A cross-level investigation of the role of human resources practices: Does brand equity matter?

Tourism Management 75 (2019) 418–426

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Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman

A cross-level investigation of the role of human resources practices: Does brand equity matter?

T

IpKin Anthony Wonga,b, Shi Xuc, Suk Ha Grace Chand, Mang Hea,∗ a

School of Tourism Management Sun Yat-Sen University, Tangzhou Rd. 1, Zhuhai, China Institute for Research on Portuguese-Speaking Country, City University of Macau, China c School of Hospitality & Tourism Management University of Surrey, UK d Faculty of International Tourism and Management, City University of Macau, Avenida Padre Tomás Pereira (N402), Taipa, China b

A R T I C LE I N FO

A B S T R A C T

Keywords: High−performance human resource practices Emotional exhaustion Intention to quit Brand equity Hotel Multilevel modeling

The extant literature has suggested that high-performance human resources practices (HRPs), such as employee training, employment security, and a results-oriented appraisal system, promote favourable employee behaviors. This research predicts that such practices render a mechanism that reduces hotel employees’ propensity to quit through lowering their emotional exhaustion. However, does this mechanism work more effectively in hotels with a strong brand? To address this question, we propose a multilevel research model to assess the effectiveness of HRPs under different conditions of brand equity. Drawing on both social exchange theory and social identification theory, the current study works to advance the literature by investigating the cross-level brand equity boundary condition on the HRPs−intention-to-quit moderated mediation process from two independent sets of data. It advances the literature by bridging the research gap between human resource management and brand management.

1. Introduction Successful hospitality companies (e.g. Starbucks, Four Seasons Hotels and Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants) take advantage of highperformance human resource practices (HRPs) (e.g., scheduling flexibility, extensive training and development, selective hiring, transparent performance management policies, etc.) that lead to profitability and staff satisfaction (Hinkin & Tracey, 2010). The body of literature also points to the roles of HRPs in engendering favourable employee behaviors and mitigating negative outcomes (Sun, Aryee, & Law, 2007). Though HRPs are critical conduits for fostering employee motivation and performance, there is still a paucity of empirical research on HRPs in the tourism and hospitality industry (Karatepe & Vatankhah, 2014), especially in the hotel sector, where HRPs are institutionalized based on specific brand standards and value propositions that differentiate one hotel from another (Ivanova & Ivanov, 2015; Sun et al., 2007). The importance of a brand is often manifested through its brand equity, which renders how people perceive its quality and associate with a given product or organization (Keller, 2003; Nam, Ekinci, & Whyatt, 2011; Prentice & Wong, 2016). However, a hotel's brand equity also encompasses an organizational strategy not only regarding how the hotel is positioned from the consumer perspective, but also how it treats

∗

its employees in reaching its strategic goals. Unfortunately, existing research on brand management with respect to its impact on internal organizational members faces two limitations. First, branding studies are primarily germane to academic inquiry on consumers and hence, their core focus rests merely on how brand affects consumer behaviors (Aaker, 1996; Japutra, Ekinci, & Simkin, 2018; Ou, Verhoef, & Wiesel, 2017). Second, research pertaining to employee brand management largely focuses on how brands influence job applicant organizational images and employment choices (Jian & Collins, 2002; J.; Kim, York, & Lim, 2011; Wehner, Giardini, & Kabst, 2015), without looking into how an organizational brand could alleviate negative employee outcomes such as burnout and propensity to quit. The objective of this study is to fill the aforementioned research gaps, to answer the question of how HRPs reduce employee turnover intention through the mediating process of emotional exhaustion, and to find out when this process works more effectively. From a broader theoretical perspective, we argue that HRPs render as a mechanism that alleviates employees' negative responses. Such a mechanism is conditioned on the research context (i.e., hotel), in that a hotel's brand equity works as a buffer that further helps to strengthen the impact of HRPs and hence, to better remedy negative employee behaviors. To support our contention, we draw upon social exchange theory, social

Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (I.A. Wong), [email protected] (S. Xu), [email protected] (S.H.G. Chan), [email protected] (M. He).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2019.04.013 Received 25 October 2018; Received in revised form 12 March 2019; Accepted 23 April 2019 Available online 26 June 2019 0261-5177/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the hotel industry in China. Two key components of HRPs—namely, selection and training—were found to have a positive effect on employee innovation in Chinese hotels (Chang, Gong, & Shum, 2011). A study of Iranian hotel frontline employees demonstrated that the relation between HRPs and intention to leave was mediated by job embeddedness (Karatepe, 2013b). In a study of human service non-profit organizations, Selden and Sowa (2015) showed that implementing certain HRPs, such as leadership development and compensation, reduced voluntary employee turnover. We expected that HRPs would negatively impact turnover from the perspective of social exchange theory, especially considering the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960). According to this theory, when employees' efforts are acknowledged by their employer offering benefits and progression opportunities, they will feel obligated to contribute to the success of their organization (Guchait & Cho, 2010). Therefore, it is important to realize that investments inherent in HRPs are an important mechanism to overcome employee turnover issues. Researchers (e.g., Newman, Thanacoody, & Hui, 2011) have argued that organizational policies on caring and supporting and investing in employees’ future career development would positively intervene in the turnover process and enhance affective organizational commitment of the employees. For example, Kehoe and Wright (2013) found that an aggregated perception of HRPs contributed to employee engagement and satisfaction and positively influenced their intent to remain in the organization. HRPs, such as providing professional training, job security, promotion-from-within and investing in broad career paths, show that the organization intends to build a long-term exchange relationship with its staff. Taking training as an example, Becker (1962) points out that organizations invest in training programs to improve employees’ job performance. Existing literature has used the social exchange theory to explore the relationship among training, employee attitudes and behaviors. For example, employers providing extensive training to employees will result in employees reciprocating with motivation to learn new knowledge, and with loyalty via reduced turnover (Kesen, 2016). In addition, a negative relation between on-the-job training satisfaction and intention to quit was found in a recent study (Memon, Salleh, & Baharom, 2016). Based on the above argument, we proposed that:

