Drivers of hotel employee’s voice behavior: A moderated mediation model

Highlights

• This study developed and tested a moderated mediation model.

• Findings show P-O fit is positively related to voice, and perceived nature of the work is a mediator between these two variables.

• Findings also show functional quality of the service moderates the direct effect of P-O fit on perceived nature of the work.

• Functional quality of the service also moderates the indirect effect of P-O fit on voice via perceived nature of the work.

Abstract

This study developed and tested a moderated mediation model for examining the relationships among person-organization fit (P-O fit), employee voice, employees’ perceived nature of the work and employees’ perceived functional quality of their services. Using 265 frontline employees from several 3 star hotels in Taiwan, the analytical results show that P-O fit is positively related to employee voice, and that employees’ perceived nature of the work mediates the positive relationship between these two variables. The analytical results also show that employees’ perceived functional quality of their services moderates the direct effect of P-O fit on employees’ perceived nature of the work, as well as the indirect effect of P-O fit on employee voice via employees’ perceived nature of the work. Theoretical and practical implications for the hospitality literature and hotel practitioners are discussed herein.

Introduction

Hiring the right talent is a key concern for all kinds of organizations and is one of the important ways to build competitive advantage. However, attracting and retaining good quality employees are an on-going challenge for hospitality employers (Song and Chathoth, 2011). Since the modern business environment has become ever more competitive and unpredictable, scholars and practitioners have contended that employers should no longer only focus on the match between job requirements and qualifications of employees, but also need to look at the fit between employees and the firm’s culture and goals to retain the ability to respond to a rapidly changing environment. Hence, a large number of researchers (e.g., Jung et al., 2010; Kim et al., 2013; Iplik et al., 2011) have become interested in the benefits of person-organization fit (hereafter P-O fit), referring to an employee’s personal beliefs about how well his/her personal values match the organizational culture and goals (Kristof, 1996). Numerous individual and organizational outcomes associated with P-O fit have been identified in the literature, such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance, and organizational citizenship behavior (Arthur Jr, Bell et al., 2006; Hoffman and Woehr, 2006; Resick et al., 2007).

Although conventional wisdom has built the link between P-O fit and various employees’ attitudinal and behavior outcomes, a few notable research gaps still remain in the extant literature and need to be addressed. Firstly, most prior research on the consequences of P-O fit mainly focuses on its direct effect, while the underlying mechanism by which P-O fit affects its consequences has received little research attention (Kim et al., 2013). Understanding how P-O fit influences employees’ work-related outcomes is also a critical concern as it provides organizations with the opportunity to monitor and manage the contributive process of P-O fit to various desirable outcomes. Secondly, there is also limited research attention paid to the boundary conditions of the effect of P-O fit on employees’ work-related outcomes (Resick et al., 2007), and this could limit organizations’ knowledge and ability to develop actionable strategies to enhance the organizational membership of low P-O fit employees. Lastly, the majority of studies on P-O fit and its demonstrated outcomes were conducted in Western countries, whereas research settings in Eastern countries are scarce. Research on different cultural settings is also of critical importance as it provides more opportunities to test the generalizability of the P-O fit theory across different cultural settings (Parkes et al., 2001).

To address the above shortcomings, this study proposes and tests a moderated mediation model using employees from several 3 star hotels in Taiwan, R.O.C. This model investigates the direct effect of P-O fit on employee voice as well as the indirect effect of P-O fit on employee voice through employees’ perceived nature of the work, with employees’ perceived functional quality of their services serving as the moderator on the relationship between P-O fit and employees’ perceived nature of the work. Employee voice refers to “discretionary communication of ideas, suggestions, concerns, or opinions about work-related issues with the intent to improve organizational or unit functioning” (Morrison, 2011, p. 375). This behavioral outcome is chosen is because, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is still no research on the relationship between P-O fit and employee voice in the literature. Employee voice is widely accepted to be a crucial factor in seeking to identify problems before escalation, as well as to create improvement and innovation opportunities for the organization (Janssen and Gao, 2015). Although the extant literature has a large number of studies on the factors that foster or inhibit voice, scholars still call for more research effort in this area (Morrison, 2011). It is thus necessary and interesting to examine whether employees’ perception of their fit with their organizations is a significant contributor of their voice behavior.

In addition, this study posits that the reason why P-O fit may affect employee voice is employees’ perceived nature of their works, a concept understood as employees’ attitude to, and interest in, the nature and content of their works (Wan et al., 2014). This possible mediator is chosen is because understanding employees’ perceived nature of their works is crucial for any hospitality businesses, as employees who hold favorable attitudes toward their works are more likely to provide superior services and performances, which could bring forth higher customer satisfaction and loyalty (Kusluvan et al., 2010). Hospitality practitioners who know well about employees’ perceived nature of their works also gain better insights regarding how to cultivate enthusiastic workforce (Richardson, 2010). Furthermore, the linkage among P-O fit, perceived nature of the work and employee voice is seriously scant in the literature, and testing the mediating role of perceived nature of the work between P-O fit and employee voice would not only address the first research gap mentioned earlier, but also provide valuable insights for practitioners as to whether more employee voice behaviors can be effectively produced from the increased employee perceived P-O fit by carefully monitoring and managing employees’ perceived nature of their work. Lastly, this study proposes that the above possible mediating effect of perceived nature of the work on the linkage between P-O fit and employee voice is conditional on the level of employees’ perceived functional quality of their services, understood as employees’ perceived quality of how their services are delivered (Mittal and Lassar, 1998, p. 179). In the literature, the majority of research on service quality focuses on the consumers’ perspective, while employees’ perception on their own service delivery receives little attention. There is no doubt that understanding customers’ perceptions about service providers’ service quality is critical for hospitality businesses’ success and survival, as these positive perceptions could produce customers’ positive attitudinal and behavioral outcomes to the business such as satisfaction, revisit intention, actual revisit and positive word of mouth (Chow et al., 2007; Ha and Jang, 2010). In the similar vein, understanding service providers’ perceptions about their own service quality could be equally important, as these perceptions might also determine their work-related attitudes and behaviors and thus allow employers to better monitor and manage their employees’ attitudes and behaviors in the organization. Therefore, testing the direct effect or the moderating/mediating effect of employees’ perceived functional quality of their services would advance the knowledge of the extant literature on this factor’s contributive role for the organization. Additionally, examining the possible moderating effect of employees’ perceived functional quality of their services on the linkage between P-O fit and employee voice would not only address the second research gap pointed out earlier, but also help practitioners gain a better insight as to whether they are able to control such possible mediation effect more effectively by managing their employees’ perceived functional quality of their services. Moreover, testing this proposed moderated mediation model in an Eastern cultural setting would address the third research gap stated earlier.