| Author: | Chien, Chun-lun Grace |
| Title: | Integrating knowledge management into market orientation : impact on hotel performance |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2006 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations Knowledge management Hotel management Hotels -- Marketing |
| Department: | School of Hotel and Tourism Management |
| Pages: | xxiv, 360 p. : ill. ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Recent research on managing knowledge has focused on its measurement. The aims of this study were to develop a measurement scale for the assessment of knowledge management (KM) strategy implementation and to test a KM model incorporating market orientation (MO) capabilities and organizational performance (OP). By placing KM research within a hotel context, the research explored new paths for understanding the nature of KM practices in the hotel industry. Specifically, it proposed that MO capabilities might integrate with the management practice of modern approaches of KM strategies in enhancing the delivery component of OP. The purpose of the study was to investigate the linkage between MO capabilities, KM strategies, and hotel performance. This study focused on the investigation of hotels in Taiwan at a property level. The study not only aimed at the development of a KM measurement scale for hotel use, but also empirically examined whether or not KM strategies were an essential function of enhancing a firm's performance by properly aligning MO capabilities. Therefore, objectives of the study were to: 1) develop and validate an instrument for the assessment of KM strategy implementation in the hotel industry; 2) examine the implementation of KM strategies in the hotel industry; 3) revalidate an existing MO scale in a hotel context; and 4) examine the relationships between MO, KM, and hotel performance. This study employed a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods. Two stages of a qualitative research, focus group discussions and expert reviews, were involved, followed by a quantitative survey research. The study mainly followed the procedures suggested by Churchill (1979), Gerbing and Anderson (1988), and Hair, Anderson, Tatham, and Black (2002) in scale development and measurement purification. The final KM measurement model contained 24 items for hotel use. The 20-item MARKOR scale was also re-validated in the hotel context, with a total of 15 items being retained in the final scale. It was found that the surveyed hotels possessed superior MO capabilities over implementation of KM strategies. The proposed model included only one exogenous variable: MO capabilities. The two endogenous variables were KM strategies and hotel performance. Three hotel performance models were investigated: overall hotel performance, a hotel's room performance, and a hotel's food and beverage performance. Both subjective and objective measures of hotel performance were obtained. Subjective measures were obtained through the survey, while objective measures were obtained from secondary data. Overall hotel performance was measured by combining four self-evaluation items of profitability, size of company, market share and speed of growth in the past three years compared to those of key competitors. On a 7-point Likert-type scale, respondents tended to rate their hotel performance better than their competitors (M> 4.00). Room performance was assessed through an input-output analysis of yield statistics; and "the average food and beverage revenue per square meter" was used to explore the contribution of food and beverage revenue in a hotel. Results indicated that both a) room and b) food and beverage performances varied to a great extent among surveyed hotels. The average yield statistics from 2001 to 2003 was .30 and the average food and beverage revenue per square meter per year during the same period was US$2,166. Results were consistent across all three final full structure models. Analyses of Structural Equation Modeling supported the validity and reliability of the KM and MO measurements developed and tested in this study. In addition, significant relationships from MO to KM and from MO to hotel performance were supported. However, MO was found not to have an indirect effect on hotel performance. In other words, KM did not have a direct effect on hotel performance. The mediating role of KM was not applicable in all three final full structure models. Although the effect of KM on hotel performance was not evident across all three performance models in the full structure analysis, four sets of the hypotheses were supported in the individual path analysis with latent variables. Results of the individual path analysis with latent variables indicated that three significant causal relationships, from KM to hotel performance, from MO to hotel performance, and from MO to KM, were evident in all three performance models. The mediating role of KM on the effect of hotel performance was also supported in the individual path analysis with latent variables. Results of the present study demonstrated that different analysis methods would lead to different results. Thus, one of the academic contributions of this study was a methodological implication. The researcher called for caution in the use of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Future researchers should be aware of the differences between a full structure model analysis and an individual path analysis with latent variables when adopting a SEM strategy. From the managerial perspective, findings gave clear indications that would allow interested parties such as hotel operators, consultants, students, and scholars to understand more about the implications of KM strategy implementation and MO capabilities on hotel performance. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b19736320.pdf | For All Users | 7.07 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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