LITERATURE REVIEW

TOPIC: INVESTIGATION INTO THE IMPACT OF TALENT MANAGEMENT

AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

2.1 Concepts and Definition

2.1.1 Brief History of Hospitality Industry

2.1.2 Concept of Hospitality

Hospitality industry is a service industry that has provisions for food, accommodation

and amusement. Hospitality industry is an industry that is most concerned with the cordial

reception of guests (Chibili, 2010). It is made up of a wide range of businesses, each of which

is dedicated to the service of people away from home. O’Gorman (2007) stated that

hospitality exists within the lived experience and that it is a gift shared between the “host”

and the “guest” that turns a stranger into a “friend” for a limited period of time. Ariffin et al.

(2013) suggested the ultimate aim of hospitality is creating a memorable service experience

through the host-guest interpersonal relationship. Lashley (2015) stated that the act of

hospitality and service is to make others feel comfortable, welcome and pampered, whether it
is prison meal distribution or a five-star hotel’s fine dining restaurant. Hospitality industry is

a category of the service sector which includes; lodging, event planning, entertainment and

transportation, goods and services, assist in business, pleasure and leisure activities away

from the home environment within tourism arena (Bhatia, 2002; Okpala, 2015). One factor

that sets hospitality apart from other industries is the high amount of human interaction that is

involved and the fact that its aim is to generate happiness in someone’s life (Pizam & Shani,

2009). The hospitality industry includes hotels, Casinos and Resorts among others. which

offer comfort and guidance to strangers whether commercial or non-commercial (Odo, 2016).

Fast food outlets, snack bars, cafeterias, restaurants, clubs, guest houses, airline operators,

road transportation operators and a host of other service companies are all in the hospitality

business (Adeola & Ezenwafor, 2016).

Similarly, hospitality involves hosting and providing a guest with accommodation,

food and other needs without any profit motive (Page, 2007). It evolved from hosting visiting

friends and relatives with the expectation that he/she might reciprocate the kind gesture in the

future (Emengini, 2004). In modern-day society, hospitality has become a commercialized

experience. The guest pays for the goods and services they consume via a bill (Page, 2007).

The expansion of hotels led to the development of different classes of accommodation to

cater for different categories of tourists (Page, 2007; Emengini, 2004). The principal concepts

for achieving hospitality is providing a room, drink, food or entertainment, then the offering

should be given with considerations to the physical and psychological comfort of the

customers, clients or guests; thus, the physical structure, design, decoration and location of

the facility and comfort (Abomeh, 2012).

Similarly, Chigozie (2006), stated that the constituent of hospitality industry which

include the transport, finance, hotels and suites, food and beverages, recreation, hospitals,

tourism, education, agriculture, etc. However, from the views expressed by various authors, it
is clear to note that hotels are part of hospitality industry. The definition of hospitality

connotes friendliness, care, generosity, reception which must be delivered in a superlative

effectiveness and efficiency by the workers. Abomeh, (2012), asserts that hospitality

industry is the business of profit or non-profit making organisation that provides security for

the guest, meeting their physical and psychological needs. According to the findings of

Timothy and Samson (2014), the Nigerian hospitality industry has contributed significantly to

the socio-economic development of the country. There has been a remarkable growth

witnessed in the numbers of travelers around the world for the past few decades that grew

from 525 million back in 1995 to 1.2 billion in 2016 within hospitality industry (World

Bank, 2017).

Hospitality industry provides the main services that meet the vital needs of tourists,

namely accommodation and catering, but also services that offer the guests the opportunity of

leisure and services aimed at the satisfaction of desires, preferences and motivations

requested by tourists (Briciu, Scorţe, &Meşter, 2014). The hospitality industry is defined here

in accordance with the five industry segments of the International Council on Hotel,

Restaurant, and Institutional Education (ICHRIE, 2006): lodging services; food services;

recreation services; travel-related services; and convention and meeting services. The

hospitality industry is the combination of the accommodation and food and beverage

groupings, collectively making up the largest segment of the industry (Skripak, Parsons,

Cortes &Walz, 2016). According to the author hospitality industry can be classified as: Hotel

and lodging: This sector within the hospitality industry primarily involves where guests will

be staying as well as the amenities that they are provided with, from luxury properties to

budget hotels and hostels, each location is intended to suit your discrete needs. It can be

argued that hotel and lodging represent the veritable backbone of the hospitality sector and as

a result, management will place a great deal of emphasis upon what they have to offer. Hotel
and lodging sector such as: bed and breakfasts, hotels, motels, hostels, resorts, serviced

apartments and time-sharing plans.

