chapter i introduction -...
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Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
Travel and tourism have been important social activities of human
beings from time immemorial. In simple terms, tourism is the act of travel for
the purpose of leisure, pleasure or business, and the provision of services for
this act. Tourism can be viewed from different perspectives. From a
geographer’s perspective the main concern of tourism is to look into aspects
like the geographical location of a place, the climate, the landscape, the
environment, the physical planning and the changes in these emerging as a
result of providing tourism facilities and amenities. From the perspective of a
sociologist, tourism is a social activity which is about the interaction between
different communities - hosts and guests - and an encounter between different
cultures. From a historian’s perspective, tourism is a study of the factors
instrumental in the initiation of tourism to a particular destination, the order of
happenings leading to tourism development, the reasons for happening of the
occurrences in that order, beneficiaries of the tourist activity and an untimely
and premature identification of negative effects.
Tourism is motivated by the natural urge of every human being for new
experience, adventure, education and entertainment. In modern times tourism is
an important catalyst to the socio-economic development at global and regional
levels. It contributes in multiple ways. It is often portrayed as panacea for many
socio economic issues such as underdevelopment, unemployment, poverty
eradication, social discrimination and so on. When tourism is practised in a
responsible and sustainable manner, it brings peace and prosperity to its
stakeholders. Therefore, tourism is often considered as one of the biggest
‘peace industries’, a means to strike equilibrium of global peace process though
development (IITTM and ICC 2011).
Tourism industry is composed of various sectors such as
accommodation, food and beverage, transportation and recreation, and also the
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associated sales and distribution services. It is nurtured by public and private
sector. The importance of tourism as an instrument for economic development,
particularly in remote and backward areas, has been well recognized by the
world over. It is the largest global service industry in terms of gross revenue as
well as foreign exchange earnings (Planning Commission, 2006).
Globally, an ever increasing number of destinations have been opened
up and invested in tourism development, turning modern tourism into a key
driver of socio-economic progress through the creation of jobs and enterprises,
infrastructure development and the export revenues. It is the main source of
foreign exchange for one-third of developing countries and one - half of each
of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), where it accounts for up to 40 per
cent of their GDP (Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India, 2011). Tourism has
also the potential to stimulate other economic factors through its forward and
backward linkages with a host of sectors like agriculture, manufacturing,
transport, hospitality, education, health, banking, etc. Expenditure on tourism
induces a chain of transactions requiring supply of goods and services from
these related sectors. The consumption demand, emanating from tourist
expenditure also creates more employment and generates a multiplier effect on
the economy. Additional income and employment opportunities are generated
through such linkages. Thus, the expansion of the tourism sector can lead to
large scale employment generation and poverty alleviation. The economic
benefits that flow into the country through growth of tourism in the form of
increased revenues, business receipts, employment, wages and salary income
and Central, State and local tax receipts can contribute towards overall socio-
economic improvement and accelerated growth of an economy.
Today tourists can travel anywhere in the world. Their choice of
destinations is essentially unlimited. They have more choices than time or
money allows and so they can’t possibly visit every destination available to
them. Faced with this abundance, the expected or perceived quality of the
experience takes on more importance as a choice factor. In a sense, the
competition for our leisure travel time and money is intensifying.
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Tourism is one of the economic sectors in India that has the potential to
grow at a high rate and can ensure consequential development of the
infrastructure (Planning Commission, 2006). India’s ancient civilization,
cultural diversity, unmatched heritage sites and other cultural manifestations
have allured the tourists through ages and would continue to be its prime
tourism resources. Tourism has the capacity to capitalize on the country’s
success in the service sector and provides sustainable models of growth. In
India, the travel and tourism sector is estimated to create 78 jobs per million
rupees of investment compared to 45 jobs in the manufacturing sector for
similar investment (MoT, GoI, 2011). It is one of the largest sectors of service
industry in India. Apart from providing employment to a wide spectrum of job
seekers from the unskilled to the specialized, a higher proportion of tourism
benefits accrue to women in the form of jobs and petty trade opportunities
(Planning Commission, 2011).
Kerala, a small State situated on the south western part of India is a
unique tourist spot with its varied culture, geography and topography. Tourism
gained an industry status by 1986 and subsequently adopted the tagline ‘God's
Own Country’ in its advertisement campaigns. By the early 2000s, tourism had
grown into a full fledged, multi-billion dollar industry in the State. It is now
projected as India’s tourism super brand. Though, Kerala tourism is claimed as
a pioneering success in destination marketing in the volatile world of tourism,
only a small percentage (11.81% in 2010) of international tourists coming to
India visit Kerala. Since tourism is a highly competitive industry and a number
of States in India are working hard to strengthen their position in the field of
tourism, achieving more share in domestic and international tourism is a great
challenge for the State. It is indeed a strategic marketing process where the
significance of people element deserves special focus. Here the people element
constitutes both hosts and guests. In fact, compared to other industries, tourism
is considered to be the most sensitive service industry where meeting of
different cultures take place. A tourist can have a successful trip only with the
help of a number of people. It is a sector where the unpredictability of human
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nature always affects both service provider and service receiver. The positive
or negative feedback on a service or destination depends very much on the
people interacting with tourists. The interactions and relationships between
different ‘people’ (hosts and guests) groups will have a significant impact on
the level of product satisfaction experienced by the visitor, the satisfaction of
the employee and the degree to which tourism is either accepted or rejected in
the host destination.
1.1. Review of Literature
Review of literature is an inevitable part of every research. So this part is
completely devoted to review the existing literature related to services delivery
and people management practices in service industry in general and tourism
industry in particular. The objective of such review process is to identify the
research gap and also to be more acquaint with the multiple dimensions of
people development practices pursued by different service industry segments
in India as well as abroad.
1.1.1 International Reviews on Service Delivery and People Practices –General
Bowen, (1986) in his paper discussed the strategic trade-offs involved in
having customers on-site, and the HRM practices that can influence the
satisfaction and performance of customers within the service organization.
Central points covered in the paper include the HRM practices that foster a
service climate which provides customers the role clarity, ability, and
motivation they require to contribute to service production and delivery.
Parasuraman, Zeithmal and Berry (1988) developed a five gap model
SERVQUAL for measuring service quality. The five gaps consist of one
customer gap and four provider gaps. The customer gap is the difference
between the customer expectation and perception. The first provider gap
indicates the difference between the customer expectation and the company
perception of customer expectation. The second gap is denoted by the
difference between the company perception, customer expectation and the
development of customer driven service design and standards. The third gap
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shows the difference between customer driven service design and standards and
actual service delivery. Fourth and the last provider gap is the difference
between the actual service and promised service. The role of people element,
both sales people and customers, is very crucial in provider gap three.
Brown and Swartz (1989) explored an expansion of SERVQUAL model
through a study in medical service profession by including an additional gap
reflecting the difference between service providers’ evaluation of the
customers’ experience and the customers’ actual experience. In the study,
except for variables measuring diagnostic practices, the customers’ experience
ratings were higher than the level which the providers thought a client would
respond. The results supported the central role of human interaction in service
delivery as the ‘interaction with the doctor’ was found to be the strongest
predictor of overall service quality.
George (1990) in his paper emphasized the interdependence of HRM
and internal marketing. The study described internal marketing as a philosophy
for managing the organizational HR as a holistic management process to
integrate the multiple functions of the organization. If treated in a holistic
fashion internal marketing ensures that employees at all levels, including
management, understand and experience the business and its various activities,
campaigns and processes in the context of an environment that support
customer consciousness. It also ensures that all employees are prepared and
motivated to act in service oriented manner.
