The Process of Leadership : From Leadership Styles to Subordinates’ Attitudes and Behaviors in the Hospitality Industry

Abstract

Background: This thesis is based on the context of China’s hotel industry. Since the enactment of China’s opening up policy in 1978, its hotel market has attracted many international hotel operators, and it was opened to international investors in 2001 after China joined the World Trade Organization in the same year. As a less developed industry, hotels in China were facing management problems not only in operations, but in management as well. Leadership is the core issue in management which is so important in motivating employees to perform with excellence in hotel services. With limited leadership theory, hotels managers were eager to improve themselves by attending training programs, in order that they could compete with international hotels. Currently western leadership theories dominate training programs; however there has been a lack of investigation into their compatibility with Chinese culture. With significant cultural differences between the eastern and the western worlds, these western theories deserve further examination in the context of Chinese culture. As the direct reporter of frontline employees, the executive role of supervisors is less focused, especially on their leadership effects. To fill in the above mentioned gaps, this thesis worked on testing western leadership theories and their effects on hotel employee attitudes and behaviors at the supervisor level. Purpose and aims: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationships between leadership and its effects on employee attitudes and behaviors in China’s hotel industry. In detail, antecedents of employee attitudes and behaviors at work such as leadership, justice, and self-concept, and how these issues are causally related to each other were discussed. Aims of this thesis include: (1) to test the construct validity of well developed leadership theories in the western world within the context of China’s hotel industry; (2) to test the effects of different leadership styles (FRLT, LMX) on employee attitudes and iii behaviors (self-concept, helping, loafing behaviors); (3) to test the effects of theories like justice, self-concept on employee attitudes and behaviors (organizational commitment, turnover intention, helping， and social loafing behaviors). Methods: In order to get representative data, forty-three hotels were, ranging from two to five stars, were selected. These consisted of: state-owned (74%), private-owned (12%), and joint-venture properties (14%). 1000 questionnaires were delivered. With the strong support of hotel managers, a total of 640 responses were collected, indicating a response rate of 71%. A total of 326 responses were collected from 20 hotels in Beijing by one of the authors in person. 314 responses were collected from 23 hotels in other provinces administered by HR managers of the hotels. The questionnaires filled out by employees were mailed to the author. With all 640 questionnaires received, 585 valid responses were used in the data analysis. A total of 55 returned questionnaires were excluded in the study due to being incomplete, thus the valid response rate is 91.4%. Findings: The following findings are highlighted in accordance with the aims of this thesis based on four papers: (1) The nine-factor construct of FRLT is a two-factor one in the context of China’s hotel industry at supervisor level, and transformational leadership was confirmed as being most effective for supervisors at hotels (Paper 1). (2) There are significant relationships between transformational leadership and collective (and relational) self-concept; and LMX mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and collective (and relational) self-concept (Paper 2). (3) Justice perceptions are antecedents of employee satisfaction, organizational commitment, employee turnover intention, and social loafing behavior. In particular there are significant relationships between procedural justice and affective organizational commitment, iv and employee turnover intention (both direct and mediated by management satisfaction). Turnover intention is the main drive of employee social loafing behavior (Paper 3). (4) Affective group commitment plays the mediating role between interpersonal justice (and LMX) and helping behavior. Specifically, helping behavior amongst co-workers at hotels is driven by affective group commitment, while affective commitment is mainly driven by interpersonal justice and LMX. Therefore, interpersonal justice and LMX are very important antecedents of employee helping behaviors (Paper 4). The thesis also addressed that it should be careful when applying western leadership theories in the context of Chinese culture by both Chinese leaders and western leaders. Learning from other cultures is the best way to get new ideas; while for the cultural specific theories, it is necessary to proof them first before applying them in a different context. Some differences in the construct of transformational leadership between China and the west world like the differences between Shi et al. (2005)’s TLQ and Avolio & Bass (2004)’s five-factor model of transformational leadership in MLQ (form 5X), and the differences are mainly caused by cultural differences；In addition, the two-factor model of FRLT identified in paper 1 of this thesis also indicated that levels of leadership can also be considered when applying leadership theories. In line with contingent theory, the cultural context, and leader level should be taken into consideration when western leadership theories are applied in China. Learning well developed western leadership theories can help inexperienced leaders improve their leadership effectiveness; while a simple application of the theories without validation may cause side-effects or cultural conflicts between leaders and employees in a situation of globalization, especially for hospitality services. Therefore, researches on the validations of western leadership theories in China are crucial to make them well applied and more effective. Leaders should also pay attention to the appropriateness of applying western leadership theories or make adjustments of these theories when applying them in the Chinese context.