Responsible leadership practices in the hospitality sector family businesses: evidence from an emerging market

Abstract

PurposeThe study aims to find out the extent to which hospitality sector family-owned businesses in Egypt feel committed to responsible leadership practices and subsequently meet their stakeholders' expectations.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 owners of family restaurants in Egypt. Thematic analysis was undertaken on the collected data resulting in four major themes.FindingsThe authors find that the four dimensions (aggregation of virtuousness, stakeholder involvement, individual competencies and ethical contributions) are not fully exercised by the owners despite their readiness to behave correctly according to social norms. Furthermore, the respondents elaborated that they do not fully understand how to commence playing a role in contributing to the common good in their societies.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study is the first to empirically investigate responsible leadership practices in the context of small and medium-sized family businesses (restaurants in this case), particularly in the emerging market and non-Western contexts.

Psychological contract of employees in family-owned hotels: the role of talent management practices

“…Given the criticality of effective talent management practices in the hospitality sector (Bagheri et al, 2020;Kravariti et al, 2021;, the fragmented research on family business in the Arab region (Samara, 2021;Mousa and Arslan, 2023) and the limited number of empirical studies on the psychological contract in the hospitality sector (Blomme et al, 2010;Erkutlu and Chafra, 2016), the current paper aims to fill these gaps in the extant literature. The main objective of our study is to investigate the role of talent management practices in family-owned hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) to stimulate both family and non-family employees to fulfil the psychological contract.…”

“…, 2021; Mousa et al. , 2022), the fragmented research on family business in the Arab region (Samara, 2021; Mousa and Arslan, 2023) and the limited number of empirical studies on the psychological contract in the hospitality sector (Blomme et al. , 2010; Erkutlu and Chafra, 2016), the current paper aims to fill these gaps in the extant literature.…”

Emancipation really matters: Why family firms might be a preferable choice for Syrian refugees in Egypt? An exploratory study

“…Their operations are influenced by personal values, dominant social norms and the relationship between family influence and firm growth depends on the institutional context of the family firm (Soleimanof et al, 2018). Mousa and Arslan (2023) found that family businesses having greater engagement with trading communities are more likely to be part of intercorporate ownership networks in these communities, which have shared features (e.g. language, religion, caste and region) and common values.…”

“…Family firm owners mostly tend to create a sense of cohesion and loyalty by encouraging member conformity and groupness, which creates a dysfunctional inertia that severely constrains exploitation and exploration of talent and knowledge of diverse members and that may possibly lead to elimination of learning necessary to stimulate entrepreneurship (Mousa et al, 2023). In the presence of democracy, rule of law, political stability and effective governance, family firms have a better chance to achieve long‐term economic and socio‐affective family goals than in a context where institutional uncertainty prevails and can deter firm growth (Mousa & Arslan, 2023; Soleimanof et al, 2018).…”

“…Despite its nascency, Mousa and Arslan (2023) indicate that refugee entrepreneurship literature is mostly focused on the negative impacts of the presence of Syrian refugees and overlooks potentially more positive impacts and benefits of highly qualified, highly motivated and highly skilled refugees. In some studies, immigrant entrepreneurs were found to be more entrepreneurial than nationals and more likely to offer substantial support to the economy (Dabić et al, 2020; Kerr et al, 2016).…”