Organizational Level

Brand Equity

H4 Human Resource Practice

H5

H6

H1

Individual Level

Intention to Quit

H2 H3

Emotional Exhaustion

Fig. 1. Hypothesized multilevel model.

identification theory, and the interplay between these two theoretical foundations, to propose a cross-level model for investigating the aforementioned mechanism (see Fig. 1). The key contribution of this article lies in its synthesis between human resource practices and brand equity in understanding employee behaviors. It thus bridges the disciplinary gap between marketing and management research domains by integrating brand management and human resource management (HRM) studies into a symbiotic research inquiry, in order to assess how hotel brand efforts could ultimately benefit internal organizational practices. 2. Theoretical background and hypotheses 2.1. High-performance human resource practices and outcomes HRPs are holistic practices which can enhance the skills of the staff, encourage employee participation and voice in decision making, and improve motivation to put forth discretionary effort, and which collectively affect organizational performance and sustainable competitive advantage (Sun et al., 2007). As highlighted by the internal marketing perspective, employees should be seen as the most trusted resources that are available (Baker & Magnini, 2016). Internal marketing emphasizes the importance of marketing concepts within the company by focusing on satisfying their employees with HRPs, which brings in satisfied external customers (Joung, Goh, Huffman, Yuan, & Surles, 2015). The ability to identify and measure the results of internal marketing management not only indicates the level of success of such efforts (e.g., employee job satisfaction), but also informs the company as to whether the first link in the service profit chain (i.e., employees) is strong enough to sustain subsequent links (e.g., customer loyalty and profitability). Recent literature has demonstrated the positive impact of HRPs across countries and industries in terms of individual- and organizational-level outcomes (e.g., higher job satisfaction and firm performance). The empirical research on HRPs has bolstered the contention that investment in human resources can benefit long-term sustainable competitive advantage of the firm. For example, Delery and Doty (1996) identified seven key HRPs that positively impact return on average assets and return on equity; such practices include internal recruiting, tightly-defined job descriptions, profit sharing, formal training, job security, results-oriented appraisals, and voice mechanisms. In an investigation of hospitality companies in the USA, Cho, Woods, Jang, and Erdem (2006) demonstrated that implementing 12 HRPs (e.g., information sharing and internal recruiting) was likely to lead to a lower turnover rate for non-managerial employees. Taking a relational perspective on employment relationship, Sun et al. (2007) found that the relation between HRPs and two key organizational outcomes (i.e., productivity and turnover) was mediated by

Hypothesis 1. HRP is negatively associated with intention to quit. HRPs have been argued to be related to employee turnover and retention. However, the underlying mechanisms are still speculative (Karatepe, 2013a; Sun et al., 2007). Very little research has explored the important role of employees' attitudes and perceptions of HRP implementation, or has investigated more proximal outcomes of HRPs that would play mediating roles in the HRPs–turnover relationship (Kehoe & Wright, 2013). Given the highly stressful work conditions for tourism and hospitality employees, involving unusual working hours and work overload with a high degree of human interaction, employees’ emotional exhaustion is a serious concern of management staff within this context. Therefore, it is vital for managers in the tourism and hospitality sector to adopt HRPs in order to accomplish favourable outcomes for their staff. In this study, we argue that employee perceptions of HRPs reduce their emotional exhaustion, which in turn influences their turnover intentions. A few studies on HRPs have explored their influences on employees’ psychological outcomes, including employee subjective well-being and emotional exhaustion (Fan et al., 2014; Kroon, van de Voorde, & van Veldhoven, 2009). Emotional exhaustion is referred to as “the extent to which employees feel emotionally overwhelmed and drained by their work” (Janssen, Lam, & Huang, 2009, p. 788). High emotional exhaustion has been demonstrated to lead to various negative job-related outcomes in the tourism and hospitality industry, including decreased job performance (Choi, Kim, Lee, & Lee, 2014), low extra-role performance (Yavas, Karatepe, & Babakus, 2018), high counterproductive workplace behaviors such as rude behaviors toward coworkers and 419

