The impact of CEO servant leadership on firm performance in the hospitality industry

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to draw on the theory of servant leadership to examine the influence of chief executive officer (CEO) servant leadership on firm performance in the hospitality industry. It examined the mediating role of the service climate and the moderating role of competitive...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of contemporary hospitality management Vol. 28; no. 5; pp. 945 - 968
Main Authors Huang, Jun, Li, Weiwen, Qiu, Canhua, Yim, Frederick Hong-kit, Wan, Junbao
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bradford Emerald Group Publishing Limited 01.01.2016
Subjects
Chief executive officers
Customer services
Employees
Empowerment
Ethics
Hospitality industry
Hotels & motels
Hypotheses
Information processing
Job performance
Leader-member exchange
Leadership
Personal development
Quality of service
Servant leadership
Studies
Success
China
Firm performance
Competitive intensity
CEO servant leadership
Service climate
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Purpose The purpose of this paper is to draw on the theory of servant leadership to examine the influence of chief executive officer (CEO) servant leadership on firm performance in the hospitality industry. It examined the mediating role of the service climate and the moderating role of competitive intensity in the relationship between CEO servant leadership and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach Multiple regression was used to analyze multi-wave, multi-source data from 92 hotels in China. A moderated path analysis was used to test the moderating effects. Findings CEO servant leadership positively influenced firm performance via the service climate in the hospitality industry. Competitive intensity strengthened the direct effect of the service climate on firm performance, and the indirect effect of CEO servant leadership on firm performance via service climate. Research limitations/implications The findings offer managerial insights into CEO succession, service management and human resource management. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to investigate how and when CEO servant leadership might shape firm outcomes in the hospitality industry. Theoretically, the findings enrich our understanding of how CEO leadership might shape firm-level outcomes.
ISSN:0959-6119
1757-1049
DOI:10.1108/IJCHM-08-2014-0388