Innovation strategy and economic sustainability in the hospitality industry

The sharing through corporate sustainability for improving corporate performance in state-owned firms

This research aims to investigate the appropriate ownership structure via mediating role of corporate sustainability on corporate performance in state-owned companies of Pakistan by examining the role of organizational governance, agency problems, and current issue of CEO ownership. Most effective theories within the context of the developing country of Pakistan are taken into account and study explores the following issue. First, ownership structure is more effective and could provide major findings in corporate, innovative, and environmental performance. Second, corporate, innovative, and environmental performance is receiving high attention due to the critical business environment in Pakistan. There are many factors that stimulate the significance of the corporate, innovative, and environmental performance. In this phase, the role of CEO and responsibilities towards the company and its performance is analyzed. This study has conducted the theoretical survey in both foreign and home countries. Further, this step is hallmark in providing some countermeasures recommendation for the betterment of state-owned companies of Pakistan. Third is whether the CEOs and shareholders could enhance the corporate, innovative, and environmental performance. Empirical evidence data is collected via structured questionnaire from SO companies operating in the emerging market of Pakistan. In addition, empirical research in this study includes descriptive statistics tests, co-relation test, and analyses generated hypotheses through Analysis of a Moment Structure (AMOS) using structural equation modeling. Our research findings recommend CEOs and top managers to utilize their financial resources in an efficient way to achieve the advantage.

The influence of institutional conditions on firms’ process innovation – evidence from firms based on a multi-country analysis

Purpose

Our understanding of the influence of institutional conditions on process innovation is still limited, despite managers’ need to know which factors should be considered in decision-making and governments should be aware of how to foster process innovation through the provision of attractive institutions. Therefore, this paper aims to examine how institutional dimensions such as workforce, political instability, labor regulation, corruption, tax administration and transportation influence process innovation in smaller firms located in emerging countries other than the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

Design/methodology/approach

A data set from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys questioning over 20,000 companies from 41 emerging countries supplemented by the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita for each country was used and analyzed by the means of general linear mixed models. The analysis emphasized small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and excluded BRICS countries.

Findings

The findings demonstrate which institutional factors matter for process innovation depending on company size and GDP.

Research limitations/implications

This paper advances research on the influence of institutions on firm innovation – the institution–process innovation relationship in emerging countries other than the BRICS in particular. By considering the role of company size and GDP per capita on the institution–process innovation relationship, the paper offers more nuanced insights compared with prior studies and thus makes a strong contribution to the innovation theory. The data used are not suitable for a longitudinal study the same refers to capturing the variety found in the countries even those coming from the same geographic area.

Practical implications

The results provide practitioners, e.g. managers of SMEs, with concrete ideas on how to improve process innovation in their companies. Other actors such as policymakers too can benefit from the results as they will allow the design of more target group-oriented measures, aspects that can ultimately lead to more sustainable businesses.

Originality/value

By focusing on process innovation and emerging countries, the paper contributes to growing research efforts in emerging countries beyond the BRICS. Thus, the results add more diversity to the study of process innovation and its influencing external (institutional) factors. The emphasis on SMEs also allows us to highlight differences between different categories of SMEs.

Assessing the Relationship Between Internet Banking and Investment Decision Through Sustainability and Competitive Advantage: Evidence From Congolese Banks

Competitive advantage and sustainability emerge as important factors for the success of an organization's overall differentiation. This research aims to identify the relationship between internet banking and bank investment decision, as well as gaging the mediating effects of sustainability and competitive advantage as attributes of investment decisions. To achieve that, a questionnaire was administrated to banks' employees and customers. To carry out the hypothesis testing, we have employed structural equation modeling through SPSS and SmartPLS. The findings suggest that internet banking, sustainability, and competitive advantage constructs are significant antecedents of banks because they highlight valuable attributes for banks to attain future benefits. This paper contributes to bank managers and scholars by providing a framework and supporting theories that help to identify relevant constructs and strategic resource characteristics. From the findings, we recommend conducting future studies in other countries or fields to generalize our results.

