Exploring the measurement of basic assumptions about guests and co‐workers in the hospitality industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a measure of employee basic assumptions about guests and co‐workers in the hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from two independent samples using self‐administrated questionnaires and analysed using correlational and reliability analyses, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and one‐way ANOVA. Findings – The analyses identified two dimensions of basic assumptions about guests, control and affect. Assumptions about co‐workers also consisted of two main dimensions termed responsibility and competence. The results showed that assumptions about guest control positively correlated with subjective job performance; assumptions about guest affect and co‐worker competence positively correlated with organisational commitment and job satisfaction; and assumptions about co‐worker responsibility positively correlated with intentions to stay with the organisation. Research limitations/implications – The findings are based on a limited sample of service employees. Even though hospitality employees' basic assumptions about guests and co‐workers are validated in a service context, the suggested conceptualisation still needs a more comprehensive validation. Assumptions about competitors may be important determinants of hospitality employees' behaviour towards guests, and such assumptions should be analysed in future studies. Originality/value – The present study is the first to investigate simultaneously assumptions about guests and co‐workers in a hospitality environment and the effect that such assumptions have on outcome variables. Altogether, the study demonstrates that basic assumptions may be a viable construct for HR management. They are easily identifiable and related to employee job satisfaction, job performance, organisational commitment, and staff turnover intentions.