Schneider and Schechter (1991) analysed the development of personnel
system for service jobs and stated that although the employee spontaneity in
delivering memorably good services would appear to be somewhat random and
relatively uncontrollable, the organization can encourage positive spontaneous
behaviours and discourage negative behaviours of employees. Recruiting and
selecting employees with strong service orientation, building a strong service
culture, empowering employees, supervising effectively, monitoring and quick
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feed back to employees and the organization can control the randomness in
spontaneity behaviours of employees to a great extent.
Hayes (1992) identified some quality dimensions for staff support areas
such as: the degree to which the customer can contact the provider (availability
of support), the degree to which the provider reacts promptly to the customer
(responsiveness of support), the degree to which the job is accomplished within
the customers’ stated frame (timeliness of support), the degree to which the
total job is finished (completeness of support) and the degree to which the
provider uses suitable professional behaviour or manners while working with
the customers (pleasantness of support).
Cronin and Taylor (1992) conducted a study on four services namely
banking, pest control, dry cleaning and fast food by using four alternative
scales such as SERVQUAL, SERVPERF, importance–weighted SERVQUAL,
and importance weighted SERVPERF. Among these four scales, they found
SERVPERF (perception part of SERVQUAL) as empirically better model in
explaining variation in service quality.
Schneider and Bowen (1993) highlighted that when an organization
promotes an atmosphere for its employees that is fundamentally conducive to
serve the customers, such an effort will result in higher levels of positive
customer experiences, which in turn will lead to other positive customer
outcomes.
Tom and Brian (1998) analyzed the people management techniques in
service organizations to increase the quality of the services they offer. In the
article they examined a variety of management practices, particularly from
human resource management (HRM), and assessed their potential impact on
service quality and total quality management (TQM). Many techniques were
identified as being potentially supportive of quality improvement but some
posing threats, particularly those most closely associated with cost
minimization and the less subtle forms of managerial control.
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Haneborg (1998) evaluated friendliness, courtesy and helpfulness as key
attributes of successful front office staff and customer service employees. She
further stated that even a smile of an employee goes a long way with the
customer.
Bardy and Cronin (2001) analyzed the linkage between the customers’
perception of service quality and customer oriented behaviours of employees
and remarked that customers’ perceptions of service quality are impacted by
the customer oriented employee behaviours. All of the five dimensions of
service quality such as reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and
tangibles can be influenced directly by service employees.
Mahn, Sharon and Jaebeom (2001) examined work climate variables
relevant to contact employees during service encounters and their impact on
service quality. The study, which combined perceptions from customers and
their contact employees, showed that work climate variables contribute directly
to job satisfaction and work effort, and indirectly have an impact on customers’
perceptions of employee service quality. The empirical results of the study also
indicated that in addition to job satisfaction, employees’ work effort also plays
a strong, central role in determining customers’ perceptions of employee
service quality.
Jai (2002) stated that reliability, responsiveness, competence, access,
courtesy, customers’ communication, serving, understanding the customers and
tangibles as the important determinants of service quality of any business.
Lashley and Lee-Ross (2003) viewed that the mutual support among and
between employees as one essential precursor to the effective provision of a
service -quality environment.
Schneider and White (2004) appraised that the climate for service
measure should focus specifically on leadership behaviours directly related to
service (goal-setting, planning), rewards and recognition designed to encourage
service behaviours, and the degree to which customer service quality is
emphasized all aspects of training with in the particular organisation.
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Lovelock and Wirtz (2004) observed that interactions with service
people are the experiences that customers remember best; employees who are
uncomfortable in dealing with customers, or who lack the training and
expertise to meet customer expectations, can cause customers to retain
unpleasant memories of a service experience. Service employees are thus the
primary source through which service businesses can gain a competitive
advantage. Previously Schneider and Bowen, (1993) had also made a similar
observation.
Khandekar and Sharma (2005) addressed the link between HR practices
and enterprises’ competitive advantages through people and observed that by
recognizing, developing and utilizing capabilities embedded in the collective
knowledge of firm’s members, HRD can play a very important role in
developing peoples’ capabilities as a source of sustainable competitive
advantage. They further observed that more and more organizations are
designing their HR systems to enable employees to use their knowledge for a
competitive edge.
Roland and Werner (2005) conducted a study among top management,
employees and final customers of customer care centres in Germany and
Austria. The study revealed that employee satisfaction is the main factor for
driving customer orientation. Management efforts resulting in employee
orientation will facilitate the job of employees and increase employee loyalty.
The study highlighted that firms should invest in their employees and should
adopt an employee-oriented management style.
Yagil (2006) examined several interactive effects of empowerment and
seeking power on service provider burnout. The study also examined the
relationship between service providers' burnout and customers' reports of their
satisfaction with the service. Opinions of participants, comprising service
provider-customer dyads coming from public and private service organizations,
were collected through questionnaires. The study found that service providers
with a high power motivation experience more burnout as a result of stressful
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relationships with customers than service providers with a low power
motivation. This effect, however, is found reversed when service providers are
empowered. Furthermore, the negative relationship of burnout with customer
satisfaction was found to be stronger with a high level of empowerment than
with a low level of empowerment. The implication of the findings of the study
is that practices of human resources such as selection and training should take
into consideration the effect of service providers' predispositions on their
willingness and ability to function under a high level of empowerment.
Min-Hsin (2008) in his paper compared the selling orientation (SO) with
customer orientation (CO) of a service employees and examined the impacts of
SO versus CO behaviour on customer relationship quality and retention in
financial services selling. The study by collecting data from customers in
insurance and banking sectors in Taiwan revealed that a service employee with
CO approach increases relationship quality while a SO approach decreases
relationship quality with customers. Further, relationship quality is verified to
positively affect customers' future retention. The practical implication
highlighted that lead managers should emphasize a CO approach when
employees are selling services. The study suggested that service employee
training emphasizing CO can add additional value to a company's service
offering and influence future retention of the service firms.
Wen-Hsien (2008) investigated how and why other-customer’s
misbehaviour has a negative influence on customer satisfaction with the service
firm. The study indicated that people consider another customer's failure to be
the firm's responsibility when they perceive that the failure is under the firm's
control (i.e. controllability attribution). But stability attributions about other-
customer failures were not found to be significantly related to the firm's
responsibility. Similarly the severity of the other-customer failure experience
bears no relation to the customer's service recovery expectation, but it is
negatively related to satisfaction. The study also found that the customer's
evaluation of service is not only affected by the other-customer misbehaviour,
but also by how employees react to situations when other customers are unruly
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or potentially disruptive. Employees should be trained to help the affected
customers, to alleviate any bad feelings caused by the other-customer's
misbehaviour.
Alison and Al Rainnie (2009) analysed views of frontline employees in
a telecommunication call center in Australia on the organizational factors that
affect their ability to deliver service quality to customers. The study suggested
that to deliver high levels of service quality, managers need to rethink their
approaches to productivity and performance management, and hiring and
supporting the “right” service staff.
1.1.2 International Reviews on People Element in Tourism Delivery
David (1981) in his research paper discussed the social and cultural
dimensions of tourism training in developing countries and noted that the
training in this field narrowly focuses on vocational and technical skills. Little
thought has been given as to how this education fits into an existing socio-
cultural environment, the problems of communication between guest and host,
or to the demands and stresses placed upon those in the frontlines of the
industry. The paper looked at the need for the development of programs which
broaden the scope of training by taking into account the potential social and
cultural risks of tourism for the industry worker and the barriers to
communication rising from different backgrounds, values, and expectations
between hosts and foreign visitors.
Baker (1987) examined the way other customers behave with many
services such as airlines and restaurants and found that such behaviour exerts a
major influence on customers’ experience.
Hilary (1987) analysed the employment generation in tourism and
leisure industry and identified various categories of employment and work
responsibilities in tourism industry. The study also highlighted the necessity
and importance of human resource development for tourism industry.
