IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/toueco/v30y2024i3p728-748.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Developing innovation capability in the hotel industry, who and what is important? A mixed methods approach

Author

Listed:
  • VGR Chandran
  • Tariq Ahmed
  • Fedwa Jebli
  • Alexander Josiassen
  • Eva Lang

Abstract

This study employs a sequential mixed methods design to examine the dynamic roles of leadership, customer orientation, and customer collaboration on the innovation capability and performance of Malaysian hotels. An exploratory qualitative assessment based on semi-structured interviews was conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the contextual environment and establish a robust conceptual framework. A confirmatory survey among Malaysian hotel managers allowed for the empirical testing of the hypotheses . The results suggest that customer orientation is a key element that directly promotes hotels’ innovation capabilities. The results further show that the influence of customer collaboration on innovation can be enhanced by a transformational leader. Improvements in innovation capabilities have lasting effects on hotel performance, underscoring their strategic importance in the dynamic hospitality sector. These findings offer important implications for top management and decision-making personnel seeking to leverage innovation as a means of improving performance and gaining a competitive edge.

Suggested Citation

  • VGR Chandran & Tariq Ahmed & Fedwa Jebli & Alexander Josiassen & Eva Lang, 2024. "Developing innovation capability in the hotel industry, who and what is important? A mixed methods approach," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(3), pages 728-748, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:toueco:v:30:y:2024:i:3:p:728-748
    DOI: 10.1177/13548166231179840
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13548166231179840
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/13548166231179840?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hjalager, Anne-Mette, 2010. "A review of innovation research in tourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 1-12.
    2. Chang, Yuan-Chieh & Linton, Jonathan D. & Chen, Min-Nan, 2012. "Service regime: An empirical analysis of innovation patterns in service firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 79(9), pages 1569-1582.
    3. Thakur, Ramendra & Hale, Dena, 2013. "Service innovation: A comparative study of U.S. and Indian service firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1108-1123.
    4. Anning-Dorson, Thomas, 2018. "Customer involvement capability and service firm performance: The mediating role of innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 269-280.
    5. Menguc, Bulent & Auh, Seigyoung & Shih, Eric, 2007. "Transformational leadership and market orientation: Implications for the implementation of competitive strategies and business unit performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(4), pages 314-321, April.
    6. Wang, Chung-Jen & Tsai, Huei-Ting & Tsai, Ming-Tien, 2014. "Linking transformational leadership and employee creativity in the hospitality industry: The influences of creative role identity, creative self-efficacy, and job complexity," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 79-89.
    7. Hipp, Christiane & Grupp, Hariolf, 2005. "Innovation in the service sector: The demand for service-specific innovation measurement concepts and typologies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 517-535, May.
    8. Witell, Lars & Snyder, Hannah & Gustafsson, Anders & Fombelle, Paul & Kristensson, Per, 2016. "Defining service innovation: A review and synthesis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2863-2872.
    9. Chen, Kaui-Hwang & Wang, Chun-Hsien & Huang, Shi-Zheng & Shen, George C., 2016. "Service innovation and new product performance: The influence of market-linking capabilities and market turbulence," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 54-64.
    10. María Tugores & Dolores García, 2015. "The Impact of Innovation on Firms' Performance: An Analysis of the Hotel Sector in Majorca," Tourism Economics, , vol. 21(1), pages 121-140, February.
    11. Siyuan Wang & Linglan Huang, 2022. "A Study of the Relationship between Corporate Culture and Corporate Sustainable Performance: Evidence from Chinese SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-22, June.
    12. Juan Ignacio Pulido Fernández & Antonia Sáez Cala & Cristina Figueroa Domecq, 2011. "Critical External Factors behind Hotels' Investments in Innovation and Technology in Emerging Urban Destinations," Tourism Economics, , vol. 17(2), pages 339-357, April.
    13. Tajeddini, Kayhan, 2010. "Effect of customer orientation and entrepreneurial orientation on innovativeness: Evidence from the hotel industry in Switzerland," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 221-231.
    14. Mariani, Marcello M. & Machado, Isa & Nambisan, Satish, 2023. "Types of innovation and artificial intelligence: A systematic quantitative literature review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PB).
    15. Donate, Mario J. & González-Mohíno, Miguel & Paolo Appio, Francesco & Bernhard, Fabian, 2022. "Dealing with knowledge hiding to improve innovation capabilities in the hotel industry: The unconventional role of knowledge-oriented leadership," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 572-586.
    16. Bagozzi, Richard P. & Baumgartner, Johann & Yi, Youjae, 1989. "An investigation into the role of intentions as mediators of the attitude-behavior relationship," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 35-62, March.
