Error management orientation: impact on service recovery performance, and the mediating role of self-efficacy

Abstract

Purpose This paper investigates whether error management orientation (EMO) of hospitality employees influence their service recovery performance (SRP) through self-efficacy. Design/methodology/approach In Study 1, data was collected from 161 hotel managers in the USA. In Study 2, data was collected from 215 restaurant employees in Turkey. Partial least squares (PLS) method using SmartPLS 3.3.3 was used for data analysis. Findings The results indicated that EMO of hospitality employees increases their self-efficacy beliefs which in turn enhance their SRP. The findings were consistent in both studies. Practical implications Hospitality organizations should consider assessing EMO of individuals when making selection decisions. These organizations should also consider providing error management training to employees to develop their EMO, improve error management skills and performance. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on EMO of hospitality managers and employees. Error orientation refers to how individuals cope with and how they think about errors at work. Errors are part of our work lives, and a positive orientation toward errors (i.e. EMO) can have a significant impact on individuals’ work attitudes, behaviors and performances. This is the first study that examines EMO as an important predictor of SRP. This study also makes a contribution by studying the mediating effect of self-efficacy to understand the underlying mechanism that links EMO with SRP.

A multilevel investigation of the impact of error management culture on restaurant employee voice

“…According to the error management literature (Frese and Keith, 2014), error management culture can be closely related to employee voice, theoretically speaking. Errors are very common in the service context (Guchait, 2023), and error management culture can transform those errors into a booster of restaurant employee voice; however, this theoretical relation has not previously been tested at the empirical level. Therefore, our study not only expands upon the existing body of research on employee voice but also aligns with Madhan et al ’s (2022) call to investigate the impact of error management culture on restaurant employee voice.…”

“…We argue that error management culture can boost employees’ psychological empowerment in two ways: authorizing autonomy and competence development. First, employees are provided sufficient autonomy and encouraged to deal with errors independently due to the dimension of analyzing errors (Guchait, 2023). In addition, an error management culture increases employees’ competence in correcting errors through gaining lessons from errors and discussing errors with peers (van Dyck et al , 2005).…”