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Cooper (1989) stated that human resources, proper organization,
leadership and co-ordination are the critical elements in providing integrated
recreation.
Morrison (1989) viewed tourism as a people industry since this industry
is highly dependent on the quality of hospitality offered by employees who
work at hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, gift shops etc.
John, Mary, Ronald and Patrick (1992) investigated factors that might
influence degree of service orientation of restaurant employees. Service
orientation has been characterized as the disposition of employees to be
helpful, thoughtful, considerate, and co-operative towards customers. The
exploratory study examined service orientation of employees and managers
working in pizza restaurants. Results suggest that service orientation comprises
of three components: organizational support, customer focus, and service under
pressure. Results also suggest that increasing employees' job involvement, job
satisfaction, and job security could assist in improving their overall service
orientation.
Frank (1995) analyzed the emerging issues in tourism education and
noted that tourism education offers a great potential to make a significant
contribution towards the creation of value added activities in the tourism sector
and the sustenance of its competitive advantage.
Sanes (1996) evaluated the employees on service delivery and
emphasized that quantity and quality of human resources are equally important
to deliver quality services; which require professionalism and specialization in
the different sub sectors of tourism viz. accommodation, transportation, and
entertainment and destination development.
Jafar and Eduardo (1996) analyzed the deliberations held in multi-
conferences on human resource in tourism and highlighted that during recent
years, there is a renewed recognition on the quality in tourism service industry.
They also stated that the success of the industry will depend upon the training
and retraining of the workforce. As they reported, the declaration of 1994
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Conference of the European Tourism Education Network (ETEN) held in
Portugal recognized that tourism is entering a ‘New Age’ and therefore, the
training and education will have to respond to the emerging tourism paradigms
with special emphasis on forms and conditions influencing development and
presentation of quality tourism goods and services. In its annual international
tourism exchange held in Germany in 1995, ITB deliberated and recognized
that the industry needs access to quality work force and therefore, tourism
education and training of today should correspond with tomorrow’s needs.
Thomas (1997) conducted a study focusing on the human resource
dimension with a special emphasis on the front office staff in medium sized
hotels. The study discussed the concepts of quality, customer and service
improvement, and the factors influencing interpersonal relationships. The study
also discussed alternative approaches to the development of interpersonal
skills.
Falbo (1998) in his article ‘Wow customers with service to build
positive PR’ remarked that in the eyes of guests the employees are the
ambassadors for the hospitality operations. The employees represent the
organization and all that it stands for and is trying to accomplish. Therefore,
employee attitude and performance are critical to the success of hospitality
industry.
Shriver (1998) noticed an irony existing in hospitality industry where
high guest contact positions such as housekeeping, front office, dining room
serving etc. are often assigned to new employees with minimal training.
Nha and Gaston (2002) in their article evaluated empirically the impact
of contact personnel and physical environment on the perception of corporate
image by new clients using the hierarchical multiple regression analysis
capable of exploring the potential presence of higher order and interaction
terms. They collected data from two service industries, namely new clients of a
life insurance company and travellers in a hotel. A linear relationship with
corporate image was statistically confirmed for contact personnel, while a
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potential curvilinear relationship was found for physical environment. The
results revealed the significant effect of both contact personnel and physical
environment, as well as their interactive effects on corporate image.
Kandampully (2002) expressed that in many cases, customer-contact
employees are the first and only direct representation a customer has.
Customers often base their impressions of the firm on the service received from
these employees. It is therefore, important for service managers, particularly in
the hospitality industry, to understand, and then find ways to effectively
manage, these interactions. Hartline et. al. (2000) and Hartline and Ferrel
(1996) also expressed the same view.
Batia (2002) highlighted that ‘no business is more concerned with
human relations than tourism business. He further noted that since an
international tourist compare the facilities and hospitality of hosts across the
world a tourism marketing organization has to be globally competitive with its
professionalism and efficiency. For attaining professionalism and efficiency,
tourism marketing organizations should establish human resource development
programmes to screen and train prospective employees to enable them to
acquire both attitudinal as well as technical skills. Attitudinal characteristics
contribute to an employee’s success in tourism position and include pride,
flexibility, adaptability and judgment. Technical skills required include facility
and equipment operation and maintenance, financial management and
administration and system analysis and design.
Susan and Derak (2003) discussed the service model developed by
British Airways. In that model the airline identified five specific areas to be
focused for an excellent service delivery. These areas are: establishing a clear
customer service strategy, ensuring the correct people in the correct place with
correct skills to deliver outstanding personal service, establishing service
delivery processes, improving continuously in terms of processes and quality
monitoring and recovery.
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Pallet, Tylor and Jayewardene (2003) stated in their paper that quality
has to be visioned, initiated, planned, delivered, monitored and sustained. They
proposed that quality problems and key staff issues in hotels often can be
solved with a common ‘People and Quality’ strategy which involves placing
customer needs in the heart of the whole process; seeking suggestions from
staff; developing corporate quality and people philosophy; training and
empowering staff; benchmarking and reviewing.
Keating and Harrington (2003) conducted a study on the Irish hotel
industry and found that many quality programmes fail due to lack of
commitment on the part of senior and middle management, and frontline
employees. The authors also found that the management of quality in
contemporary hospitality organisations is lacking in involvement,
communication and teamwork dimensions.
Richard and Gill (2003) in their paper examined the role of tourism
industry employees, particularly those in hotels, in the success of quality
management programmes. The study on hotel employees in Cyprus identified a
number of factors that influence the quality service provision, with a variety of
implications for the destination as whole as well as individual hotels. They
suggested that hospitality managers should implement strategies based on
reward systems, empowerment and reducing staff turnover, while the national
tourism organization should play their role as a co-ordinator and guide.
An-tien, Chang-Hua, and Ko-Chien (2004) analyzed empirically the
subject whether customers can act the role of partial employees when
participating in the service production and delivery process. The study also
examined the relationship between customer participation and the workload
perceived by the service providers. Empirical results of survey data collected
from customer-contact employees at restaurants in Taiwan indicated that
customer participation is positively related to service providers' perceived
workload, which implies that it is inappropriate to decrease the number of
service employees based on service designs that include customer participation.
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Osman, Orhan, Ismet, Lejla and Lulu (2006) examined the effects of
employee competitiveness, self-efficacy, and effort on performance; the effects
of self-efficacy and effort on job satisfaction; and the effects of performance
and job satisfaction on intention to leave by taking samples of frontline
employees in Northern Cyprus hotels. The hypothesized relationships were
tested through path analysis. The analysis indicated that competitiveness, self-
efficacy, and effort are significant predictors of frontline employee
performance. The analysis also demonstrated that the direct effect of self-
efficacy on job satisfaction is stronger than that of effort. Job satisfaction was
found to be negatively associated with intention to leave.
Judith and Genevieve (2006) in their paper discussed the efficacy of the
Australian competency training framework for credentialing and preparing
frontline employees for the hospitality and tourism industry. Discussion was
focused on the hospitality service encounter and the skills and competencies
needed by frontline employees to satisfy customers. The study found the links
between the service encounter and competencies and evaluated that the
Australian competency training framework largely excludes key skills and
attitudinal factors needed for competent performance.
Philmore, Lis, and Dion (2006) in their paper measured the extent of the
adoption of human resource management (HRM), the existence of a formal HR
strategy, and the development of the HR function in the Barbados hotel
industry compared with hotels in the UK. It was found that the adoption of
human resource (HR) practices was more prevalent in Barbados hotels than in
the UK. With respect to the existence of a formal HR strategy, the results were
mixed. The results also showed that in many respects the Barbados hotels are
ahead of their UK counterparts in the development of the HR function. The
study highlighted the importance of HR practices in a developing country.
