The Relationship Between Leadership, Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction

Chen & Chen (2014) explored the relationship that exists between leadership, service quality and customer satisfaction. The three aspects relate to each other because good command prompts the employees to work well hence produce the best services and in return, lead to the satisfaction of the customers. Chen & Chen (2014) state that managers should always watch out for the service value that is perceived by the customers as this is important in enhancing the satisfaction of the customers and making them loyal. Loyalty plays an imperative role in the lives of the customers and also sends a message to the employees and the managers because service industry being an intangible form of business means that the customers and the employees need to develop trust between each other. Thus, trust is earned when customers are assured of quality products at all times which will lead to the maintenance of the old customers and the attraction of new clients.

Chen & Chen (2014) have also established that the ways to maintain a steady relationship between the customers and the employees in a hotel are through effective communication that is continuous, positive feedback at all times and adapting to the constant change of customers' demands. Another important aspect is the introduction of staff training that is intended to boost employee performance. The attitude of the employees has been found to impact work presentation. Therefore, it is the role of the managers to critically scrutinize the kind of assertiveness that is presented by the employees during the recruitment process. Chen & Chen (2014) conclude by mentioning that in order to maintain customers, there is a need for value every time in the services offered. Dagger, David & Ng (2011) seeks to outline the impact of employee commitment in making the customers loyal to the services provided. In addition, Dagger, David & Ng (2011) critically look at the extent to which special attention offered to the customers will eventually lead to their satisfaction.

Constant communication and the application of the right managerial skills are as well as other factors that are attributed to the achievement of customer loyalty. A survey study was performed on over six hundred customers that attended various service industries. From the findings, it was identified that relationship commitment is the primary factor that led to customers being loyal to the services provided. On the other hand, the commitment was attained through the provision of exceptional treatment to the customers (Dagger, David & Ng, 2011). The article is an excellent resource to leaders and managers since they can use it to explore the distinct ways that they can use to make sure that their customers remain loyal to the services provided and make them committed as well. Dagger, David & Ng (2011) have placed more focus on the significance of commitment that leads to the creation of loyalty and how stable relationships between the employees and the customers result to more involvement from the customers. What is good about the findings and what makes them more legit is that they have been tested empirically before the conclusion was made (Dagger, David & Ng, 2011).

Fakharyan et al. (2014) set to explore the link between interaction among customers; customer-to-customer interactions, (CCI) that leads to satisfaction, word-of-mouth behavior and customer loyalty. The article is also interested in personal interaction quality (PIQ), and then it seeks to create a link between all the stated aspects; CCI, PIQ, word-of-mouth and the atmosphere of delivering services in the hotel industry. The empirical study is the most useful method for finding out this relationship. The data found is then empirically tested after an investigation is made on over 200 guests visiting Tehran. What Fakharyan et al. (2014) found out is that the atmosphere of service delivery directly affected both customer-to-customer interactions while personal interactions quality affects the loyalty of customers and satisfaction. Consequently, customer satisfaction influences both word-of-mouth and customer loyalty. Finally, the customer-to-customer interactions are closely related to word-of-mouth and customer satisfaction. Having looked at the bond between all the factors, Fakharyan et al.(2014) therefore advocates that they all should be kept constant, and in order to attain this, it is crucial if the staff is regularly trained so that they can be able to provide the same services at all times (Fakharyan et al., 2014).

Monitoring and evaluating the performance of the frontline employees also sees to it that feedback from the customers is received and this is important when making improvements and maintaining those areas that are doing well (Fakharyan et al., 2014) Hammersley (2013) covers the qualitative research design and all that readers ought to understand when it comes to the research method. The qualitative research method is often the option for many people who are interested in finding facts about a phenomenon. Hammersley (2013) expounds on the different forms of qualitative research and how it differs from the quantitative design. The article also discusses the arguments that have been brought forward by the several researchers who utilize qualitative design and thus, it is easy to establish the relationship that exists between theoretical and practical work (Hammersley, 2013). The qualitative approach has been used on several occasions when researching the hotel industry. If the qualitative study is efficiently performed following all the right procedures, then hotel managers will be in a position to arrive at valuable results. The data collected is then used for these managers in analyzing the performance of the hotel and making necessary adjustments if possible.

