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Under the growing preference for ethnic food and an increase in ethnic restaurants, it is crucial to understand the value of restaurants gaining a competitive edge for their customers. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how exposure to the servicescape affects the formation of emotion and behavior.

This study is based on online survey results pertaining to the servicescape of ethnic restaurants and diners’ evaluations of their experience. The survey items were developed from previous related literature. For accurate data collection, the survey respondents were limited to consumers who had dined in an ethnic restaurant at least once within the previous six months.

The results reveal that substantive and communicative servicescape had a positive influence on both exoticism and authenticity; moreover, exoticism positively affected authenticity. In turn, exoticism and authenticity had a positive influence on place attachment. It also appears that place attachment positively affected experience intensification and extension.

The findings of this study are expected to contribute to competitive management strategies to expand ethnic restaurants. Based on the results, managerial strategies will be set up, focusing on which aspects should receive attention to ensure the intensification and extension of diners’ experiences at ethnic restaurants.

There has been very little research on ethnic restaurants in relation to the integrated relationship between servicescape, authenticity, place attachment and postexperience behavior. This study assumes that the overall service experience of customers of ethnic restaurants can be perceived and evaluated based on substantive and communicative servicescape and that such restaurants can benefit by understanding the specific factors that will give them a competitive edge in running their business.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a research model of employee empowerment along with its contextual determinants (i.e. leader-member exchange (LMX) and schedule flexibility) and primary consequence (i.e. service performance) for restaurant workers in New Zealand and South Korea. The study further examines a moderating role of national differences derived from the power distance theory for the hypothesized paths between empowerment and its determinants and consequences.

This study utilized traditional paper-and-pencil surveys for data collection. A final sample of 303 service employees from restaurants in New Zealand (n=152) and South Korea (n=151) was used to test research hypotheses by structural equation modeling using LISREL (version 8.80).

The study concludes with two core findings supporting research hypotheses. First, as hypothesized, employees who consider their schedule flexible with high LMX quality with their immediate supervisor are more likely to feel empowered, and empowered workers are more likely to perform well in customer services. Furthermore, the results show that the impact of schedule flexibility and LMX on empowerment and the impact of empowerment on service performance are more salient among South Korean employees than their New Zealand counterpart.

Based on job characteristics, work adjustment, and social exchange theories, this study develops and tests a research model of employee empowerment including service context-relevant determinants, i.e., schedule flexibility and LMX, as well as a crucial work outcome, i.e., service performance, using two different national samples. The findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge in understanding the organizational dynamic of employee empowerment in the service industry, suggesting that managers incorporate relevant contextual practices to promote empowerment, which ultimately enhances employees’ service performance. It is also recommended that such practices are carefully implemented, taking into consideration the cultural background of the workforce.

The purpose of this study is to explore the moderating effects of gender and income on the relationship between leadership style and quality of work life (QWL). This study provides meaningful implications for the hospitality industry in terms of gender and income between leadership and QWL.

Data are collected from five-star hotel employees (n = 443) in Turkey. The hypotheses are tested using hierarchical linear regression. The independent and dependent variables used to test the hypotheses involving the dependent variable of QWL are centered prior to the empirical analysis to avoid potential multicollinearity.

Transformational and transactional leadership styles were significant predictors of QWL, controlling for the demographic variables (i.e. age, employment statistics and education level), but gender and income were not significant antecedents of QWL. When it comes to the interaction effect of leadership styles and gender, gender showed a statistically significant moderating effect between transformational leadership and QWL, but not between transactional leadership and QWL. Income had a statistically significant moderating effect between both leadership styles and QWL.

The findings of the study potentially affect hotel management by identifying the moderating effect of gender and income of the employees and demonstrating how quality of life of the employees can be improved by leadership styles of managers.

Previous literature has addressed the issue of leadership and its outcomes. However, there has been limited research on examining the relationship among gender, income, leadership style and QWL in the case of hospitality management.

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a model in which exercise, mediated by emotional intelligence and trust, can result in increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment of frontline hotel workers.

Data for this study were collected from a judgment sample of frontline workers at nine full‐service hotels in South Korea. A total of 210 questionnaires were retrieved.

This study finds that: frequent exercise among hotel workers leads to higher levels of emotional intelligence among them; this emotional intelligence then spawns increased cognition‐based trust in their managers, affect‐based trust in their managers, and overall job satisfaction; the heightened level of cognition‐based trust also has a direct path to overall job satisfaction; and overall job satisfaction results in bolstered organizational commitment.

It could prove informative for future research to investigate the relationships between these constructs in different contexts and settings.

Regarding exercise, those working in the hotel business should be encouraged to make fitness activities part of their lifestyles. In terms of emotional intelligence, this trait should be gauged in the selection process and can also be developed through on‐going training efforts. With respect to associate/manager trust, managers are advised to continually demonstrate “evidence of trustworthiness”.

This research is the first to examine the consequences of exercise among hotel workers. The cascading effects found in this study hold practical value for hoteliers.

Though the effect of transformational leadership (TFL) on followers has been largely examined in hospitality, the findings are rather inconsistent. This paper aims to provide a quantitative review for the relationship between TFL and follower outcomes in hospitality and a detailed analysis of the moderating variables (cultural differences, measurement instrument, rating sources and time lag).

To explore the effect sizes of TFL on followers, this study conducted a quantitative meta-analysis based on 62 primary studies, including 66 independent samples (N = 23,037). The outcomes of TFL were categorized into subordinates’ attitudinal outcomes, relational perceptions and behavioral outcomes.

The results indicate that TFL has the strongest impact on relational perceptions, followed by subordinates’ attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. The results also show that cultural differences, rating sources and time lag partially moderate the relationships between TFL and follower outcomes.

TFL generally has a high level of validity for explaining attitudinal, behavioral and relational perception outcomes of followers in the field of hospitality. Given that, there have been a large number of studies investigating TFL with follower attitudinal and behavioral outcomes, it might not be necessary to continue applying identical frameworks to investigate the effect of TFL. Instead, future research on TFL is expected to explore the relationship between TFL and followers’ relational perceptions and consider cultural and methodological factors.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis to clear theoretical links between TFL and its outcomes in the hospitality context. This study further investigates several moderators that can influence the effects of TFL and helps better understand the influence of TFL in the area of hospitality. The study also provides future research directions for leadership research in the hospitality context.