Yong-Ki, Jung-Heon, De-Hwan and Kyung (2006) analyzed the
structural relationship between empowerment, service training, service reward,
job attitudes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and
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customer-oriented pro-social behaviour of employees by using a sample of
Korean hotel employees. The study indicated that the greater the job
satisfaction, the greater is the role-prescribed customer service of employees
and organizational commitment. The empowerment has a significant effect on
organizational commitment and extra-role customer service. Service training
has a significant effect on job satisfaction, but it has a negatively direct effect
on organizational commitment. Similarly, service reward has a significant
influence on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Based on these
empirical findings, the study suggested that employee management should be
shifted from a transactional to a relationship-building orientation – the former
being short-term goal-oriented and the latter long-term.
Pauline and Geraldine (2007) explored the extent of high performance
work practices in the Irish hospitality industry with particular emphasis on the
practices of staff empowerment and participation. The analysis of data
collected through questionnaires from managers in all three, four and five-star
hotels showed that hotels display some of the human resource practices
associated with high performing work practices. However, the study found very
low levels of employee participation. The study highlighted that if Irish hotels
are to survive and remain competitive, the issue of staff representation,
participation and the channels of communication should be addressed.
Gill and Mathur (2007) examined the relationship between
transformational leadership and employee dedication and the relationship
between transformational leadership and pro-social behaviour. Hospitality
industry employees were interviewed to find out whether transformational
leadership used by their managers improved employee dedication and pro-
social behaviour. The study revealed that employee dedication and pro-social
behaviour are positively related to the improvement in the level of perceived
transformational leadership implementation.
Collins (2007) identified the general characteristics of the profile of staff
at five-star hotels, and methods of recruitment. The study used both qualitative
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and quantitative methods to collect and analyze the data. The results indicated
that there is room for staff improvement and betterment in recruitment
methods, even within five-star hotels. All hotels, regardless of their rating,
should understand their human resources make-up and what needs to be
implemented to retain staff.
Antonis, Berg and Wilderom (2007) conducted a study in Europe to test
potential predictors of the behaviour of empowered employees during the
delivery of service to customers. Data for measuring employees' perceptions of
training, performance-related rewards, customer-oriented culture, empowering
management style, and empowered behaviour were collected from frontline
employees of luxury hotels in seven European countries. Results of regression
analyses at the department level showed that two means of control – customer-
oriented culture and empowering management style correlated significantly
with empowered behaviour. The findings of the study implied that, in luxury
hotels enhancement of employee empowerment may be achieved through
careful management and organizational development.
Karatepe (2007) developed and tested a model to examine the effects of
customer orientation and job resources such as supervisory support, training,
empowerment, and rewards on frontline employees' job satisfaction, affective
organizational commitment, and turnover intentions. The analysis of data
collected through self-administered questionnaires from frontline hotel
employees in Turkey revealed that customer orientation and job resources
enhance frontline employees' job satisfaction and affective organizational
commitment, and diminish their turnover intentions. Also, job satisfaction has a
significant positive impact on affective organizational commitment and a
negative effect on turnover intentions.
Willie, Jayavardena and Laver (2008) in their paper made an attempt
to identify the best management approaches that should embrace to
successfully attract and retain high quality human resource talent within the
Niagara region's hospitality industry. The paper suggested that the hospitality
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managers should: understand the basics related to good human resource
management practices; know the ‘fair market value’ for each position; foster
relationships with colleges and universities to tap student labour; encourage
mature workers to apply for part-time work; and cultivate a good relationship
with seasonal employees and educate them on the rewards of a career within
the hospitality industry.
Tracey and Jeremy (2008) in their paper explored the extent to which
employee welfare and human resource management impacts on customer
service. The study collected data from a number of operational permanent local
and seasonal staff of the Mount Kosciusko ski fields in Australia by using self-
administered questionnaire. The results highlighted the challenging living
conditions of many seasonal workers on whom the industry depends and
concluded that when an industry relies heavily on seasonal staff their welfare
should be of prime consideration, because disgruntled staff translates directly
into disgruntled customers.
Davina (2008) explored the role of responsible tourists while on holiday
in the context of New Zealand. In his research from the industry's perspective,
he argued that tourists are an untapped resource; they can make positive
contributions while on holiday. Therefore, tourists are to be placed at the centre
of the responsible tourism. The study concluded that responsible tourist
behaviour is multi-faceted and complex, with several dimensions and degrees
of dimensions. Enacting generic meanings of responsibility is context-
dependent and the onus may fall back to the destinations to guide and direct
tourists appropriately.
Vincent (2008) conducted a study on tour leaders' service quality and
their impact on a travel agency's reputation and word-of-mouth publicity. Four
factors with 16 attributes were identified for the study. These factors were
`Professional attitude and ability', `Presentation and communication ability',
`Professional knowledge' and `Personal integrity'. The survey among tourists
who joined package tours with a large travel agency in Hong Kong revealed
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positive relationships between the tour leader's service quality factors and
reputation coupled with tour leader's service factors and word-of-mouth
publicity.
Chang (2009) made a study on Taiwanese tourists' perceptions of
service quality on outbound guided package tours. The researcher used a
modified SERVQUAL dimensions. Instead of using traditional questionnaire
surveys, qualitative approach was made use of to gain an insight into tour
participants' views. The study found that the dimension of `tangibility' was less
significant as compared to other dimensions in terms of customers' perceptions
of service quality. Other elements such as `communication' and `sociability'
were found critical in the travel industry in a particularly ethnical group.
Panisa, Sarivan and Nak Gulid (2009) examined the antecedents of
tourists' loyalty, both attitudinal and behavioural, towards Chiangmai a tourist
destination in Thailand. Multiple regression analysis indicated that attitudinal
loyalty was mainly driven by attachment, familiarity and perceived value,
whereas behavioural loyalty was driven by familiarity. Only one dimension of
pull motivation (history, heritage and knowledge) was found to have an
influence on attitudinal loyalty, whereas none of pull motivation's dimensions
had an effect on behavioural loyalty. Regarding push motivation, tourists'
desire for novelty was found negatively influenced on behavioural loyalty. The
study also revealed that male tourists tended to be more attitudinally and
behaviourally loyal, while tourists who had children living with them showed
less attitudinal loyalty.
Hyun, Pimtong and Woo Gon (2009) conducted a study among ten
hotels, located in Bangkok. The study was focussed on the effect of four
management-commitment-to-service factors namely organizational support,
rewards, empowerment, and training on employees' job satisfaction and service
behaviours. The results of the study indicated that rewards, empowerment, and
training were positively related to job satisfaction but did not support a path
from organizational support to job satisfaction. Moreover, job satisfaction was
20
found to have a significant influence on Thai employees' extra-role customer
service behaviours and cooperation. Therefore, this study highlighted the role
of job satisfaction as a mediator between three management service initiatives
(rewards, empowerment, and training) and employees' service behaviours
toward customers and co-workers.
Cathy, Liping and Mimi Li (2010) made a study with a focus on the
revisit stage of tourists by framing a model of the behavioural process
incorporating expectation, motivation, and attitude in the context of Chinese
outbound travellers. The study covered residents of Beijing, Shanghai, and
Guangzhou. Results of the study confirmed the proposed relations that
expectation of visiting an outbound destination has a direct effect on
motivation to visit the destination; motivation has a direct effect on attitude
toward visiting the destination; expectation of visiting the outbound destination
has a direct effect on attitude toward visiting the destination; and motivation
has a mediating effect on the relationship between expectation and attitude.
