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Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to present a review of the human resources (HR) research that has been published over the past ten years in discipline-based and hospitality-specific journals and identify key trends and opportunities for advancing future research. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a critical review of the extant literature in the general HR management and hospitality HR management fields. Findings – A comparison of the findings shows a substantial degree of overlap in the themes and results that have been generated to date. However, several hospitality studies have identified a number of variables that appear to be particularly relevant for labor-intensive, service-focused settings. As such, context-specific factors should be considered in efforts to advance our understanding about the ways in which hospitality HR systems may impact a wide array of individual and organizational outcomes. Originality/value – The results offer a foundation for advancing future hospitality HR research.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a more refined and comprehensive explanation of the HR‐firm performance relationship. Based on the recent conceptual and empirical research that is grounded in attribution theory, the model posits that flexibility regarding firm's HR system is a key mediator in the focal relationship, and that environmental dynamism determines the extent to which flexibility may be required. Specifically, the model specifies that a firm's high commitment work system will have a direct influence on the flexibility of the HR system, as well as climate perceptions about commitment and performance. HR flexibility and climate will in turn influence employees' evaluative attributions regarding the effectiveness of the firm's HR system, which will in turn affect employee commitment and performance and ultimately, firm‐level performance outcomes. And finally, the model specifies that environmental dynamism will have a direct influence on HR flexibility and the resulting employee‐ and firm‐level outcomes. This explanation is designed to have broad utility in light of the adaptive requirements for firms that operate in rapidly changing and highly competitive conditions.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper.FindingsThe proposed model provides a more comprehensive explanation of the mechanisms by which a firm's high commitment work practices may influence firm performance, and as such, offers both a diagnostic and prescriptive basis for improving and enhancing the firm's competitive position.Originality/valueThe analysis and discussion presented in this paper demonstrates the need for a broader perspective on the internal and external contingencies that influence the HR‐firm performance relationship. The proposed model addresses this need and offers a more detailed, flexibility‐based explanation of how HCWS affect individual and organizational performance outcomes. It is hoped that this expanded framework offers new insights that will help scholars and practitioners to consider the ways in which HR practices can be leveraged to promote committed, high‐performing employees that help organizations achieve sustained levels of superior performance.

Human resources (HR) has become increasingly integral to the success of hospitality firms. At the same time, HR professionals have identified the key competencies required for their field. No longer merely a “personnel” function, HR is essential to a business’s success. To that end, HR professionals at all levels have established industry-wide certification programs that embrace not only the classic administrative aspects of the position but also the financial and general business knowledge that helps ensure that HR will drive a firm’s success. ARAMARK’s orientation program provides an example of integrating HR professionals into all areas of an operation. ARAMARK Harrison Lodging (AHL) Services has established its “HR Rep” program, which has brought some forty HR professionals into the business to date, with notable success. In this program, AHL’s HR reps become involved in all aspects of the operation, including such unusual areas as finance, sales, marketing, and individual clients’ operations.

For the current study, the authors examined the relationships among two dimensions of organizational climate and several indices of individual and unit-level effectiveness. Specifically, the article proposes that an organization's service and training climate would be related to employee capabilities—operationalized in terms of frontline service capabilities and managerial support capabilities—and that such capabilities would be related to unitlevel measures of employee turnover and sales growth. Using survey and operational data from 201 management and frontline staff members in 22 units of a national restaurant chain, the results from correlation and regression analyses generally supported the proposed relationships. This study replicates and extends previous research and provides a foundation for future conceptual development and empirical work in this research area.

This study tested a model in which pretraining self-efficacy and motivation were hypothesized to mediate the relationship between job involvement, organizational commitment, perceptions of the work environment, and training reactions and knowledge acquisition. It also proposed hierarchical relationships between levels of training effectiveness criteria. A series of analyses demonstrated support for the model. Future research should incorporate a multilevel framework and consider the multidimensional nature of training outcomes.

The hospitality industry has undergone major changes over the last few years (Hartley-Leonard, 1993). A dynamic, changing environment may require a change-oriented, or transformational style of leadership (Tichy and Devanna, The Transformational Leader 1985). The purpose of this study was to test a process model of transformational leadership. Prior research in this area has examined relationships between transformational leadership and a limited set of dependent variables. Moreover, there has been little research on the process by which transformational leadership influences relevant outcome variables. The results showed that transformational leadership has a direct impact on perceptions of subordinate satisfaction with the leader and leader effectiveness, as well as an indirect effect on these variables through its impact on openness of communication, mission clarity, and role clarity.

The influence of factors beyond the immediate training context only recently has been considered in research on training effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the work environment on pretraining motivation, and the subsequent impact of pretraining motivation on two training effectiveness criteria: knowledge acquisition and training reactions. Using data collected from two foodservice safety training programs, the results from correlation and regression analyses showed that trainee perceptions about managerial support for training, as well as perceptions about the availability of equipment necessary to utilize training, had a direct influence on pretraining motivation. The results also showed that pretraining motivation was directly related to knowledge acquisition and positive reactions to training.

In recent years, the hospitality industry has undergone major changes both within the industry and in its operating environment. Researchers have posited that in an environment of change, as descri...

Transformational leadership is a way to convey to employees where the organization is going and their role in that journey. Transformational leaders in this study demonstrated a clear sense of direction, emphasized organizational objectives and their followers' needs, displayed a strong sense of values and ethics, created high standards, and served as an example for others to follow. Such executives are viewed as effective by both peers and subordinates, and as possessing the courage to foster an environment of growth and development.

A field study was conducted to discover how a manager's use of nine different influence tactics is related to target task commitment and the manager's effectiveness. The variables were measured with a questionnaire filled out by subordinates, peers, and the boss of each manager. The most effective tactics were rational persuasion, inspirational appeal, and consultation; the least effective were pressure, coalition, and legitimating. Ingratiation and exchange were moderately effective for influencing subordinates and peers but were not effective for influencing superiors. Inspirational appeal, ingratiation, and pressure were used most in a downward direction; personal appeal, exchange, and legitimating were used most in a lateral direction, coalitions were used most in lateral and upward directions; and rational persuasion was used most in an upward direction