Also, qualitative research is an excellent way of examining the manner in which hotels and other related organizations strategize themselves and thus the creation of management initiatives. This particular form of research, therefore, offers new insight where the firm gets a grasp of its needs and objectives, and after the study, the data collected are valuable to the organization. Qualitative research has been said to be the best tool that hotel managers can always rely on when facing a problem and that the solution is often arrived at based on the decision-making skills that the method offers. Lastly, it acts as a guideline to the managers because it presents to the new ways of comprehending and performing activities. Jun et al. (2017) tried to look at the effects of leadership methods on new employee intention to leave and whether this was related to the work performed.

A study was conducted in a hospitality industry located in China, and the focus was on the newly recruited workers. The study was aimed at observing the manner in which the new employees were impacted by the leadership styles that were found in the firm (Jun et al., 2017). Two forms of leadership; abusive and ethical were observed, and then after that, the relationship between new employees' intention to leave and their work performance was analyzed. The method utilized all through the study was a survey which involved four hundred individuals where sixty-one of them were leaders (Jun et al. (2017).The findings indicated that the new employee's intention to leave had adverse effects on the way employees performed their activities.

The abusive leaderships perpetrated by the managers catalyzed the adverse effects, but the situation appeared to cool down once ethics were applied in governance (Jun et al., 2017). Therefore, managers should adopt practical leadership skills at all times because lousy leadership discourages the employees from performing to the expected standards. Poor performance leads to poor service delivery hence customer dissatisfaction and loyalty diminishing. Kao, Cheng, Kuo & Huang (2014) have discovered that sometimes, the stressors that are found in the workplace are caused by the managers, customers or even the employers themselves. These stressors are responsible for the interference of service provision and lead to the frequent absenteeism of the employees. Kao, Cheng, Kuo & Huang (2014) having looked at these stressors, have embarked on establishing caring climates that can moderate the stressful situations. A study was conducted with over 430 frontline employees and 31 supervisors taking part in the survey (Kao, Cheng, Kuo & Huang, 2014) To arrive at more accurate results; the researchers opted for the hierarchical linear model. The data collected vividly confirmed that stressors caused by managers trigger turnover intentions from the employees. In this case, the turnover intention is the extent to which a worker intends to leave their present positions in the firm.

Stressors from the employees prompted the workers to apply for sick leaves and day offs even though they do not need them. On the other hand, if customers are the ones responsible for the stressors, then an interruption of service delivery will be experienced. Moderation, however, is created once the caring climates are introduced because this is a way of establishing excellent relationships between the employees, customers and the managers. The text is the best resource for managers since they are able to observe any form of deviance behaviors from their employees especially if the value of services offered is declining. This being the case, managers are called upon to watch out for any stressors that affect the performance of the employees and this will in return help minimize the undesirable attributes portrayed by the employees.

On the other hand, Khanfar (2011) has discovered the importance of training the staff frequently for the improvement of the hotel service quality. Currently, most organizations have taken staff training as a massive investment because it determines both the quantity and the quality of the services that employees provide. Since training has become the core focus of the hotel industry, more budgets are now allocated in the process.

Mainstreaming training will be a success if all the individuals; managers and the employees are part of the process. Khanfar, (2011) states that it is high time that staff training is perceived as a platform where employees can expand their current capabilities. During the training process, the employees gain more skills and insight into how they can improve their performance. Developing a positive attitude towards work is another instance where hotel service quality can be achieved. Employees who are skilled and talented are significant assets to the hotels that employ them because of their ability to adapt to every situation presented to them by the organization. In addition, the skills will eventually bring quality to the hotel. The hotel industry should see training as a continuous process, and it should not be stopped once the intended target has been attained. The reason why it should be an ongoing process is that the demands of the customers are ever changing thus the need to be equipped with the abilities to adapt to these changes. Khanfar, (2011) concludes by stating that hotel training is more of a managerial activity because those on top of the hierarchy have to make the policies clear and organize the plans and objectives of the organization.

According to Kraak & Holmqvist (2017), research not many people especially managers in the hotel industry have stopped for a while and looked at the importance of language in the service industry. Value has been noticed in the service industries where the language of the service producers is given attention. Language and service authenticity by the employees are linked together, and it has been noted that the relationship between the two factors plays a vital role in consumers' perception of the services provided. Before embarking on their research, (Kraak & Holmqvist, 2017) identified the advantage of authenticity in customer satisfaction and realized that the language utilized by the service employees is the responsible factor. (Kraak & Holmqvist, 2017) utilized service theory to enhance the understanding of the language influence in the service delivery.