John and Nina (2010) in their research paper emphasized that Visitor
Information Centers (VICs) play an important role in the promotion of tourist
destinations to potential visitors because of their unique position as information
providers. He highlighted that the nature of their information provision is
however changing, primarily in response to the evolving information
infrastructure. These changes to information delivery have in turn many
implications for the users of information. The article considered the varying
information needs of virtual and face-to-face users of VICs in Australia and
examined how VICs could meet their needs in the context of the changing
information infrastructure. The article developed taxonomy of the information
tasks performed by virtual visitors as well as of their motivations, matched to
provision of appropriate media, which it then uses to assess the e-capability of
Australian VICs in meeting the information needs of visitors.
Gabriel and Murat (2010) collected responses from restaurant contact
employees and their customers to determine the effects of empowerment and
21
job satisfaction on customers’ perception of service quality. This study
conceptualized customers’ perceived service quality variable according to the
‘hierarchical approach’ model and used the performance-only index for its
measurement. Findings of the study suggested that empowerment and job
satisfaction have a significant impact on customers’ perception of service
quality.
Songshan, Cathy, and Andrew (2010) in their study examined tour guide
performance and its relationship with tourist satisfaction in the context of
package tours in Shanghai. The study adopted a multilayer framework of
tourist satisfaction. For the study, tourist satisfaction was conceptualized to
include three aspects/layers: satisfaction with guiding service, satisfaction with
tour services, and satisfaction with the overall tour experience. Tour guide
performance was found to have a significant direct effect on tourist satisfaction
with guiding service and an indirect effect on satisfaction with tour services
and with tour experience. Satisfaction with guiding service was found to have a
positive impact on satisfaction with tour services but showed no direct effect on
satisfaction with the overall tour experience. However, indirect effect of
satisfaction with guiding service on satisfaction with tour experience mediated
by satisfaction with tour services was found significant.
Lisa and Bruce (2010) examined world heritage visitor recognition prior
to and after time on-site. In a case study by a visitor survey across five
Australian properties found that only 13 per cent of site visitor do collect
World heritage areas but their socio-demographic profiles are too diverse to
develop a specific socio-demographic profile of this group. Only 60 per cent of
respondents knew they were visiting a World Heritage listed site indicating a
significant weakness in the World Heritage brand.
Joe, Youcheng, and Fajun (2010) developed and tested an integrative
model to examine the relationships between golf travellers’ information
satisfaction, attribute satisfaction, and overall satisfaction related to a golf
vacation, and to investigate the impacts of these variables on their behavioural
22
intentions namely revisit a destination and word-of-mouth referrals by using
surveyed data from golf travellers. The results indicated that information
satisfaction was an antecedent to three attribute satisfaction variables: golf
course and clubhouse amenities, lodging facilities and service, and
merchandise and other recreation facilities. Further, two of these three attribute
satisfaction variables were found to be having a significant impact on overall
satisfaction. Moreover, overall satisfaction had a significant influence on word-
of-mouth referrals and intention to revisit the destination. Finally, word of
mouth to a great extent determined travellers’ intentions to revisit the
destination.
1.1.3 Reviews on People Element in Tourism Delivery in India
Sudheer (1992) conducted an empirical study to analyse the problems
and prospects of tourism in Kerala. One of the objectives of the study was to
ascertain the professionalism of the employees working in governmental
organizations in tourism. The study identified that the lack of professionalism
among personnel adversely affected the efficient functioning of the State
Department of Tourism.
The first Tourism Policy of Government of Kerala (1995) highlighted
the need for creating human resource of good quality to serve the growing
needs of the industry to promote quality tourism.
Dutta (1996) in his paper analyzed the interface between personal selling
strategies and additional three Ps such as people, process and physical evidence
of Indian tourism. He evaluated that as people, physical evidence and process
of service delivery lead to successful tourism services selling; tourism service
organizations are to be concerned more about the skill and performance of their
service personnel. Analyzing the Indian situation, he viewed that although a
certain degree of concern for customers can be observed in the functioning of
private tourism marketing agencies in India, the government and public sector
run tourism promotional agencies are least bothered about the quality of
services provided to the tourists. He further noted that the personnel of Indian
23
tourism promotional agencies, especially those associated with transport
sectors like railways or airlines, State corporation run hotels and information
assistants of tourist offices are hardly aware of the significance of the word of
mouth as an effective tool of promotion. He reiterated that only proper training
and monitoring of their performances by qualified managers can bring about a
dramatic change for better tourist services facilities in India.
Sharma (1996) undertook an empirical study with the objective of
studying the hotel policy in relation to tourism prospects in Rajasthan. On
analysis of data collected from tourists, the study revealed that only 55 per cent
tourists had a good opinion about the behaviour of tourist guides while 80 per
cent of respondents expressed their satisfaction on the behaviour of reception
staff in hotels. He further noted that the promises in tourism lose their edge
when the basic infrastructure such as trained manpower is missing.
Patel (1998) remarked that in a service based business like hospitality
industry the difference between a good property and a great property is not just
the abilities but the attitude of employees. The employees must know their jobs
and they must be able to work together as a team.
Sinha (1998) stated that in tourism marketing it is an intangible
experience that is being sold. Therefore, the satisfaction provided is a function
of human element providing the service. Since a vacation provided is an
amalgam of several products and services offered by different firms, tourist
satisfaction is depended upon services of different sectors.
Jha (1998) observed that since the quality is significant in tourism
products, the staff of hotels, tour operating agencies, travel agencies, resorts,
transport organizations should be trust worthy, competent to speak English and
other languages, friendly, reliable, accessible and well behaved. The scientific
planning and development of attractive tourism products necessitates formation
and maintenance of an amalgam of various tangible or material factors which
include attraction accommodation, transportation, recreation, restaurants, and
shopping. The intangible or non material factors consist of the feel good
24
elements like the general attitude towards tourists at reception centers, various
tourist destinations, airport, hotel, approach of the employees, and tour agents
and feeling of safety and security provided by the police and officials.
Santhi (2002) by giving a special perspective on Nainital conducted a
study on marketing strategies for quality tourism promotion by taking samples
from tourists and tourism service providers. The study revealed that only 50 per
cent of sample tourists have satisfaction with the services of tourism service
providers and only 17 per cent of sample tourists have proper awareness about
tourist attractions in Nainital. Study also found that travel agencies and hotels
do not provide any training to their staff and the lack of qualified employees
lessens the efficiency of jobs and outcomes.
Vinay (2004) mentioned that despite all the superb tourism attractions,
India’s share in international tourism is not encouraging. A number of factors
are responsible for this poor performance which includes inadequacy of
infrastructure, poor management of resources, and lack of strategic planning.
However, tourism being a service industry, its growth and development is
largely depending upon human resource in the industry. Ironically, there is a
wide gap in terms of demand and supply of human resource in this industry. He
studied the human resource skills needed by tour operating sector and the level
of adequacy of the current training to meet the industrial requirement in India.
The results of the study indicated that there is a gap between the level of
expectations of the tour operating firms on the skills of their employees having
professional tourism education and the actual level of satisfaction on the skills
of such employees. Of the 24 parameters covered under the study, 13 have
shown moderate gap and another six such as tourism product knowledge,
communication, trade ethics, organizational loyalty, quick decision making and
time management a serious gap. To bridge this gap effective academia industry
coordination is required.
Aneja (2005) in his paper ‘Tourism Growth – Challenges Ahead’ stated
that in India, tourism industry lacks professionalism. A number of hotels and
25
restaurants are maintaining very unprofessional approach in serving the
tourists. The existing manpower deployed in different fields of tourism lack
professional skill and attitude. The need of the hour is to impart necessary
training to the personnel to update their knowledge, skills and attitude with a
view to provide better and efficient services to tourists.
