The potential of information technology (IT) resources to empower employees, to shape customer service and contribute to the competitive performance of hospitality firms has received much attention. Yet empirical evidence has been lacking. This study draws on the resource-based view of the firm and the service-profit chain framework to develop and test a model of the effects of a complementary system of tangible and intangible IT resources on employee and customer service outcomes and on competitive performance. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 112 hospitality establishments operating in South Africa. Results revealed that the complementary system of IT resources has significant direct effects on competitive performance whilst its effect on customer service outcomes is fully mediated by employee outcomes. Results support the contention that hospitality service is information intensive. In addition to employees, tangible and intangible IT resources demand the attention of hospitality managers and their role in competitive strategy must be considered.
Hospitality is a high-touch service industry. Yet, it is also knowledge and information intensive (Hallin and Marnburg, 2008). The potential of information technology (IT) resources to shape customer service and hospitality firm performance has thus been recognized (Buhalis and O’Connor, 2005 and Ip et al., 2011). Although research has attempted to advance our understanding of IT application with hospitality (Siguaw et al., 2000, Ham et al., 2005, Sigala, 2005, Wang and Qualls, 2007 and Kumar et al., 2008), questions still surround how effectively IT resources are being used and managed (Buhalis and Main, 1998, Brown and Stange, 2002 and Croes and Tesone, 2004). Moreover, the extant literature has provided us little empirical evidence of the extent to which IT resources combine with employees to shape customer service outcomes and contribute to the competitiveness of hospitality firms.
The purpose of this study is to address this gap. Firstly, we draw on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, and specifically on the concept of resource complementarity, to develop a model of the effects of a complementary system of IT resources on the competitiveness of hospitality organizations. We also draw on the service-profit chain (SPC) framework (Heskett et al., 1994). This framework captures the essence of a service firm's performance by identifying employee attributes and customer service outcomes as the drivers of firm performance. It is useful to examine the indirect effects of IT resources on competitiveness via these employee and customer service outcomes because IT can be most effective within service firms if deployed to support employees in the service delivery process (Bitner et al., 2000 and Khatri et al., 2010). We thus recognize that hospitality organizations are designed around complex processes in which employees have direct contact with customers and that to improve performance attention must be paid to both the people and technological subsystems of the firm (Powell and Dent-Micallef, 1997).
From a practical perspective, out study provides empirical evidence to inform those charged with the responsibility for developing IT resources within hospitality firms and describes the mechanisms through which they come to influence firm outcomes.
While most empirical studies on hospitality have been carried out in western countries as well as in Asia and Australasia, we use data from the South African hospitality industry to test our model. Hospitality and tourism is a significant economic sector within South Africa and has been identified as important to economic growth. Conducting the study in South Africa provides an opportunity to extend theories of hospitality firm performance into this developing country context.
The next section of our paper presents the study's theoretical underpinnings. This is followed by the development of the research model and its associated hypotheses. Subsequently, the research design is discussed including a description of the South African hospitality sector which provides the context for this study. Empirical results are then presented and implications for practice derived. Suggestions for future research are outlined prior to the conclusion.
The objective of this study was to examine the impacts of a complementary system of IT resources on the performance of hospitality firms. Data was collected from 112 accommodation service providers operating in South Africa. Service delivery within hospitality is knowledge and information intensive. Our results show that higher performing hospitality establishments have highly satisfied employees and superior IT resources. Complementary tangible and intangible IT resources can enhance the hospitality working environment by increasing employee satisfaction and competence, and improving customer service outcomes and competitive performance. Hospitality firms must invest in improving both their technical and human subsystems in order to improve customer services outcomes and compete successfully.