    17. Catarina Fernandes & Rui Pires, 2021. "Exploring the Conceptual Structure of the Research on Innovation in Hotels through Co-Word Analysis," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, August.
    18. Per Carlborg & Daniel Kindström & Christian Kowalkowski, 2014. "The evolution of service innovation research: a critical review and synthesis," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(5), pages 373-398, March.
    19. Camisón, César & Monfort-Mir, Vicente M., 2012. "Measuring innovation in tourism from the Schumpeterian and the dynamic-capabilities perspectives," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 776-789.
    20. Luis Rubalcaba & Diego Aboal & Paula Garda, 2016. "Service Innovation in Developing Economies: Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 607-626, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Machado Léo, Ricardo & Tello‐Gamarra, Jorge, 2016. "Inovac¸ão em servic¸os: estado da arte e perspectivas futuras [Innovation in services: state of the art and future perspectives]," MPRA Paper 82195, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 29 Mar 2017.
    2. Thomas, Rhodri & Wood, Emma, 2015. "The absorptive capacity of tourism organisations," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 84-99.
    3. Villani, Elisa & Linder, Christian & Lechner, Christian & Muller, Lina, 2021. "How do non-innovative firms start innovation and build legitimacy? The case of professional service firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 614-625.
    4. Li, Yanning & Wood, E.H. & Thomas, R., 2017. "Innovation implementation: Harmony and conflict in Chinese modern music festivals," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 87-99.
    5. Cem Işık & Ekrem Aydın & Tarik Dogru & Abdul Rehman & Ercan Sirakaya-Turk & Deniz Karagöz, 2022. "Innovation Research in Tourism and Hospitality Field: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-21, June.
    6. Roxas, Banjo & Chadee, Doren, 2013. "Effects of formal institutions on the performance of the tourism sector in the Philippines: The mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 1-12.
    7. Snyder, Hannah & Witell, Lars & Gustafsson, Anders & Fombelle, Paul & Kristensson, Per, 2016. "Identifying categories of service innovation: A review and synthesis of the literature," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 2401-2408.
    8. Dawid Szutowski & Marlena A. Bednarska, 2014. "Short- and Long-Term Effects of Innovations on Enterprise Market Value: A Case of the Tourism Industry," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 10(4), pages 45-63.
    9. Mert Gürlek & Muharrem Tuna, 2018. "Reinforcing competitive advantage through green organizational culture and green innovation," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(7-8), pages 467-491, June.
    10. Gerdina Handa Serafim & José Manuel Cristóvão Veríssimo, 2021. "The Relationship between Strategic Orientation, Service Innovation, and Performance in Hotels in Angola," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-14, June.
    11. Chu, Zhaofang & Feng, Bo & Lai, Fujun, 2018. "Logistics service innovation by third party logistics providers in China: Aligning guanxi and organizational structure," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 291-307.
    12. Georgios Giotis & Evangelia Papadionysiou, 2022. "The Role of Managerial and Technological Innovations in the Tourism Industry: A Review of the Empirical Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, April.
    13. Torres, Juan Pablo & Barrera, Jose Ignacio & Kunc, Martin & Charters, Steve, 2021. "The dynamics of wine tourism adoption in Chile," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 474-485.
    14. Mahavarpour, Nasrin & Marvi, Reza & Foroudi, Pantea, 2023. "A Brief History of Service Innovation: The evolution of past, present, and future of service innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    15. Saymon Ricardo Oliveira Sousa & Wesley Vieira Silva & Claudimar Pereira Veiga & Roselaine Ruviaro Zanini, 2020. "Theoretical background of innovation in services in small and medium-sized enterprises: literature mapping," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-26, December.
    16. Gry Agnete Alsos & Dorthe Eide & Einar Lier Madsen, 2014. "Introduction: innovation in tourism industries," Chapters, in: Gry Agnete Alsos & Dorthe Eide & Einar Lier Madsen (ed.), Handbook of Research on Innovation in Tourism Industries, chapter 1, pages 1-24, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Yao Wu & Satish Nambisan & Jinghua Xiao & Kang Xie, 2022. "Consumer resource integration and service innovation in social commerce: the role of social media influencers," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 429-459, May.
    18. Bourke, Jane & Roper, Stephen & Love, James H., 2020. "Innovation in legal services: The practices that influence ideation and codification activities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 132-147.
    19. Snyder, Hannah, 2019. "Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 333-339.
    20. Camisón, César & Forés, Beatriz, 2015. "Is tourism firm competitiveness driven by different internal or external specific factors?: New empirical evidence from Spain," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 477-499.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:toueco:v:30:y:2024:i:3:p:728-748. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.