha. In Macao, integrated resorts and heritage attractions were the focus, while in Zhuhai, data collection sites included the Pullman Zhuhai hotel and other tourist attractions.
The findings showed that employee commitment “plays a response-predictor-mediator role” in customers’ attitudinal loyalty. Employee commitment was found to influence customer satisfaction and likelihood to show particular behaviour, namely repeat purchase intention of a product or service.
“Employee commitment is triggered by not only supporting service climate with good technical quality,” but also and particularly by “how customers respond in their interaction with employees during service delivery,” the team of researchers found. “In this way, commitment could be gained from employees’ happy feelings derived from quality interaction with the customer of an organisation.”
The study challenged previous research that argued employee commitment must be solely the responsibility of tourism and hospitality organisations through employee empowerment, managerial support and work facilitation. It “demonstrates that the customer can play a role in influencing employees’ affective commitment to an organisation through genuine interaction and feedback on the service delivery.”
Supporting employee commitment
The practical implications of these results are significant for hoteliers and destination management organisations, noted the authors. The findings on the “significant role” of employee commitment on customer satisfaction require that managers “provide a service climate that trains employees to be helpful to customers,” said the researchers.
Managements should create a supportive service climate that trains employees to respond effectively to customer needs. Employees should also be able to provide accurate information on when a particular service is to be performed, and demonstrate a positive attitude to their organisation during the service-delivery process for customers. “By focusing on these themes in employee training, employee affective commitment could be enhanced, to improve customer satisfaction,” the researchers suggested.
In addition, given that employee commitment could be derived from personal interaction with customers, hoteliers and destination management organisations should encourage customers to “be responsive” to employees and “offer constructive feedback” on service delivery, said the researchers. “Promotional campaigns could be used to sensitise customers on some polite feedback and employee appreciation during service interaction with employees.”
Moreover, the findings confirmed that “committed employees are satisfied and such satisfaction is transferred to the customer”. This, according to the researchers, implies that customer satisfaction “is rooted in the satisfaction” of the service providers, and their dissatisfaction “can be transferred to the customer.” Hence, managers were urged to focus on the employees, by providing a supportive work climate and managerial support that create an emotional bond and affective feeling toward the organisation and its customers.
Last but not least, to motivate employees, management should consider implementing incentives such as pay raises, bonuses, paid time off, and employee recognition awards. Reducing job security threats could also contribute to higher levels of employee commitment, it was argued.
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Dr. Elizabeth Agyeiwaah is currently a Lecturer in tourism at the School of Business at The University of Queensland in Australia. She holds a PhD in Tourism Management from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. At the time of the study, she was employed as an Assistant Professor at the Macau University of Science and Technology.
Dr. Frederick Dayour is the Director of Research, Innovation, and Consultancy at the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies in Ghana. He has a PhD in tourism and hospitality from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Tourism and Hospitality at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.
Dr. Joe Zhou Yong is an Assistant Professor at UTM. He holds a PhD in Tourism Management from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests include tourism impact analysis, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) and event management, destination development, and tourist behaviour analysis.
Elizabeth Agyeiwaah, Frederick Dayour and (Joe) Yong Zhou: “How does employee commitment impact customers’ attitudinal loyalty?”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, Volume 5, Issue 2, pages 350-376, 2022.
https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-09-2020-0169
Editor: Research Corner | A partnership between Macau Business and UTM
