Firms participate in network relationships with others to access resources that are not otherwise available. The resources may consist of goods, services, information, advice or support. This flow of resources into a firm has the potential to enhance the capability of a firm to react to the external competitive environment. Generally network relationships can be formal and/or informal. For a small firm, a network is more likely to be informal and have social links with individuals such as family, friends and acquaintances. This thesis investigates the network features and networking activities of small tourism and hospitality firms. The context of the research is that of owner-managers of chalet accommodation firms located at coastal and island destinations in the east of Peninsular Malaysia. Thirty-seven chalet owner-managers were interviewed face-to-face, using standardised interview questions and procedures, and case protocol. The research found that chalet firms were set-up mainly for economic motives rather that for lifestyle motives. The networks are composed of family and ethnic links and predominantly bounded by specific localities such as the 'village'. Informal ties are with those with a common interest in tourism products and services within a destination. The networks' contacts for business and social purposes consist of the same people. They represent less diverse, low cost and low maintenance networks. Chalet owner-managers became attached to family for financial reasons and to friends for other matters throughout their business life. This was due to the trust that was built up through the years of the relationship, which led to strong ties. The main reason for networking with the contacts was to exchange ideas, advice, and help. The local culture and religious believes have some influence in the selection of network members, network content and networking motivation as well as become guidelines in the networking activities.

This dissertation explores the role of creative teaching methods in hospitality management education. It examines how hospitality lecturers and students perceive the role of creativity in a selection of higher education institutions in the Republic of Ireland. It also reports on the current level of creative leaching practices within the hospitality discipline in these institutions and how effective they are within the disciplinary and institutional contexts in which they occur. A mixed methods approach was used to gather the views of lecturers and students concerning creativity and its role in higher education within the hospitality discipline. The research adopted three traditional data collection methods: survey questionnaires, interviews and focus groups. The data from the student and lecturer surveys were combined with data from interviews and focus groups to provide an indication of the current levels of creativity in teaching methods. On the whole, the hospitality lecturers and students in the study supported the use of creative teaching methods to enhance hospitality education. This position is consistent with current literature in the field. A range of factors and conditions were identified by the research as enabling or inhibiting the adoption of creative teaching methods in hospitality management education. These included challenging working conditions and a lack of available resources. Additionally, this research was used to identify what the respondents perceived as missing from hospitality education and how teaching and learning could be improved. The results suggest that questions need to be asked about the structure of many hospitality management programmes. The consensus among lecturers and students was the need for a more practically orientated curriculum and increased opportunities for structured work placements. In summary the results of this study add to our understanding of how hospitality lecturers and students perceive the role of creativity in higher education. They also indicate the current level of creative teaching practices within the hospitality discipline and how effective they are within the disciplinary and institutional contexts in which they are practised.

In support of the resource based view (RBV), the current study understands that the internal capabilities possessed by an organisation may play a major role in creating its success, especially in a fast-moving service industry such as the hotel industry. A thorough review of literature suggests that if a hotel possesses three capabilities. namely organisational learning (single and double-loop learning), innovation and trust, they are likely to improve its performance. Simons' "Levers of control ( LOC) framework proposes that the diagnostic and interactive usage styles of management control system (MCS) may hinder or enhance the organisational capabilities within a firm. This study begins by identifying a gap in research about MCS usage styles in Omani hotels and theoretically amalgamates the RBV and LOC frameworks to develop a conceptual model aiming to explore the influence of five dimensions of diagnostic and interactive MCS on the organisational capabilities of learning. innovation and trust and, hence, the performance of Omani hotels. The five dimensions are: planning, cost control, performance measurement, staff management and decision-making. A mixed method approach comprising a mail-based survey and multiple case studies is employed for data collection. Contrary to expectations, evidence suggests that the diagnostic MCS IS a facilitator, rather than an obstacle to organisational capabilities. The interactive MCS complements these competencies and helps Omani hotels to realise optimal deployment of their capabilities and boost their performance. The study also reveals the pattern of relationships between the study variables and exposes that the complementary and collective use of diagnostic and interactive MCS dimensions is likely to enhance trust capability, followed by learning and innovation capabilities, and. hence, boost the performance of Omani hotels.

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This research provides a unique insight into the experiences of employees in the hotel sector, with particular reference to personal career development, which, to date, has had limited consideration within the Talent Management (TM) and career literature. In recent years, there has been a shift in the academic literature from a focus on the organisational practices of TM to the experiences of individual employees, taking into consideration their views and opinions on and their aspirations for their personal career development. There remains much to be understood about the experiences of individual employees of TM practices in the hotel sector, and this study aims to fill a gap in knowledge. In order to meet the aim of this research, a qualitative approach was adopted, and narrative inquiry was selected as the optimum route to obtaining detailed and rich accounts of personal career development. 15 in-depth interviews were conducted with employees in a small hotel chain. The participants in this study were 15 hotel staff members (8 employees and 7 managers) of different ages, nationality, gender, departments and experience to maximize variation. Three main themes were identified: Life as a hotel employee, Understanding TM practices in hotels and Personal career development in hotels. Using the narrative approach allowed for the unfolding of participants‘ stories including their entry into the hospitality industry to the pursuit of their dream position in the field. This study makes an important contribution to understanding the employee perspective of TM and career development. One of the outcomes of this study is the development of a conceptual framework, which provides a useful model that offers insights into the experiences of employees and managers within the hotel sector and the role of TM practices in personal career development. It identifies empirically found concepts and their interrelationships and reveals the possibility to integrate TM and career development. This study marks the first piece of research to illuminate the experiences of individual employees within the hotel sector and the role of TM practices in personal career development. Implications for practice and future research directions are outlined in order to identify the scope of work yet to be explored in this area.

This thesis explores the theory of Goffman’s institutions and applies his concept to the UK Branded Restaurant Industry. Restaurants in the UK are a large part of the tourism hospitality industry, representing around 50% of the business activity in these fields, of which we see dominance from a number of branded operators. Goffman’s institutions, flow, commitment, motivation, spirituality, and deviant behaviour are combined to create a theoretical underpinning for an empirical analysis of staff working in the field. The research focuses on the drivers of flow and commitment of staff. The study successfully applies Goffman’s theory of institutions to the UK Branded Restaurant Industry, by finding similarity in the concepts which are central to those of a traditional asylum, as discussed in Goffman’s early works, and contributing additional aspects to his original theories. The study is the first large scale empirical analysis to examine the nature of flow, commitment, motivation, spirituality, and deviant behaviour, in the context of UK Branded Restaurants. Within the study, the findings show that there is gender parity in this section of the tourism and hospitality industry, which deviates from previous literature. It also identifies key groups of employees who demonstrate higher levels of commitment through intrinsic values and belief systems. The findings are particularly important to managers as they point what is important when identifying new staff members.

The objective of this research was to investigate the concept of competencies, explore and identify the management competencies of hotel owner-managers and general managers in the hospitality industry in the Republic of Ireland. In other words, this research explored how hotel owner-managers and general managers identified, interpreted and made sense of their notion of managerial competencies in a complex work environment. The research was set within the context of the Irish hospitality and tourism industry, specifically within the hotel sector which has experienced a socio-economic crisis and periods of significant change. Hotels in the Republic of Ireland play a key role in its economic and cultural life, as Ireland has earned an international reputation for welcoming visitors from across the globe. This study drew on a social constructionism ontology: an interpretative epistemology with a theoretical perspective that framed the methodology using qualitative data analysis and interpretation. Qualitative data, with its emphasis on ‘people’s lived experience are well suited for locating the meanings they place on events, processes and structures of their lives, and for connecting these meanings to the social world around the’ (Miles & Huberman, 1994:10). The data was collected from interviews with twelve hotel owners and general managers in the Republic of Ireland. Three interdependent themes including managing hospitality services in hotels, staff, and language of emotion emerged. The thematic analysis was analysed using Weick’s sensemaking framework to garner meanings that are socially constructed through their lived experience of work. These three themes were woven together across two broad lines of enquiry: 1. How hotel owner-managers and general managers identified and used their qualities and the language of emotion together with skills and knowledge to manage employees to deliver hospitality services internally in hotels punctuated by a complex external business environment. 2. How hoteliers made sense of self-identity and occupational identities in their efforts to become competent hotel owner-managers and general managers in the hospitality industry in Ireland. The findings reveal evidence pointing towards a social constructionist process (Berger & Luckmann 1966) through which these hoteliers constructed their realities of clusters of management competencies using a combination of learned skills and knowledge underpinned by qualities and emotions. It examined these competency clusters of qualities such as honesty, integrity, respect, a positive attitude, intrinsic care, and intuition whilst the role of emotions such as care, empathy and support were used to build relationships as key skills in managing employees and customers alike. Alongside these, clusters of skills included communication, financial and cost management and technology and managing people as well as facilities management. Finally, it was argued that taken together in what constitutes competence these clusters of qualities, emotions, skills and knowledge were conceptualised that these are the building blocks for assembling a competent identity of self-fused into the occupational identity of an hotelier, be they an owner-manager or general manager.