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definition of brand equity takes a resource-based view (Arend & Lévesque, 2010) to denote brand equity as an organizational resource (i.e., strategic asset), while such a resource also casts influences onto internal customers (e.g., employees). A positive brand can be consistently embraced by employees in championing the brand (Xiong & King, 2015), which positively affect customers' brand commitment (Erkmen & Hancer, 2015). In fact, studies in the marketing literature on brand equity have been applied to the management discipline in understanding employee behaviors, as detailed below. Our contention regarding the interaction between HRPs and brand equity stems from two theoretical streams of work: social exchange theory (Cropanzano, Anthony, Daniels, & Hall, 2017) and social identity theory (Ashforth & Mael, 1989). The social identity theory posits that “individuals strive to achieve or to maintain positive social identity,” which “is based on a large extent of favourable comparisons … the in-group must be perceived as positively differentiated or distinct from the relevant out-groups” (Tajfel, 1974, p. 16). Accordingly, working in an organization with a high brand equity helps an employee to maintain a sense of pride and prestige and hence, to become better identified with the organization (Löhndorf & Diamantopoulos, 2014). This process ultimately leads to favourable employee behaviors and brand-congruent practices. For example, Cable and Turban (2001) contended that brand equity could influence job seekers' decision making during the recruitment process, in such a way that companies with a strong brand would be favored by the job seeker. Kim, Jeon, Jung, Lu, and Jones (2012) also reported that employer brand equity positively impacts the intention of the job seeker to pursue a job opportunity. In addition, Collins and Stevens (2002) noted that positive recruitment-related activities in the early stage, including media publicity, corporate sponsorships, personal or word-of-mouth endorsements and recruitment advertising, will positively influence graduating students’ application decisions. Although there is existing research on brand equity from the job seeker perspective, little research is reported on how brand equity can play a role in influencing employee psychological outcomes (Erkmen & Hancer, 2015; Kimpakorn & Tocquer, 2010). In a study of luxury hotels in Thailand, Kimpakorn and Tocquer (2010) found that high hotel brand equity is characterized by a high commitment of the employee to support the brand. A strong brand name could stimulate employee identification with the organization, develop their supportive attitudes, and give them incentives to deploy their human capital to accomplish company goals (Vomberg, Homburg, & Bornemann, 2015). Jiang and Iles (2011) assert that if brand equity is high, it can help a company to build employee belongingness, emotional bonds and pride, and thus to reduce employee turnover. The opportunity for employees to appreciate the organization's brand values can engender employee commitment to the organization, resulting in the employees holding synergetic values worthy of maintaining (King & Grace, 2009). In a similar vein, brand equity may also impact employee emotional exhaustion. For example, Grandey (2003) found that surface acting, in comparison to deep acting, can significantly contribute to employee emotional exhaustion. However, when employees believe and act according to a brand standard and market position, it is easier for them to develop the authentic brand attitude from within, resulting in elevated positive emotions and hence, reducing emotional exhaustion and intention to quit (Xiong & King, 2015). When employees perceive the relevance between their brand delivery behaviors and their personal gains (e.g., positive feedback, or better compensation as a result of the improved organization performance), they are more likely to exert effort in developing positive brand attitude, to carry out extra-role brand behaviors, and to experience less potential burnout; hence, they are more likely to remain in the organization (Xiong, King, & Piehler, 2013). Brand equity can also increase employees’ perceived brand meaningfulness, which can further enhance their feelings of accomplishment and fulfilment of personal worth and higher order needs. With a strong perceived brand meaningfulness, employees could be less