Secondly,food and beverages: This sector is very important in hospitality industry,

guests will need to be offered food and drink services during their stay. Food and beverage is

a cornerstone of hospitality in general, as the quality and availability of such items will often

impact the overall customer experience and in turn the status of the hotel itself such as:

restaurants, catering, bars & cafés, nightclubs, nightclubs and tea and coffee shops.

Thirdly, travel and tourism: Tourist need to be provided with a timely means to arrive

at their destination such as Trains, aeroplanes, cruise liners, and even car hire services are all

encompassed by this category. The sector comprises of travel agents, online travel agencies

(OTA’s), cruises, car rental, bus car, Eco tourism.

Finally, conventions and events: This sector is mainly where planners assist in

organizing events that bring people together for the purpose of a meeting either small, large

or convention that show cases an entire industry. Events can be as specific as party planning

for a wedding, meeting exposition, cocktail party, dinner party or other similar occasions to

huge events such as trade shows and association meetings.

Hospitality industry according to (Dittaman, Hesford&Potter, 2009) is both labour-

and capital-intensive and operates with severe short-term capacity constraints for example a

hotel company invests large sums of money in real estate holdings, furnishings and capital

equipment whereby these costs are fixed over relatively long periods of time. The hospitality

industry is very dynamic with lot of different categories and sectors under its umbrella such

as hotel sector, aviation, food and beverage, travel and tourism to name a few (Pantelic,

2017). Hospitality industry has shown tremendous strength in the aspect of human capital and

structural development. The hospitality industry’s main function is to offer travellers homes

away from homes and provide friendly reception and warm greetings (Walker, 2007). It is
made up of businesses that provide lodging, food and other services to travellers, the main

components are hotels, motels, inns, resorts and restaurants (Alhassan & Sakara, 2014). The

industry is both national and international in nature and in terms of accommodation it ranges

from luxury to budget hotels, from city centre business properties to tourism resorts and from

motels to health spas, In the wider sense, time- share, caravanning and camping should be

considered a part of the industry (Ghosh, 2006). The hospitality business is peculiar among a

sub-sector of hospitality, catering and tourism that includes fast food outlets, clubs, snack

bars, guest houses, banquet halls and event tents, among others (International labour

organisation, 2010).

Hospitality Industry refers to companies or organisations which provide food and

drinks, an accommodation to people who are away from home (Chan and Mackenzi, 2013)

However, the authors further stated that this definition of the “Hospitality Industry” only

satisfies most situations with the following characteristics. They are: Product-service mix: In

the hospitality industry, customers rarely consume pure products but a mixture of products

and services. For example, one who dines in a restaurant will not only pay for the food and

drinks but the services provided by the servers. The bill has covered both tangible and

intangible experience. Tangible features- for example, a steak as the main course, a glass of

house wine, well groomed service staff and decoration of the restaurant. Intangible features

are, a comfortable dining atmosphere or the friendly attitude of staff. A successful hospitality

business does not only count on its products and services, but also how they are delivered.

The qualities of staff and the way they deliver the service are often more important than the

tangible products in making a hospitality experience satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Hence, the

two features can contribute to the total experience in the service delivery process. As

products and other tangible features can be easily imitated by competitors, hospitality
operations which aimed for high-ended customers and ‘superior’ quality gradually spend

more and more resources in enhancing the service standard as a strategy of differentiation.

