Antecedents of service innovation performance in the hospitality sector

Abstract

170 employees in three international hotels, 5 star graded, located in Sandton City, Johannesburg were surveyed using a structured questionnaire to explore the current state of knowledge sharing (KS) and team culture (TC) as antecedents of service innovation performance (SIP) in the South African hospitality sector. Descriptive analysis and reliability statistics were applied to the data collected. Although respondents agreed mostly positively to KS and SIP explanatory items; however, TC (a moderator for KS and SIP) was not very strongly agreed to as depicted by the lower mean scores of TC explanatory items compared to the mean scores of KS and SIP explanatory items. This study posits that organisational culture affects employees’ knowledge sharing attitudes and behaviours, impacting on SIP. To enhance SIP in the South Africa’s hospitality, strong TC has to be supported to encourage KS among team members and between superiors and subordinates.