customers (Hur, Moon, & Jun 2016), and high work–family conflict (Krannitz, Grandey, Liu, & Almeida, 2015). Those consequences eventually lead to high turnover in organizations (Deery & Jago, 2015). HRPs, on the other hand, could yield win-win outcomes leading to mutual benefits for both employers and employees (Fan et al., 2014; Harley, Allen, & Sargent, 2007). As discussed above, HRPs generate reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960); and reciprocity, as a key mechanism, influences employees’ positive psychological feelings in the workplace. For example, employees could gain task discretion when performing their work, and they would feel control of the pace of work. Employees could also benefit from HRPs in terms of more meaningful work, more secure jobs, improved communication channels, and more familyfriendly measures; thus employees may experience less stressful work and lower emotional exhaustion. Several empirical studies (Harley et al., 2007; Kalmi & Kauhanen, 2008; Macky & Boxall, 2008) have concluded that individual stress levels and psychological strain would be reduced after companies implemented HRPs. For example, Fan et al. (2014) found that HRPs improved subjective well-being and decreased stress and burnout among Chinese healthcare employees. Conway, Monks, Alfes, and Bailey (2016) found that employee voice mechanisms, as an HRP, act as a resource by giving employees a sense of control, which can reduce the deleterious effect of emotional exhaustion. Accordingly, we predicted the following: Hypothesis 2. HRP is negatively associated with emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion could serve as a key mechanism relating HRPs with individual work-related attitudes. Emotional exhaustion acts as an antecedent to employee turnover (Lloyd, Boer, Keller, & Voelpel, 2015; Yavas et al., 2018). When employees feel emotionally exhausted, they experience depletion of their emotional resources. Employees tend to quit because of the discomfort resulting from high levels of emotional exhaustion in the workplace. Emotional exhaustion was also reported to result in employees' intention to quit in the hotel industry, according to Jung, Yoon, and Kim (2012). Although existing empirical literature has not yet examined the mediating role of emotional exhaustion linking HRPs with intention to quit, the mediation relationship should be consistent with social exchange theory, which implies that reciprocity influences a series of employees' positive psychological feelings in the workplace (Fan et al., 2014). Based on the previous discussion, it is suggested that HRPs would decrease emotional exhaustion, which in turn would decrease employees’ intention to quit. This conceptual scheme is in line with a mediation model. Taken together, we suggest that HRPs reduce intention to quit indirectly by reducing emotional exhaustion. In other words, the relation between HRPs and intention to quit is mediated by emotional exhaustion: Hypothesis 3. Emotional exhaustion mediates the relation between HRPs and intention to quit. 2.2. Brand equity as a moderator To develop further understandings of how organizational strategies affect employees' long-term decisions and attitudes, we now turn to theory and studies in the marketing literature. More specifically, literature on branding suggests that by creating a unique and favourable brand image in the mind of customers, it is more likely that an organization's products would be selected over similar offerings from other organizations (Yoo, Donthu, & Lee, 2000). Papasolomou and Vrontis (2006) advocate that high brand equity allows companies to exhibit influences that facilitate customer brand loyalty through strong name awareness, perceived quality, brand associations and credibility. In fact, brand equity has been well acknowledged as an organization's strategic asset; hence, this study defines brand equity as an organization's strategic initiatives with an intended image that occupies “a distinct and valued place” in the mind of its targeted stakeholders (Keller, 2003, p. 44), including customers and employees. Importantly, our conceptual 420

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hotel guests with an objective to assess customer dispositions and behaviors such as brand equity perceptions. For each selected property, a quota sampling method was adopted: a quota between 20 and 50 respondents was set depending on the size of the property. Next, a group of trained field investigators were instructed to intercept respondents at the exit of each selected property. We used a systematic sampling method with a skip interval of three to reduce sampling bias. A personadministered survey approach was employed to assist respondents in filling out the questionnaire. A total of 1393 subjects were recruited in the first survey. They included 52.1% males; 36.5% between the age of 20 and 29, 28.9% between the age of 30 and 39, and 21.2% between the age of 40 and 49; 65.0% from mainland China, 23.0% from Hong Kong, and the rest mostly from other Asian regions. The second survey targeted hotel employees with an objective to assess employee perceptions and behaviors such as perceived human resource practices, emotional exhaustion, intention to quit, and organizational tenure. Following the data collection procedure and sampling method of the first survey, a quota between 10 and 20 employees was identified. Systematic sampling was employed with a skip interval of three. Respondents were then intercepted at the employee exits, and a small gift was presented to each respondent upon completion of the survey. It is important to note that only frontline employees (i.e., line staff and managers) working in the hotel area were recruited in the survey, with filter questions ensuring their positions and work conditions. Both survey questionnaires were translated by two of the authors and two independent researchers, who were bilingual, using the back translation method. The sample of the second survey had 501 complete responses. Of the respondents, 54.9% were females; 40.9% were between the age of 25 and 34, 33.3% were between the age of 35 and 44, and 19.6% were between the age of 45 and 54; 57.1% had a tenure of one to three years, while 20.8% had a tenure of three to five years; and the majority (i.e., 78.4%) were line employees, while the rest were line supervisors.

prone to experience emotional exhaustion, more motivated to reinforce their job performance, and hence, more committed to their jobs and the employer (Xiong & King, 2015). Drawing on social exchange theory which is grounded in role of HRPs, in lieu of social identity theory which is grounded in the role of brand equity on employees, we propose a moderating influence of brand equity on the impact of HRPs. According to social exchange theory, support from an organization through HRPs signifies favourable exchange of resources (Grant, Dutton, & Rosso, 2008) and hence, lowers employee emotional exhaustion and intention to quit. We predicted that this mechanism would be more effective when employees strongly identify with the organization (i.e., a strong brand), as they feel a sense of belongingness, prestige, joy, and positive self-image working in such a setting (Löhndorf & Diamantopoulos, 2014). That is, we argue that favourable social exchange renders a mitigation process that reduces employees’ negative outcomes. Such a process is conditioned upon the social context where they are embedded. When the social context makes available more resources (i.e., high brand equity) that help employees to attain greater gains, the exchange would possess greater benefits. This contention can be demonstrated by the resourcebased view (Arend & Lévesque, 2010), which asserts that complementarity is present when the contributions of one resource to employee outcomes grow in the presence of another resource, such that the joint impacts would exceed the sum of the separate impacts. In this article, we argue that brand equity moderates the relation between HRPs and its outcomes, such that combining both brand equity and HRPs yields the most positive results. The resource-based view further asserts that an organization is a system that involves interdependent resources; and heterogeneity in the distribution of resources would result in a sustainable competitive advantage (Carmeli & Tishler, 2004). Brand equity and HRPs individually give rise to positive employee outcomes. However, the resource-based view contends that the strategic resources would achieve their full potential through acting in a complementary manner (Barney, 1991). Thus, with a strong brand, employees could be more stimulated to engage in HR practices to benefit themselves. Hence they would be less likely to experience emotional exhaustion; and as a consequence, their desire to leave an organization would be lower. Therefore, we hypothesized that HRP has a more acute impact on mitigating employee emotional exhaustion (and eventually turnover intentions) when brand equity is high than when brand equity is low.