Secondly, is two-way Communication: In order to achieve service excellences in the

hospitality industry, two-way communication is one critical factor which requires the

involvement and participation of both customers and service staff in the service delivery

process. Through interactions with customers, important messages about their needs and

expectations can be received by service staff for their immediate actions to create customer

satisfaction. Interactions between internal staff or inter-departments is also critical since total

experiences of customers in using any lodging or food and beverage services usually involve

team work and exchange of information within the organization.

Thirdly, is building relationship: The hospitality industry highly depends on repeated

customers for survival? Building long term relationship with customers can benefit the

organizations for generating stable revenues regardless of the instability of seasons and at the

same time, developing brand reputations through positive word-of-mouth of the repeated

customers. In order to develop brand loyalty, different methods are currently applied by the

lodging and food service sectors, such as membership programmes which give privileges and

incentives to frequent customers. However, top management of organizations do believe that

the informal ways of building “friendship” between front-line staff and customers through

high degree of personal attention and customization can win the loyalty of customers in long

run.

Fourthly, is diversity in Culture: As hospitality are closely related to tourism industry, it

is not surprising that people involved in this sector, no matter customers or staff are

experiencing a diversity in culture through interacting with others. Staff who work in a

hospitality organization always have interactions with customers from different regions, or to

work and corporate with other colleagues who may have different backgrounds or cultures.
Due to their differences in religious beliefs and values, some conflicts and misunderstandings

can be easily occurred. Therefore, staff should be open-minded, and come up with solutions

together in resolving problems in their duties. For instance: From customers’ perspective,

some of them abstain from meat due to their religious beliefs or habit. Therefore, restaurants

should provide vegetarian food as an option in order to satisfy their needs. From staff’s

perspective, eating pork or any food products with pork as ingredient should be avoided if

some colleagues are Muslims in order to show respect to their religious belief. Such a cultural

diversity implicates that local staff should generally understand different cultures so flexible

services can be provided to customers based on their national cultures and harmony in

cooperation with colleagues from different nationalities can be achieved.

To this end, labour Intensive: The hospitality industry is service-oriented in it’s’

nature, it requires a huge supply of labours to create a memorable experience for the

customers. This characteristic is especially true for those enterprises which target for high-

ended customers. For example, staff-to-guest ratios are high in fine dining restaurants and 5-

star hotels which aimed at providing one-on-one services to their customers. Although the

advancement in technology do contribute to the replacement of some simple tasks in the

whole service process, customers who concern the element of ‘care’ generally expect high

degree of human contacts and personalized services in their consumption experiences. It

explains why the industry is always in high demand for labour and is willing to spent time

and resources in training and recruiting potential candidates to join the workforce of the

hospitality industry. According to Swain & Mishra (2011) the hospitality business is based on

the culture of serving guests with warmth and care so that they feel comfortable and secure.

In the words of, Ottenbacher, Harrington, &Parsa, (2009), hospitality industries are the

providers of “food, beverages, accommodation, entertainment, leisure, attraction, or some

combination of those. The authors stated that hospitality operations cover the sectors of
lodging (hotels, motels), food service (restaurants, catering), leisure, conventions, travel, and

attractions. Lodging operators are “providers of accommodation and other amenities for the

travelers and other desiring customers”. Accommodation is the main service provided by the

lodging sector, which is further subdivided into resorts, luxury hotels, budget hotels, inns and

motels, hostels, lodges, and other accommodations (Ottenbacher et al., 2009). The basis of

this division is the nature of accommodation provided and the level of service offered to the

customer.

However, Oyibo, (2013) stated that hospitality industry has brought tremendous

growth to the global economy by providing services ranging from accommodation,

sightseeing as well as other services related to the tourism industry that provides

employment, also plays a vital role in the economic returns of a country in the form of

foreign exchange. Indeed, the progress of the hospitality industry has been associated with

the progress of any economy (Sanni, 2009). Consequently, researches have emphasised the

importance of social relationships, among the stakeholders, as the building block for any

perceptions of hospitality and comfort, in the hospitality business (PizamOkumus, &

Hutchinson, 2013). Several scholars have conducted studies on the effects, influence,

relationship, and role of talent management in the hospitality industry. These studies include

works by Kravariti et al. (2022), Bazaluk et al. (2022), Refan et al. (2021), Jepchumba

(2021), Ramadan et al. (2021), Sopiah et al. (2020), Wangechi et al. (2020), Ollor and Harry

(2020), Bagheri et al. (2020), Edeh and Mlanga (2019), Hafez et al. (2017), Thiriku and Were

(2016), and Maxwell and MacLean (2008). However, none of these studies have specifically

investigated the impact of talent management on employee performance in the hospitality

industry.

