Hospitality leadership competencies and employee commitment: new insights from the booming hotel industry in vietnam

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine how the leadership competencies of frontline managers influence the organizational commitment of their subordinates. The study further examines the relationship between the dominant (strongest) competency and organizational commitment and how this relationship is mediated by leadership consistency. Design - Data were collected from employees in seven hotels in two cities using a multilevel scale for competencies and standardized scales for leadership consistency and commitment. Construct validity of the hospitality leadership competency model (HLCM) was tested by confirmatory factor analysis. A stepwise analysis was run to identify dominant competencies (predictors). Finally, a moderated mediation model was tested. Methodology - This research adopted a quantitative approach to collect and analyse the data. Findings - All competencies were highly and positively related to organizational commitment, with team leadership being the dominant competency and predictor. A moderated mediation mechanism analysis shows that leadership consistency mediated the relationship between team leadership and organizational commitment, but this relationship was slightly attenuated by team size. Originality - The study contributes to (1) validating the HLCM at the frontline level and from the employees’ perspective, (2) quantifying the relationships between organizational commitment and leadership competencies, especially team leadership under the mediating effect of leadership consistency, and (3) creating several evidence-based implications for hospitality educators, employers, and managers.