3.2. Measures Scales used in the present study were all adopted from the existing literature, as we further discuss below. These multi-item scales were developed based on reflective measures, in that each observed variable (i.e., item) renders a manifestation of the latent construct (Diamantopoulos, Riefler, & Roth, 2008). Hence, the construct implied common causality in its corresponding items. Human resource practice. We used Sun et al. (2007) 10-item fourfactor high-performance human resource practice scale to assess the construct as “training,” “employment security,” “result-oriented appraisal,” and “participation.” The rating scale for each item ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). An example of the training scale item was “The organization provides formal training programs to teach new staff the skills they need to perform their job.” An example of an employment security scale item was “The organization provides job guarantees to employees.” An example of a result-oriented appraisal scale item was “Employee performance is more often measured with objective quantifiable results.” An example of a participation scale item was “Employees are allowed to make decisions in their jobs.” The scale is adequately reliable with a Cronbach's alpha (α) of 0.90. Emotional exhaustion. We adopted a four-item scale from Karatepe and Uludag (2008) to assess emotional exhaustion. Each item was assessed using a 9-point anchor ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 9 (strongly agree). Example items were “I feel burned out from my work” and “Working with people all day is really a strain for me.” The scale is highly reliable with an α of 0.95. Intention to quit. We used a four-item scale adopted from Suazo (2009). Each item was evaluated using a 7-point anchor ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Example items were “At work, I will probably look for a job outside my current organization in the next year” and “I often think about quitting my job.” The scale is fairly

Hypothesis 4. The relation between HRPs and emotional exhaustion is moderated by brand equity in that the relationship is stronger in hotels with a higher level of brand equity. Hypothesis 5. The relation between HRPs and intention to quit is moderated by brand equity in that the relationship is stronger in hotels with a higher level of brand equity. Hypothesis 6. The relation between emotional exhaustion and intention to quit is moderated by brand equity in that the relationship is weaker in hotels with a higher level of brand equity. 3. Methods 3.1. Research setting, participants, and procedure Data were collected by two sources—from two independent surveys—in the context of hotels in Macau, China. The enclave is renowned as the “Asian Las Vegas” and is currently the world gambling capital, with a mix of international hotel chains such as Sheraton, JW Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Conrad, Best Westin, and Holiday Inn; as well as local and regional operators. We first identified a list of 37 hotel properties that had an adequate size of clientele and staff body, from information provided by the local tourism authorities. These establishments were primarily casino hotels. The first survey targeted 421

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consistent with an α of 0.91. Brand equity. We used a four-item measure adopted from Yoo et al. (2000) to assess overall brand equity. Each item was evaluated using a 5-point anchor ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). An example item was “If there is another brand as good as this hotel, I still prefer this hotel.” The scale is adequately reliable with α = .87. Next we aggregated the scale at the organizational level and validated its appropriateness. First, brand equity was significantly different among hotels (F(34, 1358) = 7.85, p < .001). Second, inter-member reliability indexes (ICC[1] = .15, ICC[2] = .87) and median inter-rater agreement (rwg[j] = .85) were warranted. These evidences support aggregation of the scale at the macro (i.e., hotel) level. Control variables. We controlled for gender (1 = “male” and 2 = “female”), age (1 = “24 or less” and 6 = “65 or above”), and organization tenure (1 = “less than one year” and 4 = “five years or more) at the individual level. They were included in the analysis as control variables, as commonly reported in the literature (e.g., Hirst, van Knippenberg, Chen, & Sacramento, 2011). We further controlled for hotel star rating (0 = “four star or below” and 1 = “five star or above”) at the organizational level. Our rationale is supported by the fact that a hotel's brand equity and its impact could be affected by the hotel strategy, which could be assessed by the property's star rating, as Sun et al. (2007) acknowledged. Data diagnostics. Drawing on recommendations from Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, and Podsakoff (2003), we addressed common method bias (CMB) based on two approaches. First, data were collected from two independent sources: employee and customer surveys. Second, different scale anchors were used to mitigate CMB. We further diagnosed CMB using Harman's single-factor test. Results indicate that CMB was not a limitation, as χ2/df = 11.14, greater than the 2.0 threshold. The marker variable technique was also used to further assess CMB. We used a 4-item scale of motivational climate adopted from Moore, Brown, and Fry (2015) to partial out the effects of the predictors on the criterion variable. The procedure suggests that controlling the marker variable does not affect the proposed relationships. We diagnosed multicollinearity using the variance inflation factor (VIF), and results demonstrate that it was not an issue in the study, as no VIF is greater than 2.0.

reveal significant relationships between HRP and emotional exhaustion (b = −0.22, p < .001), between HRP and intention to quit (b = −0.76, p < .001), and between emotional exhaustion and intention to quit (b = .52, p < .001). Using Baron and Kenny (1986) mediation procedure, we find a partial mediation relationship of the three variables. We then used the Sobel test to show that the mediation is significant (Z = −4.83, p < .001). Together, those results provide support for Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3. We examined the cross-level interaction effects of brand equity in Model 3. Results reveal that the HRP × brand equity cross-level interaction term is significant (γ = −1.71, p < .001), in support of Hypothesis 4. To illustrate the interaction graphically, we followed Aiken and West (1991) simple slope procedure to redefine the independent and moderator variables into plus and minus one standard deviation from the mean and plotted the interaction in Fig. 2. Results show that the HRP effect on emotional exhaustion is only significant for hotels that enjoy a high level of brand equity (b = −1.57, t = 4.43, p < .001). In other words, HRP has no impact on emotional exhaustion for employees embedded within low brand equity hotels (b = −.27, t = .92, p = n.s). On the contrary, HRP has an acute impact on mitigating employee emotional exhaustion in high brand equity properties; hence, brand equity serves as a buffer of employee burnout and fatigue only in these establishments. Results from Table 2 further reveal that while the HRP × brand equity cross-level interaction on intention to quit is not significant, the emotional exhaustion × brand equity interaction is significant (γ = .11, p < .05), supporting Hypothesis 6 but not Hypothesis 5. Using the simple slope procedure described above, we depict the interaction in Fig. 3. In particular, the slope of emotional exhaustion is slightly more salient for high brand equity hotels (blow brand equity = .47, t = 4.65, p < .001 vs. bhigh brand equity = .59, t = 5.94, p < .001). Yet, employee propensity to quit is significantly lower in these settings only when employee emotional exhaustion is low (Mlow brand equity = 2.10 vs. Mhigh brand equity = 1.67); while such propensity is fairly similar when employee emotional exhaustion is high (Mlow brand equity = 3.54 vs. Mhigh brand equity = 3.50). In other words, brand equity is an effective buffer in reducing employees’ desire to quit only when their level of mental fatigue is relatively low, and it is ineffective in mitigating quitting propensity when employees have already reached a high level of exhaustion. Results further reveal that neither the direct effect of brand equity nor hotel star rating is significantly related to the two endogenous variables. Organization tenure has a moderate negative relationship with emotional exhaustion (b = −0.21, p < .10) and intention to quit (b = −0.08, p < .10). In summary, the moderated mediation relationship presented in Model 3 explains 37% of emotional exhaustion and 66% of intention to quit.

4. Results Table 1 presents descriptive statistics and correlations among the variables of interest. Because data were obtained from two sources while analyses included both individual- and organizational-level constructs, we diagnosed whether multilevel analysis was appropriate. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), we first tested a null model into which no predictors were entered. Results provide support for the use of HLM with χ2(33) = 177.76 (p < .001) and ICC1 = .23 for emotional exhaustion, and χ2(33) = 151.79 (p < .001) and ICC1 = .20 for intention to quit. These statistics indicate that 20%–23% of the variance resided between organizations, to be explained by level 2 variables. Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 propose a relationship leading from HRP to intention to quit through emotional exhaustion. Results from Table 2

4.1. Auxiliary test We tested two alternative models as follows. First, we examined the direct effects of brand equity and hotel rating to HRP. However, none of the effects were significant. We also tested the moderating effect of star rating on the relationship leading from HRP to intention to quit through emotional exhaustion, but found the moderating effect not to be significant.

Table 1 Means, standard deviations, and correlations. Variable

Mean

s.d.

AVE

1

2

3

1. Human resource practice 2. Emotional exhaustion 3. Intention to quit 4. Brand equitya

3.76 3.25 2.65 3.84

.68 1.54 1.13 .38

.50 .82 .72 .57

(.90) -.59*** -.61*** .07

(.95) .83*** -.18

(.91) -.15

4

5. Discussion The present study investigates HRPs in the hotel setting and explores how they could reduce employee emotional exhaustion and voluntary turnover intention. Based on the social exchange theory with respect to reciprocity between actors, we examined a mechanism in which HRPs act as favourable exchanges between employers and employees. Through this mechanism, we contend that they could mitigate employee desire to quit through lowering their emotional exhaustion.

(.87)

Note: ***p < .001. AVE = average variance extracted. Internal consistency reliabilities are in (parentheses). a. Values are operated at the organizational-level. 422

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Table 2 Results of hierarchical linear modeling.

