Workplace fun for better team performance: focus on frontline hotel employees
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
ISSN: 0959-6119
Article publication date: 11 July 2016
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to reveal how workplace fun promotes team performance in the hotel business context.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual model of this study was tested based on responses from 271 frontline hotel employees (including managers) in the USA, who had full-time work tenure of more than three months in a three-star or above-rated hotel.
Findings
This study revealed that workplace fun activities enhance team performance by promoting employees’ workplace fun experience and by facilitating interpersonal trust and group cohesion, which, in turn, reduce intra-group conflict and stimulates interpersonal citizenship behaviors, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
First, this study adopted subjective team performance measures. Although it can be exaggerated unconsciously, the literature suggests that how team members perceive their team’ performance is also an important indicator of team effectiveness. Second, the conceptual model of this study was tested in the US context. So, in a more collectivistic culture, the model might generate somewhat different results from those of this study.
Practical implications
The findings of this study indicate that workplace fun initiatives by the management are an effective means to promote the performance of frontline work teams at a hotel. Discussions are extended to incorporating fun elements into existing organizational cultures.
Originality/value
By adopting the input–process–outcome framework, this study shows how workplace fun, as a critical input, creates positive group processes and, thereby, promotes positive group outcomes in the hotel business context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Dong-A University research fund.
Citation
Han, H., Kim, W. and Jeong, C. (2016), "Workplace fun for better team performance: focus on frontline hotel employees", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 28 No. 7, pp. 1391-1416. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-11-2014-0555
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited