Leading toward creativity and innovation: A study of hotels and resorts

To stay competitive, hotels and resorts require focusing on being innovative. Given the important role of innovation in the contemporary hotel industry, this research investigated how employee’s creativity and innovation can be motivated. Of all the determinants of employee’s innovative behavior, leadership has been highlighted in the literature as one of the most influential organizational factors in encouraging subordinates’ creativity and innovation. This study examined the influence of perceived innovation-enhancing leadership behaviors on employee’s creativity and innovation in Iranian hotels and resorts. In particular, this research investigated the direct impact of seven categories of innovation-enhancing leadership behaviors on employee’s creativity and innovation, drawing on a sample of 107 employees and managers from three-star, four-star, and five-star hotels and resorts in Iran. The empirical findings indicated that the construct of innovation-enhancing leadership is positively and significantly associated with employee’s creativity and innovation; further, this study identified particular leadership behaviors that account for employee’s creativity and innovation in the Iranian hotel sectors. This research also reviews the literature on the topic of effective leadership practices in the Asian hotels industry in order to understand more comprehensively how leadership enhances employee’s innovative behavior in the context of the hotel industry. On the basis of this finding, industry practitioners would be able to develop strategies that enhance and sustain organizational competitive advantage, and this outcome especially in regard to leadership behaviors offers useful directions for training and development programs.

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