Individual-Level Control Gender Age Tenure Individual-Level Main Effects Human resource practice (HRP) Emotional exhaustion Cross-level effects Hotel star Brand equity (BE) HRP × BE Emotional exhaustion × BE R2 ΔR2

Model 1a Emotional Exhaustion

Model 1b Intention to Quit

Model 2 Intention to Quit

Model 3a Emotional Exhaustion

Model 3b Intention to Quit

.18 -.08 -.18†

.01 -.07 -.19*

-.09 -.03 -.09†

.14 -.10 -.21†

-.09 -.03 -.08†

−1.03*** (.167)

-.76*** (.099)

-.22*** (.044) .52*** (.028)

-.92***

-.18*** .53***

.07 -.39 −1.71**

.09 -.23 -.01 .11* .66 .25

.28

.30

.41 .11

.37 .09

Noted: †p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. Parameter estimates are unstandardized.

Although HRPs act as a conduit to support employees at work, they might be more effective in some organizations and less in others. Drawing on the social identification theory, we predicted that brand equity of an organization works as a boundary condition that strengthens the role of HRPs. In turn, the proposed multilevel moderated mediation model presented in Fig. 1 works to contribute to the literature and the tourism and hospitality industry, as discussed in the following section.

4.0

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5.1. Theoretical implications

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From a broad theoretical perspective, this study makes an early attempt to bridge the gap between two disciplinary research areas: brand management and human resource management (HRM). As Colquitt and George (2011) in an editor's note at the Academy of Management Journal acknowledge, “Novel topics can often result from knowledge recombination, with something ‘new’ being created by building a bridge between two literature or disciplines” (p. 433). Carney, Gedajlovic, Heugens, Van Essen, and Van Oosterhout (2011) further contend that every theory (e.g., social exchange theory and the resource-based view), offers a useful perspective. However, none of the theories in isolation could explain the compound and multicolored organizational form. Therefore, they suggest there is a need for future research to concurrently test multiple theories. This study thus heeds the call from these scholars and contributes to the literature from two primary aspects. First, it integrates social exchange theory and social identification theory to offer a synthesis of the two theoretical underpinnings in understanding how HRPs reduce employee turnover intentions. This study offers several substantive merits to the human resource literature, each of which adds nuances to the predominantly linear investigation of HR management on employee behaviors and firm performance, which have been the primary research interest in the tourism and hospitality industry for years (Cho et al., 2006; Karatepe & Uludag, 2008). Although these prior studies have built the necessary foundation of the field, it is prudent to unpack the notion of institutional logic (Fong, Wong, & Hong, 2018) with respect to organizational identity and strategy by exploring the strategic imperative of the organizationallevel brand on the role of HRPs. Drawing on an interplay between social exchange theory and social identity theory, results of this study warrant that the previously acknowledged linear relationship leading from HRPs to quitting intention is not only subject to the meditation of emotional exhaustion, but more importantly it is contingent upon the moderating role of organizational-level brand equity. A brand not only acts as a strategic positioning metaphor that

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Note: HRP = high-performance human resource practice Fig. 2. Human resource practice × brand equity interaction on emotional exhaustion.

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Fig. 3. Emotional exhaustion × brand equity interaction on intention to quit.

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adopting HRPs as a strategy to manage the employee–organization relationship. Firms that convey the value of the hotel via a strong and consistent brand will show a competitive advantage in the war for talent. Encouraging conversations, seeking feedback from employees, explaining the job relevance to the customer, as well as including them in the brand development discussions, are critical ingredients to insure employees will internalize the brand's values (Xiong & King, 2015). If organizations make a concerted effort to encourage their employees to identify with the brand and internalize the brand into their self-concept, employees should be able to rationalize their attitudes and behaviors despite the challenges of the work environment in this sector. The significance of creating a brand interconnection with the employees at a deep level could go a long way toward reducing employee burnout and turnover. Advantages in retaining employees could translate into competitive advantages including generating and maintaining business. Additionally, because the results mirror studies in the marketing literature, HR managers are advised to familiarize themselves with marketing concepts and to work jointly with marketing experts to ensure the organization is building a positive and coherent brand image in their employees' minds. Through this process, appropriate brand knowledge structures would be formed for employees that enable greater attraction and retention of employees, and increased motivation for them to deliver the brand promise.

renders an intended business image, product quality, and service standard of an organization in the eye of the consumers, it also lays the necessary internal organizational protocol as a means of organizational identification that guides employee behaviors. As Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate, such an organizational identification driven from a strong brand has served as a buffer that on one hand reduces the negative effect of emotional exhaustion on intention to quit, and on the other hand facilitates the positive influence of HRPs on lowering employees’ mental fatigue. Thus, we add new insights to the human resource literature by showcasing the heterogeneous nature of the HRPs–intention-to-quit mediated relationship by accounting for organizational contingencies through the cross-level role of a brand. Second, this study seeks to build a bridge between two disciplinary areas: brand management and HRM. Despite these two research streams being closely related (as manifested in the current study), they have been isolated within their own disciplinary research domains. Whereas HRM literature has put a strong emphasis on reducing employees’ emotional exhaustion and quitting intentions as well as improving their job performance, the branding literature focuses on customer decision making and loyalty behaviors. The central tenet of brand management rests on how a brand could help in enticing consumers, how a brand and its affiliated products can be more attractive, hence yielding a competitive advantage over industry rivals. Although a strong brand is imperative in maintaining long-term relationships with customers by building strong customer equity through strategic brand initiatives (Rust, Lemon, & Zeithaml, 2004; Wong, 2013), the current investigation looks beyond the lens of the traditional marketing domain. Importantly, a brand also renders a buffer that further mitigates the negative consequence of emotional exhaustion and strengthens the HRP initiatives. Our findings further reveal that such a buffering mechanism only works in organizations that enjoy a strong brand. That said, we believe this study helps advance the extant literature by integrating brand management theoretical accounts into the HRM research domain. The interplay between these two areas unveils a deeper understanding of why some of the best HRPs fail to achieve their intended objectives (Becker & Gerhart, 1996), perhaps due to an organization's branding strategy. By disentangling such strategic efforts through the proxy of brand equity, our study allows new insights on the nascent role of brand equity on HRM.

