Stakeholder management in the Chinese hotel industry: the antecedents and impacts

Purpose - Taking an innovative approach, the aim of this paper is to apply the stakeholder view concept to the hotel industry in China, and identify two antecedents of the stakeholder relationship, namely, trust and commitment. The paper then seeks to examine the impacts of these two antecedents on the management practices of the two key stakeholders (the hotel owner and the customer) and to assess the effects of these practices on organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach - An empirical survey using questionnaires was conducted on a sample of 228 three- to five-star hotels in China. The results from confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were both satisfactory, providing a basis for discussion. Findings - Three main results emerged. First, in model A, the key stakeholder is the hotel investor: both antecedent constructs, trust and commitment, were positively influenced by the organization's stakeholder management practices. However, in model B, the key stakeholder is the customer; trust was the only construct affected by stakeholder management practices. The second major result was that in both models, stakeholder management practices had positive and significant influences on financial performance and customer satisfaction. Finally, the results revealed that customer satisfaction positively affected financial performance. Originality/value - The proposed framework and its results provide vital insights for industry practitioners and academics in the field of stakeholder management, where an alternative competitive strategy for an organization's wealth creation is acknowledged.