Matararaba (2005) investigated the key resources and related key
strategies that contribute most to the enhancement of performance and
competitiveness in multinational hotels and found human resource as one of the
key resources that is most capable of enhancing performance and
competitiveness in hospitality organizations.
Silpa and Rajithakumar (2005) in their paper remarked that people
associated with the tourism industry should be well versed with the existing
government rules, laws and regulations on the industry and allied areas such as
transport, hotel, banking and insurance.
Selvam, Babu and Vanitha (2005) conducted a study on the
satisfaction of tourists visited to Tirucharappilly district of Tamilnadu. The
study among tourists considered 17 variables covering tangible and intangible
parts of tourism products. The study revealed that the satisfaction level of
tourists on majority of variables including the services provided by public
sector organizations is just above average.
Joseph (2005) explored the views and appreciations of tourists who
stayed in various accommodation units of Kerala Tourism Development
Corporation (KTDC) and in the study 70 per cent of respondents stated good
opinion about the hospitality of the staff of the corporation. Regarding the
services provided by the information centres/counters of the corporation, 64 per
cent availed the services and 63 per cent of them remarked that the services
rendered are good.
Sargadharan and Retnakumari (2005) in their study among international
tourists on hospitality and tourism in Kerala revealed that the State has been far
26
above the expectations of the international tourists in relations to attractions
and hospitality.
Dev and Simon (2005) in their paper suggested that the onus of
promoting Kerala as a tourist destination should be shouldered by the citizens
and government. The rickshaw drivers, taxi drivers, guides, policemen, and
other officials should respect tourists and avoid exploiting them.
Satheeshkumar (2006) evaluated the performance of passenger transport
workers in public, private and co-operative sectors in Kerala. The study
revealed that the performance of drivers, conductors and inspectors working in
passenger transport industry in Kerala is generally moderate. The sector wise
analysis showed that the performance of workers is higher in co-operative
sector as compared to private and public sectors. In the case of job satisfaction
also the co-operative sector is found to be better than other sectors.
Vinnie (2006) examined the link between industry competency
requirements and the provisions for hospitality management education in India
using structured interviews with educationists and industrialists. The findings
of the study showed a gap existing in terms of ensuring that the needs of
industry are met by the ongoing skills development of the workforce. The study
expressed the need for collaborative development between the educational
providers and industry, especially in relation to the ongoing development of
managers in the workplace.
Umesh (2006) conducted an empirical study among employees of hotel
industry in Jammu region and in the study most of the respondents remarked
that their organizations pay little attention towards job satisfaction and
professionalism among the employees. The parameters negatively opined by
the majority of the respondents include, allowing participating in seminars
(85%), organizing training programs (84%), social appreciation and recognition
(83%), giving awards and rewards for motivation (82%), giving authority to
take decisions (78%), awarding promotion by considering merit (75%) and
imparting preliminary training (61%). Majority of them also expressed their
27
dissatisfaction towards, salary package, medical benefits, working hours, and
overtime.
Murugan (2007) in his paper stated that the weakest link in the service
delivery system of the modern competitive tourism industry has been the
quality of workers which tourism business is able to recruit, train and retain. In
his opinion, in India while imparting training in tourism at levels such as the
universities, government institutions and private institutions the more important
question of ‘human development’ seems to have lost the race. Majority of these
institutions, still, continue to impart only class room education on theoretical
subjects.
Anilkumar (2008) identified and evaluated the negative impacts of
tourism on hosts and guests. The study revealed overpricing, littering,
disturbance to and exploitation on tourists as the factors causing the high level
negative impacts on international and domestic tourists visiting Kerala.
Similarly, alcoholism, overpricing of commodities, littering, water pollution,
drug trafficking, prostitution and increase in land value in tourist centres are the
factors for high level negative impact on host community. Among other
suggestions the study highlighted the need of awareness creation among
tourists and hosts and the need of appointing trained tourism police and
cleaning guards at tourist centres.
Mathew, Kurian, and Renganathan (2008) examined the relevance of
behavioural training for tourist guides in eco-tourism centres in Kerala. The
study revealed that tourists guides are imparted only a short training and the
main focus of trainings offered to them was technical and product related. The
orientation of guides towards behavioural training is much less than as
compared to their outlook towards products training. The study recommends
for making soft skill development as an explicit and integral part of national
tourism policy agenda both in respect of enterprise development and of
education and training.
28
Devi and Kanchana (2009) assessed the customer preference and
satisfaction towards restaurants in Coimbatore city. On assessing the service
behaviour of employees, 86 per cent of sample respondents opined that
employees take orders correctly and serve the items without discrepancies and
75 per cent expressed that employees patiently take orders. Similarly, 74 per
cent of the respondents expressed that employees communicate clearly and 72
per cent stated that employees were friendly and courteous.
Mayaram (2009) in his article discussed the factors preventing the
international tourists to travel in large numbers to India. He stated that the
constraints in India becoming globally competitive tourism destination are
inadequate tourism infrastructure and weak institutional support frameworks.
Even though tourism ministry has taken several key initiatives to improve the
capacity of tourist superstructure facilities, public infrastructure continues to be
largely poor. Quality and capacity of air, road rail water access and
connectivity infrastructure is substandard and services are unreliable.
Infrastructure at tourist destinations such as toilets, parking, lighting directional
signage and interpretation at major cultural heritage sites is largely absent and
site conservation practices are non-existent. The concept of community based
tourism infrastructure is totally unknown. He also noted that handling of
consumer complaints in tourism is asymmetrical and not institutionalized.
On reviewing the available literature it is quite obvious that there have
been many conceptual and empirical studies on services marketing including
tourism marketing in the context of different countries. Although the literature
covers various dimensions of managing services from the point of view of
customers and employees individually, only a few studies have considered the
perceptions of employees and customers together. In India empirical studies
related to management of tourism services from the perceptions of both these
people groups are relatively scanty. Moreover a specific study focusing
exclusively on the people element of tourism delivery in the context of Kerala
has not so far come forth. The present study is undertaken to bridge this gap in
service marketing research.
29
1.2 Statement of Problem
Tourism is revered as ‘people industry’ (Morrison, 1989). It is a service
industry that is highly dependent on the hospitality offered to tourists by the
hosts. In tourism industry each visitor is considered as a guest and each person
serving him or her is the host. The host is responsible for creating and
delivering service at the same time the guest enjoys the service (Voght &
Fesenmaier, 1995). Therefore, in tourism industry, the personnel who attend
tourists such as hotel receptionists, resort representatives, hotel waiters, bar
staff, hotel cleaners, coach drivers and airline cabin crews form an essential
ingredient of the product (Holloway & Plant, 1992). As the tourism product is
indivisible from the personnel who deliver the services, no reduction in price
would compensate for impolite travel guide, an indecent restaurant waiter and a
haughty coach driver (Jha, 2002). Therefore, service people are critical for the
success of any tourism organization. The knowledge, skill, appearance,
concern, sense of responsibility, attitude, and behaviour of host people in
tourism service organizations influence the tourists’ perceptions of the services.
As tourism business is highly linked with the performance of staff, if they
perform well the business would thrive (Jha, 2002).
Like the host people, the customers also have a role in the delivery of
tourism. Unless the tourists perform their role appropriately, they rarely obtain
maximum value from the tour. Therefore, the performance of tourists is also
crucial for any organization and destination that markets tourism.
