Workplace Innovation and Organizational Performance in Hospitality Industry

Workplace Innovation and Organizational Performance in the Hospitality Industry

 

2021 – This article reports on a questionnaire survey among 3- and 4 stars Hotels in the Netherlands.

The hotels were surveyed with the Workplace Innovation Survey of the Dutch Network of Social Innovation (NSI) and the results were compared with those from private companies in general.

 

Concepts

The authors define workplace innovation as changes to organizations and new ways of cooperation that result in better development and use of employees’ competencies to increase organizational performance and enhance other organizational, societal, or employee goals.

 

In the study six components are distinguished in WPI:

  1. A strategic orientation towards WPI
  2. the ability to self-organize
  3. Internal speed of change
  4. Sustainable employment
  5. Investments in knowledge
  6. Talent development.

 

The dependent variable ’performance of the organization’ is divided in four components

  1. Growth of revenue
  2. New products
  3. Sustainability
  4. Absenteeism

 

Hypotheses

In the study 8 (1, 2a,b,c,d,e,f, and 3) hypotheses were tested.

 

Hypothesis 1 (H1). Workplace innovation has a positive relationship with organizational performance.

 

Hypothesis 2a (H2a). Strategic orientation on workplace innovation has a positive relationship

with organizational performance.

Hypothesis 2b (H2b). The ability to self-organize has a positive relationship with organizational

performance.

Hypothesis 2c (H2c). Internal speed of change has a positive relationship with organizational

performance.

Hypothesis 2d (H2d). Sustainable employment has a positive relationship with organizational

performance.

Hypothesis 2e (H2e). Investment in knowledge has a positive relationship with organizational

performance.

Hypothesis 2f (H2f). Talent development has a positive relationship with organizational performance.

 

Hypothesis 3 (H3). The hospitality industry has lower workplace innovation than other industries

have.

 

Results

Hypothesis 1 is supported. The more hotels invest in WPI, the better the performance of the organization: profits grow, more new products are developed and there is better performance on sustainability. The absenteeism rate is diminishing.

 

Hotels appear to apply workplace innovation less often than other companies. Hypothesis 3 is supported.

 

The more strategic orientation towards WPI in hotels, the more positive effects were observed on the four dependent factors: growth in revenue, development of new products, sustainability and absenteeism. This supports Hypothesis 2a.

Hypotheses 2b and 2f were also confirmed.

This partly also applied to H2c and e, for these conditions no positive relationship with the development of new products was found.

Hypothesis 2d. could not be tested due to limited response to related questions.

Conclusion

Hotels should invest more in workplace innovation to improve their performance, also because this will enable them to profit more of new technologies.

 

Reference

Stoffers, Jol; Eringa, Klaes; Niks, Jannie; Kleefstra, Anne. Workplace Innovation and Organizational Performance in the Hospitality Industry. In: Sustainability 2021, 13, 5847. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13115847 .

 

 

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