The influences of collectivism in hospitality work settings

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to test whether a hospitality worker's degree of individualism/collectivism influences his/her organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), comfort with empowerment, and leader-member exchange (LMX) in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach - Hypotheses were tested through the use of a sentence completion experiment conducted on American and Korean hotel workers. To increase generalizability, results were then replicated through the use of an identical sentence completion experiment conducted on American and Korean restaurant workers. Findings - This research first confirms the notion that hospitality workers in a collective nation are more apt to possess a collective mindset in their work environments than those in an individualistic nation. Moreover, this research finds that hospitality workers in a collective nation demonstrate more OCB, possess lower comfort levels with empowerment, and possess higher levels of LMX than hospitality workers in an individualistic nation. Research limitations/implications - It would prove informative for future research to test these relationships in other contexts and settings. Practical implications - These findings demonstrate the need to consider country culture when interpreting and managing OCB, employee empowerment, and LMX tendencies in hospitality settings. Originality/value - Research that examines the influences of individualism/collectivism on OCB, comfort with empowerment, and LMX is scarce.