Are humorous frontline employees hotels’ secret weapons? Investigating when and why employee sense of humor promotes service performance

Xinyu Liu, Long-Zeng Wu, Yijiao Ye, Ho Kwong Kwan

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Abstract

Despite the growing efforts devoted to exploring humor, the extant humor literature neglects the impact of employee sense of humor in the workplace, especially in the hospitality industry, an important yet understudied context. Based on person–environment fit theory, our research examines why and when employee sense of humor can influence frontline hospitality employees’ service performance. Our multi-wave research of 232 frontline hospitality employees in two Chinese hotels unveils that employee sense of humor promotes service performance by enhancing person–service job fit. Moreover, customer contact frequency strengthens the direct impact of employee sense of humor on person–service job fit and the indirect effect of employee sense of humor on service performance through person–service job fit. Our research underlines the pivotal role of humorous frontline employees in hospitality organizations.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)103667
Number of pages10
JournalInternational Journal of Hospitality Management
Volume118
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2024

Corresponding author email

wulongzengnew@163.com

Keywords

  • Employee sense of humor
  • Person–service job fit
  • Customer contact frequency
  • Service performance

Indexed by

  • SSCI
  • Scopus

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