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Based on conservation of resources theory, this study aims to understand how employees’ level of mindfulness serves as a boundary condition capable of negatively conditioning the process through which empowering leadership affects employees’ proactivity and extra-role service (ERS) behaviors.

A total of 361 Spanish frontline employees in the hospitality sector collaborated in this research. We tested our hypotheses using a bootstrapping method to perform a regression study employing the PROCESS macro developed for Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

As expected, our results confirmed the direct and indirect positive effects between empowering leadership and ERS. However, these effects nearly disappeared when employees exhibited high levels of mindfulness.

Worker ERS behavior is a key way for hotels to distinguish themselves from competitors. Paradoxically, ERS is discretionary and not part of the employee’s formal duties. Although mindfulness is often promoted to enhance organizational functioning, our study highlights its drawbacks in hospitality. Hotel work requires proactive decision-making, and we found that mindfulness curbs this, thereby impeding ERS. This study suggests that mindfulness may act as an anchor in a service work environment.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify whether there are differences in the implementation of quality management (QM) and the results achieved, based on the position of the person responsible for QM and his/her strategic priorities.

Data from 256 firms that have implemented QM are collected. A multigroup analysis with LISREL is employed to contrast the hypotheses using a sample of general managers on the one hand and of quality managers on the other.

This study shows that QM is stronger implemented when it is headed by the general manager than by the quality manager. The authors also find that in both samples of general managers and quality managers, only one of the three strategic priorities analyzed, cost orientation, shows a positive effect on financial results. When the influence of QM on financial results is considered, the relationship is significant just in the case of the sample of quality directors.

The limitations of the analysis performed suggest lines of research that can substantially enrich the analysis of the role of management in the implementation of QM systems. A first step would be to expand the study sample, since the subsample for general managers was not very large. Gathering more recent data could contribute to strengthening the results obtained and to identifying additional explanatory variables. For example, information on functional experience or training could clarify the strategic focus adopted by managers.

This study highlights that the general manager's commitment to quality confers greater credibility in the rest of the organization. Although the general managers impose greater implementation of QM, they do not perceive that this influences the financial results achieved directly. The incorporation of strategic priorities in this study also shows that the perception of differentiation in marketing in firms that have implemented QM is similar both for quality managers and for general managers. However, the former (quality managers) also show that differentiation in innovation has a positive effect on QM.

Literature has shown an indisputable consensus on the relevance of leadership and the commitment of top management to the success of QM, but few studies provide more in‐depth specific knowledge of the characteristics and actions developed by the person who leads the commitment to quality. This study tackles the role of the manager responsible for QM in the firm, based on his or her functional position, whether general manager or quality manager. It contributes by investigating how a manager's strategic priorities condition the level of QM implementation, as well as the financial performance achieved.

The work described in this paper is of direct relevance to those with an interest in the phenomena surrounding information and communication technologies adoption by the rural accommodation sector. The paper aims to provide the results from a preliminary study, which examined differences in the level of inter‐firm technology adoption between rural and urban accommodation establishments within a major tourism destination, Scotland.

A survey was conducted, and the results set out here suggest that these differences are only presented with two types of technology, i.e. systems requiring networking infrastructure and sector‐specific applications.

The discussion suggests that the neoclassical theory of growth and theory of development are contradictory but that they complementarily explain different levels of adoption between rural and urban setting.

Not only theoretical, but also industry implications and suggestions for further research are presented.

Previous studies examining these phenomena within other industries suggest that rural businesses tend to have weaker technology adoption than those located in urban settings. However, they fail to provide any conclusive theoretical explanation for these differences.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a theoretical framework, the holistic mental model process, with major contextual factors (cultural, situation, cognitive and affective contexts) to help better understand tourists’ perception and evaluation of intercultural tourists–tour guide service encounters.

Summary tables of an extensive literature review of previous empirical studies relating to intercultural service encounters, service encounter and service quality to help derive the holistic mental model process framework are included.

Gaps from the previous literature were identified along with in-depth explanations as to how a holistic mental model process can be applied to tourists evaluating intercultural tourist–tour guide service encounters and the service quality of their overall travel experience.

The current conceptual framework of the holistic mental model process targets specifically on the intercultural tourists–tour guide service encounters. More in-depth empirical studies can be conducted focusing on specific variables of the intercultural tourist–tour guide service encounters and on the factor differences between specific cultures.

This research has practical implications for travel agencies and tourism companies. Travel agencies and tour companies can apply the holistic mental model process framework to examine and analyze the influential variables between tourists and tour guide (i.e. cultural differences, etiquette, norms and behaviors), thus design better tour guide training programs accordingly.

Service encounter is a social activity that is influenced by the social environment. To achieve the best service quality, all parties, including tourists, tour guide, tour companies, host community, must understand cultural differences; work together in coordination and cooperation.

This is the first study that provides an in-depth holistic mental model process by integrating major contextual factors to examine tourists’ evaluation of intercultural service encounters between themselves and tour guides.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of the co-alignment of structural variables on innovation, wherein Bogotá-based SMEs, belonging to the industrial, commercial and services sectors, were used as samples.

The study was conducted using a causal inference methodology and through the application of a structural equation model.

The results indicate that organizational structure has an influence on innovation, although this is true only for some variables and only when the analysis is performed separately. When performed under strategic co-alignment conditions, however, its influence becomes greater.

Organizational structure and innovation are determining factors of organizational performance. Although the strategic co-alignment theory has provided points of reference to understanding the phenomenon of organizational performance, there are still many gaps left to be filled. Additionally, it also requires empirical validation especially in relation to Colombian SMEs – and this is where this work makes a contribution.

El objetivo de este artículo es determinar el efecto de la co-alineación de las variables estructurales con la innovación en una muestra de Pymes Bogotanas de los sectores industrial, comercial y de servicios.

El estudio se llevó a cabo mediante una metodología de inferencia causal aplicando un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales.

Los resultados indican que la estructura organizacional influye sobre la innovación solo desde algunas variables cuando el análisis se realiza por separado, pero cuando el análisis se efectúa en condiciones de co-alineación estratégica, el impacto es mayor.

La estructura organizacional y la innovación son factores determinantes del desempeño organizacional. Si bien la teoría de la co-alineación estratégica ha entregado los referentes para comprender el fenómeno del desempeño en la organización, aún faltan muchos vacíos por llenar y más validación empírica, sobre todo en las influencias con la innovación y especialmente en el ámbito de las Pymes Colombianas. Este trabajo realiza un aporte en este sentido.