Marketing Performance Sustainability in the Jordanian Hospitality Industry: The Roles of Customer Relationship Management and Service Quality

This study examines the mediating role of service quality between customer relationship management (CRM) performance dimensions and the marketing performance of Jordanian hotels using resource-based view theory and contingency theory. A self-administered survey was conducted on 162 general managers of hotels in Jordan. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The findings of the study indicated that service quality mediated the relationship between the CRM performance dimensions (key customer focus, CRM knowledge management, CRM organization, and CRM-based technology) and the marketing performance of Jordanian hotels. This study provides significant contributions to theory and practice. From a theoretical perspective, this study fills in the literature gaps by providing insights about the mediating role of service quality in the relationship between customer relationship management performance dimensions and marketing performance. For managerial contributions, this study suggested that hotels can enhance their marketing performance by focusing on service quality and customer relationship management performance dimensions, especially the key customer focus dimension.

Exploring the Conceptual Structure of the Research on Innovation in Hotels through Co-Word Analysis

This paper presents the results of a bibliometric analysis of published academic research on innovation in hotels. In particular, it aims to analyze the conceptual structure of the field, covering the period until October 2020, and predict emerging trends. This approach provides an exhaustive analysis of 334 papers collected from the Scopus database. Co-word analysis used to identify the conceptual structure reveals four clusters: (1) technological innovation, (2) innovativeness and innovation strategy, (3) knowledge and employee innovative behavior, and (4) performance as an outcome of organizational capability to innovate. The present study contributes to the literature by increasing the accumulation of knowledge on research topics, providing an up-to-date review on hotel innovation literature, and setting forth an agenda for future research.

Case study of sustainable service design in the hospitality industry

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore how creative-cultural hotels can achieve sustainable service design through the development of a holistic conceptual framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors created this framework using a qualitative exploratory multi-case study of four creative-cultural hotels in Taiwan. The framework comprises strategic, organizational and interface levels to describe the design process and implementation of service offerings that co-create value within a multifaceted network of actors.

Findings

The findings of this study show that incorporating local arts and culture into sustainable service design can generate unique value and experiences for customers. From the perspective of sustainable development, these hotels seek to add value by using local creative and cultural resources to ensure that they have a sound commercial base from which to showcase their cultural features. As such, this study recommends that the hotel industry shift its focus to a paradigm that provides a strategic and sustainability-framed vision to create value for society while protecting local natural and cultural resources.

Originality/value

This multilevel model reframes the development of customer value constellations through a holistic understanding of user experience, eco-design practice, service encounters aligned with user touchpoints and front-line employee capabilities. To integrate the perspectives of both service providers and their customers, the proposed model embeds these stakeholders within a single model through the vehicle of local value co-creation. This holistic framework can assist in designing sustainable service within the hospitality industry to deliver better services and customer experiences. The findings provide an illustration of how the proposed multilevel sustainable-development-oriented service design framework can serve as a useful tool in guiding hotels toward corporate sustainability.

Does Innovation Type Influence Firm Performance? A Dilemma of Star-Rated Hotels in Ghana

Innovation, which leads to process changes and product development, tends to increase the sustenance of companies and helps firms to expand faster and more effectively, eventually more profitably than non-innovators. Innovation is commonly seen as a key source of sustainable competitive advantage in a changing environment. However, the success of the hospitality industry relies a lot on how well they gear their innovations towards preserving the natural and cultural attractions that make tourist/customers to visit their destinations. This study, therefore, is empirically designed to explore how innovation types, which include process, product, marketing, and organizational innovation, impact performance of hotel firms in Ghana. With top-level managers being our target respondents, 680 star rated hotels were purposely sampled from the hospitality industry, among which 550 hotel firms provided valid and accurate responses. Data obtained from the survey through the administration of a well-structured questionnaire was analyzed through SPSS statistical package. Through the estimation of series of regression models using the Hierarchical regression method of analysis, we witnessed that process, product, marketing, and organizational innovation employed as innovation types have palpable and statistically significant liaison with performance of hotel firms in Ghana. We, therefore, conclude that, for hotels to achieve high firm performance, personnel within the firm should be encouraged and empowered to develop innovative mentalities and abilities. In addition, hotel firms and the industry at large should be abreast of current trends of sustainability and endeavor to gear their innovation operations towards a more sustainability-oriented firm since incorporating sustainable innovative strategies into firms’ operations will not only create a good image and reduce cost but would also safeguard the natural attractions that guests patronize.