Research into innovativeness and customer orientation in the service industry is burgeoning, yet our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of both activities in hospitality management remain unclear. To address this problem we investigate the link between corporate culture, indicators of innovativeness and business performance in the Swiss hotel industry, because the Swiss have a proclivity toward innovation as well as a long established record in hospitality management. Data were generated from 96 businesses in the hotel industry and the results were analysed using structural equation modeling. They suggest that cultural dimensions are positively associated with customer orientation, innovativeness, and company performance. The implications of the findings are discussed along with limitations and future research directions.
In order to compete in the long-term, companies need an innovative culture and must respond to customer needs, but there has been little research into the relationship between country, culture and performance in the hotel industry (Chen, 2011 and Orfila-Sintes and Mattsson, 2009). Despite the fact that we see services dominating the economic landscape of the postindustrial economies of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), empirical research about hospitality services from a country innovativeness perspective is still quite scarce (Dolfsma, 2004, Hollenstein, 2000 and Ottenbacher and Gnoth, 2005). This is an important omission because in the hotel industry, relationships between customers and service providers mean that the delineation between the internal and external company environment is blurred; and an appropriate corporate culture is likely to impact on the ability of a company to innovative and perform successfully. Corporate culture is rooted in deeply held perceptions, norms, values, beliefs, or expectations that are shared by, and are unique to, a particular organization and country (Hofstede et al., 1990 and Martinez-Ros and Orfila-Sintes, 2009). However organizations do not exist in a vacuum and it is important to understand how a pervading company culture, that may be affected by country and industry as much as company norms, values and beliefs, can influence the approach toward innovativeness and customer orientation (Ottenbacher, 2007 and Chen, 2011), particularly in the long established hotel industry in Switzerland (Tajeddini, 2011).
Without innovation, companies are unable to survive competition, but there is always a balance between the need for change and the need for efficient processes built upon years of practice (Abernathy, 1978). In the hospitality industry this practice means understanding and addressing customer needs as well as providing a unique ‘innovative’ experience, as discussed in Chen's (2011) work into the hotel industry in Taiwan. The cultural value systems of ‘customer orientation’ and ‘innovativeness’ represent organizations that need to balance an efficient performance and responsiveness to change in today's highly competitive business environment (Ottenbacher, 2007 and Yilmaz et al., 2005). Innovativeness reflects an organizational culture that encourages the introduction of new processes, products and ideas that underpin strategic orientation in the long-term ( Tajeddini and Trueman, 2008 and Hult et al., 2003). On the other hand customer orientation arises from a set of beliefs that put customer interests first, and ahead of other stakeholders forming part of a broader corporate culture ( Chen, 2011, Avlonitis and Gounaris, 1999 and Deshpandé et al., 1993).
Consequently, this research provides an insight into the Swiss hospitality industry, using Hofstede's (1980) work on culture, behavior and nationality. In particular three societal–culture factors, ‘individualism’, ‘power distance’ and ‘long term orientation’ are adopted because of their relationship with innovation and customer oriented value systems as well as nationality. Individualism refers to a worldview where social behavior is guided by personal goals, and ambitions that may not coincide with group interests ( Newman and Newman, 2009). Power distance relates to the degree of asymmetry in power relationships for employees who may not be empowered to make decisions ( Hofstede, 1980), and long-term orientation considers relationships with target customers by gathering, disseminating and responding to information about the business environment over time ( Ho Voon, 2006). Therefore we investigate how these cultural factors relate to customer orientation, innovativeness and company performance in the Swiss hospitality industry.