In the federal structure of India, the State is responsible for the
development of tourism in the region. Though both public and private sector
concerns provide a broad range of tourism products, the tourism industry can
grow only under the umbrella of the government. Large and reputed private
enterprises, especially in organized sector may take keen interest in managing
their personnel by selecting right kind of people and by designing effective
training programmes to equip them to deliver quality services. Though, in
India, especially in Kerala, the public sector tourism agencies play a great role
in providing physical facilities and services to tourists visiting the State, there
30
are apprehensions that they do not pursue a consistent approach in developing
professionalism and behavioural skills in their people who deliver services
(Sudheer, 1992). Here the agencies may fail to educate or sensitize the
customers to perform their roles. No doubt Indian tourism industry is at its
growth phase. However, to accelerate the growth of tourism in the State, the
public sector tourism agencies should take measures to improve the
performance of these two people groups on both the end of service channel.
The study titled “People Development Practices and Tourism Delivery
Performance: a Study with Special Reference to Public Sector Tourism
Agencies in Kerala” empirically investigates this issue.
1. 3 Significance of the Study
People constitute an important dimension in the management of tourism
services in their role both as providers of services and as customers. This
element, more than any other elements, provides evidence of the link between
marketing and human resource as functional areas and highlights the necessity
of intra-organizational co-operation and synergy between the two. The value
chain linkages between the two functional areas are instrumental to the delivery
of value added services in an organizational sense.
The present study focuses on the relation between frontline service
people in public sector tourism agencies in Kerala and tourists. More
specifically, the approach of the public sector tourism agencies in developing
the performances of service people and tourists and the perceived performance
of both these people groups are assessed in the context of Kerala. Therefore,
this study is expected to generate insights from the service people about the
inputs required to upgrade their performance levels to satisfy the tourists,
thereby to make a competitive edge in the market. The investigation of the
degree of customers’ satisfaction on each performance factor would also
provide valuable information to the industry, especially public sector agencies
to focus on people element in service and to prioritize their people development
activities accordingly. Further, it would also encourage the public sector
tourism agencies to make the most economic allocation of their resources for
31
the improved performance of people employed there and also to frame
customer education and sensitization policies to improve the quality of tourism
in the State. The findings of these inputs definitely would help the policy
makers in the State to draft guidelines to uplift this sector to a higher level and
also to place the State as the most preferred tourist destination in the country.
1.4 Scope of the Study
The concept of people element as given in the literature on service
marketing has been used for the study. People element is defined as “all human
actors who play a part in service delivery and thus influence the buyers’
perceptions: namely, the firm’s personnel, the customer and other customers in
the service environment” (Zeithaml & Bitner, 2003). The study is confined to
the state of Kerala only. The Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala
(DoT, GoK), and Kerala Tourism Development Corporation limited (KTDC),
which are the public sector agencies exclusively set up for providing tourism
services throughout Kerala are covered under the study. Receptionists in the
front office in KTDC hotels, waiters in food and beverage services of KTDC
restaurants, and tourist information officers and tourist information assistants at
tourist information offices of DoT, GoK are considered as people on the supply
side of tourism services. Both domestic and international tourists who visit
Kerala and avail of tourism services from these service people are the people
on the demand side of the tourism services.
1.5 Objectives of the Study
1 To study the practices of public sector tourism agencies in Kerala towards
the performance development of their service people at delivery end.
2 To analyse the practices of public sector tourism agencies in Kerala
towards the performance development of tourists visiting the State.
3 To assess the performance of service people at delivery end of public
sector tourism agencies in Kerala.
4 To study the performance of the tourists as responsible customers of
tourism sector in Kerala.
32
1.6 Hypotheses for the Study
The following hypotheses have been formulated on the basis of the
objectives of the study.
H01 The satisfaction level of the service people in public sector tourism
agencies in Kerala on the organizational practices for developing their
service performance is not high.
H02 Profile (gender, employment status and service category) of the service
people have no statistically significant influence on their level of
satisfaction as to organizational practices in the development of the
service performance.
H03 The level of the public sector practices is not high in developing the
performance of tourists with selected measures (usage of tourism
resources, tourists’ safety and conserving environment) from the
perspective of tourists.
H04 The level of the public sector practices is not high in developing
performance of tourists with selected measures (usage of tourism
resources, tourists’ safety and conserving environment) from the
perspective of service people.
H05 There is no service category wise difference in the performance of
service people in public sector tourism agencies in Kerala from the
perspective of tourists.
H06 There is no service category wise difference in the performance of
service people in public sector tourism agencies in Kerala from their
own perspective.
H07 There is no factor wise difference in the performance of service people
across the categories of services in public sector tourism agencies in
Kerala from the perspective of tourists.
33
H08 There is no factor wise difference in the performance of service people
across the categories of services in public sector tourism agencies in
Kerala from their own perspective.
H09 The level of performance of tourists in tour preparation activities, in self
benefit/safety activities and in environmental conservation activities as
responsible customers of tourism is not high from the perspective of
service people.
H10 The level of performance of tourists in tour preparation activities, in self
benefit/safety activities and in environmental conservation activities as
responsible customers of tourism is not high from their own perspective.
1.7 Key Variables Used for the Study
1. To study the practices of public sector tourism agencies in Keralatowards the performance development of their service people at thedelivery end.
(A)Demographic and service variables of service people
a. Gender
b. Age
c. Status of employment
d. Educational qualification
e. Total experience in serving tourists
f. Category of service
g. Marital status
h. Monthly income
i. Proficiency in language
(B) Dependant variables
a. Recruitment
b. Functional skill development
c. Social skill development
d. Working hours
e. Compensation
f. Recognition for good service
34
g. Team work
h. Grievance handling
i. Infrastructural supports
j. Functioning of trade unions
2 To analyse the practices of the public sector tourism agencies in Keralatowards the performance development of tourists visiting the State
(A) Demography of tourists and tour variables
a. Gender
b. Age
c. Educational qualification
d. Trade union association
e. Region of origin
f. Occupational status
g. Monthly income
h. Purpose of tour
i. Source of information on Kerala
j. Previous visit experience in Kerala
k. Tour companion
l. Type of tour
m. Main destination in itinerary
(B) Measures towards usage of tourism resources
a. Information and guidance at TIOs
b. Proper sign boards at destinations
c. Motivate constructive dealings with co-tourists
d. Motivate early tour arrangements
e. System of collecting feed back
(C) Measures towards provision of tourist safety
a. Educate tourists through print materials
b. Educate tourists through visual tools
c. Safety guidelines at the tourist site
d. Life saving supports at aqua spots
35
e. Instructions to avoid disturbing co-tourists
f. Service of tourism police
g. Support to avail tourist guide
(D) Measures towards conservation of environment
a. Fix publicity boards for environmental preservation
b. Fixing litter bins
c. Motivation to self report contagious diseases
d. Curb smoking and using alcohol at public places
e. Inspire tourists to avoid plastic
f. Inspire tourists to respect local culture and natives
3. To assess the performance of service people at delivery end of publicsector tourism agencies in Kerala.
a. Basic job skill
b. Knowledge on local tourism
c. Tactful conflict handling
d. Communication in language known to tourists
e. Personal hygiene and grooming
f. Politeness in dealings
g. Sincerity in solving tourists’ problems
h. Patience in understanding tourist needs
i. Willingness to help beyond service limit
j. Ability to win trust of tourists
k. Unbiased services
l. Unexaggerated communication
m.Positive body gestures while interacting
n. Comprehensive explanation
o. Sense of humour in dealings
p. Unreservedness
4. To study the performance of the tourists as responsible customers oftourism sector in Kerala.
(A) Performance in tour preparation activities
36
a. Seek information through print media
b. Seek information through electronic media
c. Advance booking of services
(B) Performance in activities for safety during the tour
a. Precautions at aqua tour centres
b. Give feedback on service quality
c. Adhere to directions of tour site officials
d. Depend TIOs during trip
e. Consider sign boards at destinations
f. Avoid disturbing other tourists
g. Constructive dealings with other tourists
h. Obey tourism police at tour spots
i. Avail the services of approved guides
(C) Performance in activities for conserving environment
a. Cooperation to enforce plastic ban
b. Self reporting of infectious diseases
c. Drop litter in litter bins
d. Avoid smoking and consuming alcohol at public places
e. Conservation of natural resources
f. Respecting local culture and natives
1.8 Operational Definitions
(a) Public Sector Tourism Agencies
The Department of Tourism Government of Kerala and Kerala Tourism
Development Corporation Limited are covered under this definition.
