RENTQUAL: a new measurement scale for car rental services

Service quality perception is one of the key determinants of customer satisfaction and repeat purchase. As such, it has received considerable attention in the marketing literature. Quality issues in the car rental industry, however, have received less attention. Furthermore, there is lack of a scale developed to measure service quality in car rental services. This paper aims to develop a measurement scale in accordance with the procedure recommended by Churchill (1979) and Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988). Empirical studies were conducted in two waves. First, qualitative research was undertaken in the form of 23 in-depth interviews that produced 61 items describing tourists’ perceptions. Then, a quantitative study was used to purify the scale items and to examine dimensionality, reliability, factor structure and validity. Finally, an 18-item RENTQUAL scale with the following six factors emerged: comfort, delivery, safety, handing over, ergonomics and accessibility. Results show that safety is the most important factor in car rental services. Paper also presents scale development procedure, discussion, implications and limitations

Mandated media innovation impacts on knowledge dissemination in workplace training

This conceptual paper examines voluntary versus mandatory cloud-based training, generating recommendations to harmonise the complementarity of face-to-face and online media in future careers. Technological change was already accelerating when the COVID-19 pandemic response turbocharged transformations of knowledge dissemination in training, thus impacting learning and competency development for the future. The methodology applies comprehensive, structured literature review following PRISMA guidelines with development of a novel conceptual framework illuminating facets of knowledge dissemination. Exploring the context of workplace training and the future of careers with aid of NVivo it was found that altered social cues in cloud training are generating changes in learner attention span, engagement, and peer-to-peer interaction, potentially increasing contract cheating. It is hence recommended that stakeholders demarcate theoretical and practical learning outcomes to develop hybrid cloud media and face-to-face knowledge dissemination to accentuate professional accreditation requirements, engagement and etiquette in virtual spaces, and improve understanding of work-home balance

Effect of employee incivility on customer retaliation through psychological contract breach: the moderating role of moral identity

This study investigates the effect of employee incivility on customer retaliation through psychological contract breach in the context of upscale restaurants. Results of our study ( N= 2014) show that psychological contract breach mediates the positive relationship between employee incivility and three forms of customer retaliatory behaviors. Further, drawing upon the moral identity perspective, we found that customers who are high in moral identity tend to be more likely to seek revenge by engaging in vindictive complaining (but not third party complaining or negative word of mouth) subsequent to their experience of psychological contract breach. Our study yielded both theoretical contributions and practical implications.Department of Management and Marketin

Developing the Hospitality Industry Organizational Culture Scale: A New Zealand Case Study

Defining and measuring organizational culture is of paramount importance to organizations. A strong organizational culture could potentially yield a sustainable competitive advantage. However, achievement of this is likely to be challenging to managers because a great deal of ambiguity surrounds this concept. Indeed, a review of the literature finds the scope of organizational culture to have been defined differently across various disciplines and industries, and this has resulted in the development of various scales for measuring and defining organizational culture. This thesis argues that the diversity in scales that have been previously developed for assessing organizational culture may not be fully applicable or appropriate for use within the hospitality context. Therefore, by highlighting the key factors affecting the business environment and the unique characteristics of the hospitality industry, the purpose of this thesis is to identify the scope of organizational culture, specifically within the hospitality industry, as well as to introduce a tailored organizational culture scale, which is aligned with the hospitality context. The research for this thesis employed a multidisciplinary and mixed-method research approach in order to develop a new organizational culture scale for the hospitality industry. The findings suggest that the hospitality industry has unique cultural characteristics that are distinguished from similar industries. The findings also suggest that cohesiveness is the most important cultural element of the hospitality industry. This thesis also makes recommendations with regards to how this newly developed scale can be used by the hospitality industry as a means to assess and strengthen organizational culture within organizations in this industry

Developing the Hospitality Industry Organizational Culture Scale: A New Zealand Case Study

Defining and measuring organizational culture is of paramount importance to organizations. A strong organizational culture could potentially yield a sustainable competitive advantage. However, achievement of this is likely to be challenging to managers because a great deal of ambiguity surrounds this concept. Indeed, a review of the literature finds the scope of organizational culture to have been defined differently across various disciplines and industries, and this has resulted in the development of various scales for measuring and defining organizational culture. This thesis argues that the diversity in scales that have been previously developed for assessing organizational culture may not be fully applicable or appropriate for use within the hospitality context. Therefore, by highlighting the key factors affecting the business environment and the unique characteristics of the hospitality industry, the purpose of this thesis is to identify the scope of organizational culture, specifically within the hospitality industry, as well as to introduce a tailored organizational culture scale, which is aligned with the hospitality context. The research for this thesis employed a multidisciplinary and mixed-method research approach in order to develop a new organizational culture scale for the hospitality industry. The findings suggest that the hospitality industry has unique cultural characteristics that are distinguished from similar industries. The findings also suggest that cohesiveness is the most important cultural element of the hospitality industry. This thesis also makes recommendations with regards to how this newly developed scale can be used by the hospitality industry as a means to assess and strengthen organizational culture within organizations in this industry

Servant leadership, employee job crafting, and citizenship behaviors: a cross-level investigation

While servant leadership is widely recognized as a people-oriented management style, little attention has been directed to understand the positive outcomes of servant leadership on different stakeholders in the hospitality context. This research examines the mediating role of employee job crafting in the relationship between servant leadership and individual employees’ interpersonal citizenship behaviors directed at both internal and external stakeholders. Multisourced survey data collected from 238 hotel employees in 38 teams revealed that the effects of servant leadership on individual employees’ citizenship behaviors directed toward leaders, coworkers, and customers were mediated by employee job crafting