Assessment of Service Quality and Employee Engagement: The Case of Five Star Hotels in Ethiopia
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Date
2018-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The Hotel industry has been growing fast in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the past years. This is attributed to the fast economic growth and associated matters relate to conference tourism, increased flow of tourism and globalization. There are growing concerns about quality of services provided by 5 star hotels. Hence, the main objective of this research is to explore quality of service provided by 5 star hotels in Addis Ababa and to assess the relationship between employee engagement and improvement in quality of service and employee satisfaction. The research design of this study is qualitative exploratory research design. All of the seven 5 star Hotels found in Addis Ababa were included in the study. As two of the hotels were not willing to participate in the study, primary data was collected from five of the hotels. To complement this, information from the tripadvisor website was utilized. Primary data was collected from in-depth interview conducted with 15 interviewees. The findings of this study revealed that the quality of service provided by most of the 5 star hotels in Addis Ababa is generally good. Inconsistent and low speed internet service and lack of adequate parking area are the two major problems of the 5 star hotels. In addition, low quality complimentary breakfast and limitations with regard to providing correct and comprehensive information are also problems. Employees generally participate in providing feedbacks that help to improve quality of service to their supervisors but decisions are mainly made by higher level managers. Positive relationship is observed between employee engagement and improvements in quality of service and satisfaction of employees is identified. Addressing the problem of internet connectivity, shortage of parking space, and quality of complementary breakfast need to be improved to enhance quality of services provided by 5 star hotels. Engaging employees at different levels is also necessary to enhance employees’ satisfaction and service quality.
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Employee Engagement, Service Quality