(b)People
The definition of the term people for the study includes people serving
tourists (service people) and tourist visiting Kerala.
(c ) Service People
The service people in this study include three groups of people serving
37
tourists namely: (i) Receptionists in the front office of KTDC hotels (Reception
service people) (ii) Waiters in restaurants of KTDC hotels (Restaurant service
people) (iii) Tourist information officers and tourist information assistants at
tourist information offices of Ministry of Tourism, Government of Kerala
(Tourist information service people).
(d) Tourist
Any person from India or from outside India who visit Kerala and stays
atleast one night in the State for business or leisure activities or both without an
intention of residing permanently is termed as tourist.
(e) Foreign Tourist
A tourist from abroad visiting Kerala is termed as foreign tourist.
(f) Domestic Tourist
A tourist from any parts of India visiting Kerala is termed as domestic
tourist.
(g)Performance Development of Service People
The improvement in performance of the service people through the
practices of recruitment, training, motivation and rewards.
(i)Tourism Delivery Performance of People
Actual performance of service people and tourists involved in Kerala
tourism is termed as tourism delivery performance.
1.9 Methodology
The present study is both descriptive and analytical in nature. The study
has been administered under the following methodological framework.
direct and indirect measures of education, guidance, directions, sensitization
and supports.
(h)Performance Development of Tourists
The improvement in performance of the tourists through the
38
1.9.1 Population
The study consists of two population groups; service people and tourists
as discussed in its scope.
1.9.2 Sampling Design
The researcher has adopted a multi-stage sampling technique. Firstly the
entire geographical area of Kerala has been divided in to three zones namely
southern, central and northern. Then, the districts which recorded significant
(atleast five per cent) growth in respect of both domestic and foreign tourist
arrivals in 2008 (the year which recorded the maximum tourist arrivals in
Kerala before global recession), over the previous year have been selected
(Annexure III). Five districts so selected are Thiruvanthapuram and Alappuzha
from southern zone, Idukki and Ernakulam from central zone and Wynad from
northern zone. 17 of the 31 hotels promoted by KTDC in tourism market of
Kerala located in the selected districts have been identified for the study.
Further, of these, five premium or heritage hotels and five non premium hotels
under the brands ‘budget’ and ‘tamarind’ hotels located in the popular tourism
spots in these districts have been chosen for the survey (Annexure IV). Of the
total 25 TIOs of the Department of Tourism of Government of Kerala, 14 are
located in these five districts. All these have been contacted for the study
(Annexure V).
The sample sizes of the populations for the study have been fixed at 375
tourists and 80 service people. Tourists have been arbitrarily apportioned
between domestic and foreign in the ratio of 2:1. The researcher surveyed the
tourists who stayed at KTDC hotels and also the tourists who availed the direct
services of TIOs at the prime tourist centres in the districts where both KTDC
hotels and tourist information offices are located. Only those tourists who are
atleast on the second day of their tour itinerary in Kerala have been surveyed
(Table 1.1). Then 80 service people have been divided in the ratio of 3:3:2. The
researcher has contacted the respondents at their work place and collected the
responses from 30 hotel receptionists and restaurant waiters each and 20 tourist
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information staff on a random basis by giving representation to all the districts
selected (Table 1.2).
Table 1.1: Details Regarding the Selection of Sample Tourists
Sample DistrictsSample Tourists Selected
TotalForeign Domestic
Thiruvanthapuram 40 80 120Alappuzha 10 20 30
Southern region 50 100 150Idukki 40 80 120Ernakulam 20 40 60
Central region 60 120 180Wynad 15 30 45
Northern region 15 30 45Total 125 250 375
Table 1.2: Details Regarding the Selection of Sample Service People
Organisation No ofUnits
Category of ServicePeople
Total Sample
KTDC 10 Reception 60(100) 30(50)Restaurant 81(100) 30(38)
TIO 14 Tourist Information 34(100) 20(44)Total 175(100) 80(46)
Source: Data compiled from KTDC and DoT, GoK Note: Figures in parentheses arepercentages
1.9.3 Data
As the study is of empirical nature, both primary and secondary data
have been used. The primary data have been collected from the sample
respondents consisting of service people and tourists - by administering
pretested structured interview schedules (given as Annexure I and II) and also
by way of non participatory observations, wherever required. The secondary
data have been collected from the records and official publications of the India
Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), Kerala Tourism Development
Corporation (KTDC), Department of Tourism (DoT) at Union and the State
Government levels, books, periodicals, reports and the reliable internet sources.
1.9.4 Period of Study
On analysing the activities in tourism sector, it is imperative that during
the last decade both international and national tourism have witnessed some
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commendable ups and downs. A number of tourism development programmes,
especially in people management area have been commenced both at the Union
and the State Government levels during this period. The main focus period of
the study is confined to 2001-2011.The field survey for collecting primary data
for the study has been conducted during the period from November 2010 to
May 2011. However, secondary data related to the preceding and succeeding
periods have also been considered.
1.9.5 Tools of Analysis
The data collected have been meaningfully classified and analyzed
keeping in view of the objectives of the study. For a better understanding of
classified data diagrams in appropriate forms have been given. For the purpose
of analysis, descriptive statistical tools such as percentage, measures of central
tendency (mean and median), and measures of dispersion (range) have been
used. As most part of data is of categorical nature, for inferential analysis of the
data prominent non-parametric tools such as Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U
test, Kruskal- Wallis H test and Binomial test have been used. The data have
been processed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The
statistical inference is drawn at one per cent and five per cent levels of
significance.
1.10 Limitations of the Study
Research in any field is subject to certain limitations. This study is also
no exception to this basic fact. The following are the major limitations of this
study.
1. Tourism being a sector which lacks a well structured data base system, the
secondary data available on this sector from various published and
unpublished sources have been divergent in nature which caused difficulty in
analysing and interpreting the results.
2. As the present study is based on primary data which are collected through
survey, the co-operation of respondents is essential for obtaining adequate
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input for the study. But during the survey the reluctance and half heartedness
of some of the tourist respondents was a serious limitation.
3. The indifferent attitude of a few officials in the tourism agencies also
affected the selection of sample respondents from the part of both tourists
and service people.
4. As the study is on qualitative concepts, the corresponding measurement
variables identified have been analysed with non-parametric tools which
have their own limitations.
1.11 Scheme of the Report
The report of the study is presented in six chapters.
Chapter I: The introductory chapter deals with the introduction, review of
literature, the statement of the problem, significance, scope,
objectives, hypotheses, variables, operational definitions,
methodology, limitations, and scheme of the report.
Chapter II: Second chapter provides a theoretical frame by linking various
related concepts on the study.
Chapter III: Third chapter discusses the tourism development in India and
Kerala and also the initiatives of public sector in developing
tourism.
Chapter IV: Fourth chapter presents the opinion of service people in public
sector tourism agencies regarding the extent of practice of select
measures in developing their service performance. This chapter
also bestows the views of both service people and tourists on the
extent of adoption of select measures by the tourism agencies in
developing the performance of tourists visiting Kerala.
Chapter V: Fifth chapter portrays the perception of service people and tourists
with regard to the level of their actual performance in tourism.
Chapter VI: Sixth chapter contains a summary of findings, suggestions and
conclusion of the study.