Electronic Distribution Channels (EDCs) were first used by hotels in the 1980s. Since that date their usage has been ongoing with new channels being continuously developed. Nowadays, EDCs are critically important to hotel marketing. There is a rich EDC literature, including a number of case studies, for chain hotels but little work that focuses on marketing consortia or non-affiliated (independent) hotels. Four main issues facing hoteliers in their use of EDCs are identified i.e. complexity; price transparency; the quality of hotel information shown on EDC and building relationships with customers. Various authors have highlighted the importance of managing EDC and applying a systematic approach to evaluate it at regular intervals. Existing management models and hotel distribution images have also been criticized as in need of updating to design a comprehensive EDC management model. A comparative case study (first phase of research) of EDC exploitation in affiliated and non-affiliated hotels was undertaken in Wales, involving semi-structured interviews with hotel managers and website analysis. The results identified two key interrelated challenges for hoteliers: complexity and quality of information. Communication between EDC companies and hotels emerged in this phase as a significant issue facing hoteliers. These findings led to the development of an initial EDC performance evaluation flowchart to help hoteliers in exploiting EDCs. Followed by an initial EDC management model summarised the case study findings. A phenomenological approach (second phase of research) was adopted to develop and generalize the results which are accommodated in the final EDC management model. In this phase, industry and expert panels were formed from: experts and managers belonging to: non-affiliated hotels; EDC companies; chain headquarters; marketing consortia head offices. Semi-structured interviews were held and selfadministered surveys were distributed to the panel participants. Several future trends were identified, together with new channels which are anticipated to grow e.g. virtual travel communities (VTCs). These informed the design of the new hotel distribution model. The major shift in the final results was in the initial EDC evaluation flowchart. It was split to include four different areas: search engine optimization (SEO); hotel website; quality of hotel information shown on EDC; value for money. The final EDC performance evaluation toolkit was designed to accommodate the different needs of hoteliers (these differences were based on typologies; locations and financial abilities of hotels) and to help them fully exploit EDCs.

The purpose of this research was to present a straightforward and achievable online strategy in the form of a structured conceptual framework for hotel accommodation providers and practitioners that was extensive and holistic yet easy to understand and achievable. The basis of this framework was achieved through critical analysis of the literature around the online hotel accommodation process under two main headings (1) online hotel accommodation behaviour and (2) online hotel accommodation thoughts and emotions. Each of these main headings were examined under the influencing factors which were internal to the online process (the individual, search engines, third parties / social media and hotel accommodation websites) and external to the process (online access devices and device visual interaction). The data collected was extracted from the 100 individual in-depth observational interviews, the 3,107,281 individual online searches extracted from the online analytics of 18 different hotels over an 18 month period and the interviews of the managers of these 18 hotels. Analysis of the data reinforced the conceptual framework structure providing a standardised map of online hotel accommodation behavioural, thoughts and emotional process patterns. The analysis also revealed mismatches with current perceived norms. Mismatches noted between the requirements of online consumers and the online experience being presented prevent targeted personalisation and individualisation difficulties such as single individuals using multiple devices, multiple individual using single devices, complex multiple segments within single individuals and individual behavioural differences within a single travelling group. Other areas analysed with complex behavioural mismatches included travel stage behavioural differences and psychological advertisement blindness. The thesis culminates in the presentation of the conceptual framework structured on the internal and external factors, the process factors and the sub factors. All these factors and sub factors are correlated through the structure of the thesis, starting from the literature review going through to the research methodology, the data collection and analysis and ending with the recommendations and conclusions.