An interruption in the production and the sabotage of services has been attributed to the employees' use of languages that are not favorable to the customers. Service employees should at all times be granted the opportunity to exercise their freedom while attending to the customers, and by giving them freedom, it means that they can bring in their ideas and use a language that is understood by all. The mindset that must prevail at all times in this environment is that value in service delivery is not only advantageous to the employee through experience gain but also for the attainment of customer loyalty. In teaching hospitality students on how to offer service quality, Kuo (2013) observes how the use of a multimedia instructional program will aid the entire process. Research has identified a close link between the service workers of the employees and the customer satisfaction. Staff training should incorporate technology because it is a platform for employees to gain new skills to be used in making the customers satisfied with what is brought to the table.

The multimedia program is a useful one in the assessment of work performance and the modes of communication that the service providers use when relating to their customers. Kuo also added that there is no one time that a hotel management program can be considered as complete even if factors such as proper managerial strategies are put in place. This is because as Khanfar, (2011) puts it, staff training for efficient hotel management is an ongoing process. Li & Huang (2017) have outlined several factors that seem to have an impact on the service progress. Some of them include; employee performance, the thought on the prevailing service climate, service orientation, and the career aspiration. Li & Huang (2017) decided to conduct a study using a maximum of 500 frontline employees in the hospitality industry in China. The researchers' main interest was in the employees' service orientation. Service orientation, in this case, is an essential tool in the management of the service programs. The findings indicated that both behavior and climate were related and this is attributed to the influence of the service orientation that came in between the two factors. It is vital that service industries focus more on establishing the right service climate for their employees in order to generate positive attitudes from them, enough to add value to their performance. Service orientation is another critical issue because it has to do with how the employees directly affect their customers with their attitude.

A service industry can benefit from the service orientation only by motivating the employees and making certain that they are in good relationships with the customers. In this way, it becomes easy to achieve a competitive advantage over other similar service industries. When it comes to the career aspiration, every individual can pick a career that will focus on regular service training for the best work performance. Sobaih (2011) insists on employee training to boost productivity. He goes on and says that many individuals working in the hotel industry have complained of the excessive workload hence no time to attend the training sessions.

However, Sobaih proposes part-time training sessions for the employees by allocating time for them to attend the classes. When employees are able to juggle between work and training, the value in the service industry will be realized almost immediately because of the application of the theoretical knowledge into practical situations. However, many hotels do not provide adequate training opportunities to the employees, and that is why Sobaih employed the qualitative research method to find out why this is the case. Interviews were conducted because there was a need to collect data straight from the employees for first-hand information. Some problems were found to be associated with training employees on a part-time basis which includes time and cost constraints, too many full-time employees attending the training sessions and inadequate resources to facilitate the entire process.

Full-time employees were more compared to the part-time employees, and this is the reason why little attention was focused on them. Time was also found to be the primary challenge because most of these part-time workers could not align with the training schedules because they were occupied with work. The cost of training these employees was also another stumbling block because the managers are rigid in letting out some funds to be used on the individuals with the perception that they do not need the training in the first place. What these managers fail to understand is that staff training in the hotel industry is linked to the service delivery and boosts development leading the customers becoming the hotel and both the short-term and the long-term goals of the company will be achieved. It is, therefore, necessary that the hotel managers make it possible for part-time employees to also attend part-time training because it does benefit not only the employees but also the industry as a whole. An observation of the hotel industry in China indicates that employees turn over in large numbers compared to other services provided in the country (Tian & Pu, 2008).

However, this is also experienced in other countries that are destinations for most tourists. Employee turnover refers to a situation where employees leave their workplaces but are replaced as soon as possible. Tian & Pu (2008) have therefore set out to explore into some of the reasons that make employees resign. One factor that was identified was a reduced work satisfaction by these workers, and therefore the researchers set out to determine why this is the case. China has recorded the highest employee turnover, and this is based on the gender, ethnical background and the age of the employees. Various ways of achieving employee satisfaction that the researcher identified are training, placing focus on developing professionally and setting long-term achievable goals by the hotels. China, however, has not invested in these factors thus, the reason why the turnover is still experienced.

Therefore, the article can utilize this resource because of the critically discussed ways of enhancing the satisfaction of employees. Because China is a potential country in the hotel industry, it should follow the recommendations that have been put in place for the core purpose of sustaining the economic health in China and more specifically in the hotel industry.