5.3. Limitations and directions of future research The substantive findings of this study should be interpreted in light of their limitations. First, we tested the impact of HRPs on intention to quit through emotional exhaustion. It is possible that other mediators, such as job embeddedness and career satisfaction, play a role in this process. Likewise, we used brand equity as a proxy for organizational strategic resources that lay a cross-level boundary condition of the proposed relationships at the individual level. Although we controlled for hotel star rating and other individual-level covariates, it is possible other organizational factors and situations, such as organizational culture and service environment, could serve as strategic initiatives that exercise influence on individual behaviors. Future research could extend the current study by assessing how other organizational settings and propositions, as well as individual-level mediators, could lead to a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon of interest. Second, data of the study were drawn from 37 hotel operators in a popular travel destination in China. It is possible that people's cultural beliefs could play a role in the HRPs–intention-to-quit relationship, as Chinese are rooted with Confucian beliefs that highly value reciprocity. We encourage future research that investigates the role of cultural values on HRP inquiries. Furthermore, we did not account for the impact of the nature of HRPs in this study. It is likely that different practices (e.g., training versus employment security) play different roles in affecting hotel employees' attitudes and behaviors. Thus, future studies could further investigate the role of each type of HRP in the tourism and hospitality industry.

5.2. Managerial implications The findings reported provide practicable implications to organization leaders and HR professionals alike. The results demonstrate that the adoption of a configurational view of human resources can pay off; the building of HRPs powerfully influences the attitudes, perceptions and behaviors of the individual employees. Not only can these practices foster a positive workplace environment such as reducing employee emotional exhaustion, but HRPs also positively influence employee retention. Given the highly stressful working conditions of tourism and hospitality employees, emotional exhaustion and turnover issues could be serious concerns for managing employees in this industry (Zopiatis, Constanti, & Theocharous, 2014). Therefore, managers in this sector should adopt more HRPs so as to obtain positive outcomes for their employees. Investing in practices such as extensive training, employment security, performance management processes, and employee participation would positively impact employee attitudes and behaviors. Managers not only should be mindful of goals and objectives, they also should pay special attention to the entire system of HRPs to insure that the company encourages and incentivizes the appropriate and positive attitudes and behaviors of the staff. The results of testing the moderated hypotheses suggest that the effect of HRPs is contingent upon brand equity. This finding clearly reveals the key role of the HR department in strengthening the brand internally. Therefore, tourism and hospitality organizations need to enhance their brand management to maximize the payoff from

Author contributions IpKin Anthony Wong is the project leader of the study. He contributes to all aspects of the study including research design, data collection, data analysis, and manuscript preparation (i.e., introduction, literature review, methodology, results, and conclusions). Shi Xu contributes primary on manuscript preparation of the study with a focus on literature review and implications. Suk Ha Grace Chan contributes primary on research design and data collection. Mang He contributes primary on data collection.

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Acknowledgment

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Dr. IpKin Anthony Wong (PhD in University of Hawaii) is a professor of School of Tourism Management at the Sun Yat-Sen University, China. His current research interests include tourism and hospitality marketing, service quality management, international marketing, green marketing and tourism, casino management and gambling behaviors, branding and destination image, human resource management, among others. His publications appear in scholarly journals such as Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, International Journal of Hospitality Management, and more. He serves as a coordinating editor for International Journal of Hospitality Management and a board member for Journal of Travel Research, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, and Journal of Business Research.

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Dr. Shi (Tracy) Xu is a Lecturer at University of Surrey School of Hospitality &Tourism Management. She holds a Ph.D. degree from the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Xu has authored over thirty refereed journal articles and conference proceedings publications in hospitality & tourism. Dr. Xu received the Best Paper Award at the 20th Annual Graduate Education and Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality and Tourism, in Tampa, FL, 2015, and the Best Paper Award at the Southern Management Association Annual Conference, in Charlotte, NC, 2016.

Dr. Suk Ha Grace Chan is an assistant professor in City University of Macau. She received her Doctoral Degree in Hotel and Tourism Management from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research interests include service quality, organizational climate as well as tourism marketing and consumer behavior.

Dr. Mang He is an associate professor and deputy dean of School of Tourism Management at Sun Yat-sen University. His research interests are tourism policy, pro-poor tourism, sports tourism, health and wellness tourism, soundscape and tourism attraction.

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