Employee Performance
Employee performance is the job-related activities expected of a worker and how well those

activities were executed (Blake, 2014). Many business personnel directors assess the

employee performance of each employee- member on an annual or quarterly basis in order to

help them identify suggested areas for improvement (Bobson, 2013). As organizations

continue to pursue high performance and improved results through talent management, they

are taking a holistic approach to talent management (Turyahebwa et al., 2022).

Talent Management
Talent pertains to the aptitude, expertise, and understanding possessed by employees that

enables them to effectively carry out their job responsibilities and contribute to the achievement of

organisational objectives (Mohana et al., 2021). This can be accomplished by periodically reviewing

and refining personnel management methods to ensure alignment with the organisation's objectives

and goals.

Talent management is the tactical method of recruiting, cultivating, keeping, and employing

competent and highly potential workers inside an organisation to efficiently fulfil its present and

potential demands. Talent Management, as the name itself suggests is managing the ability,

competency and power of employees within an organization (Lameni, 2013). It describes human

resource strategies and procedures intended at recognising, fostering, and maximising the abilities of

staff members to create organisational achievement. Talent Management is not limited to acquiring

the right candidate but beyond it extends to identifying the untapped and unusual qualities of your

employees to develop and retain them to get the desired results (. Talent management concept is not

restricted to recruiting the right candidate at the right time but it extends to exploring the hidden and

unusual qualities of your employees and developing and nurturing them to get the desired results

(Turyahebwa et al., 2022). Talent management is also one of the critical resources for

organizations such as hotel to attain advantage since it aims at ensuring the right job

placements at the right time, in the right position for the right candidate to deliver their best

and remain committed hence perform better (Christopher, 2015). Studies have shown that
talent management has significant relationship with workers effectiveness, workers

commitment, employee performance, employee turnover, organisational engagement,

employee retention, and job satisfaction (Yousuf and Yan 2019; Edeh and Dialoke 2016;

Tetik and Zaim 2021; Ingram and Nitsenko 2021; Al-Dalahmeh et al. 2020)

Talent Management in organizations is not just limited to attracting the best people from

the industry but it is a continuous process that involves sourcing, hiring, developing, retaining

and promoting them while meeting the organization’s requirements simultaneously

(Lethwaite, 2014). For instance, if an organization wants the best talent of its competitor to

work with it, it needs to attract that person and offer him something that is far beyond his

imagination to come and join and then stick to the organization (Turyahebwa et al., 2022).

Only hiring him does not solve the purpose but getting the things done from him is the main

task. Therefore, it can be said that talent management is a full-fledged process that not only

controls the entry of an employee but also his or her exit (Turyahebwa et al., 2022).

Employee Performance and Talent Management

Every organization today is interestingly concerned with selecting and retaining competent,

committed people who are exclusively known as knowledge workers (Bendtner, 2012). In the

era where global business is key, every employer has to be ready for meeting the future

business demands, which can be efficiently handled through talent management. Retention of

employee is a major component of talent management and an organization’s retention

strategy needs to have information why people leave the organization (Lethwaite, 2014). It is

based on this premise that experts elucidated that the prosperity and sustainability of

hospitality organisations depend on the discretionary work behaviour of talent that are

saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that organisational goals are accomplished in line

with predefined strategies (Abdou et al. 2022; Chi et al. 2021). When employees go beyond
their job description, they are exhibiting discretionary work behaviour which is born out of

the passion they have for the organisation, and in doing so, the organisation gains more in

terms of quick service delivery, customer satisfaction, effectiveness and high profitability.