Relationship between Organizational and Employee Work Innovation: Mediation Role of Brand Support Behavior and Psychological Capital (Hotels in Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam).45287

Relationship between Organizational and Employee Work Innovation: Mediation Role of Brand Support Behavior and Psychological Capital Hotels in Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam Pham Hong Liem

Relationship between Organizational and Employee Work Innovation: Mediation Role of Brand Support Behavior and Psychological Capital (Hotels in Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam)

Pham Hong Liem (1),(*) , Nguyen Xuan Lan (2)

(1) University of Khanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa, Vietnam

(2)University of Economics, Da Nang University, Da Nang, Vietnam

(*) Correspondence: phamhongliem@ukh.edu.vn

Abstract: The World Bank has warned that Vietnam's tourism industry should focus on improving

the quality and value of products and services as well as maintaining skilled and capable human resources to cope with the “tipping point” of the tourism Employee work innovation is considered

a solution to balance the benefits between service providers and customers In addition, building an organizational climate to promote positive behavior of employees is an interesting research topic for both practical and academics Samples were collected from hotels and resorts in Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam Through a multi-level integrated research model, study results have explored the mediation mechanism of brand support behavior and psychological capital in the relationship between organizational climate and employee work innovation, thus explaining the influence of organizational climate to employee work innovation in the accommodation sector This study suggests implications for managers in improving the organizational climate to form positive attitudes and behaviors of employees, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of the Hospitality industry

Keywords: Organizational climate; employee work innovation; brand support behavior; psychological capital; hotels and resorts

1 Introduction

Service branding is considered to be a small tangible factor for the customer's identity and expectations (Berry et al 2006) as well as their perception of the business and service of the business (Prasad and Dev 2000) In hospitality industry, when the difference

is always the top search element of the visitors, the flexibility and skills of the staff are the main factors that make the difference and increase the satisfaction of customer As a result, hospitality providers are expected to have talented, capable and mature employees who can anticipate, perceive, understand, analyses and respond to their needs quickly

Improving the organizational climate help employees achieve a positive psychological state, promote brand support behavior and innovation of employee is an important research topic for both academics and practitioners Research has shown that organizational culture, especially work environment factors such as encouraging the

dynamics, creativity and professionalism of employees, has a positive influence on brand support behavior, increase the satisfaction and promote the return (Ayupp and Chung 2010) In addition, close relationships and interaction among employees also contribute to the formation of positive behaviors such as brand support (Punjaisri et al 2009) However, the factors that drive branding behavior as well as the psychological mechanisms underlying such behavior have not been properly addressed and there is a lack of quantitative evidence (Helm et al 2015) The relationships between psychological capital and brand support behavior with work innovation of staffs as well as the organizational climate is relatively new and no research has been found in Vietnam

In the field of travel services, when the difference is always the top search element

of the travelers, the flexibility and skills of the staff are the main factors that make the differences and increase the satisfactions of customers As a result, the hospitality industry always wants to have employees who are talented, capable and thriving at work because they can anticipate, recognize, understand, analyses and meet the needs of their clients in a the fastest Innovation is seen as the right solution to balance the interests of customers and service providers Therefore, the theoretical and practical issues of the employee work innovation need to be discovered more

In addition, the current trend of tourists' consumption is to explore, towards high-class services, and to have a valuable vacation, adding to the pressure on service delivery This requires employees not only good at the profession, but also must have the bravery and psychology to be able to overcome challenges at work This view has been addressed

by Eterbarian et al (2012), Sharifi and Shahtalebi (2014)

This study examines the impact of work environment cultural factors on psychological capital and brand support behavior, thereby stimulating work innovation of workers in hotels and resorts at Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam In this area, employees have

a very important role in providing services that assure the brand's commitment to the customer This research, therefore, focuses on the key factors that shape the advanced and competitive organizational climate of affiliation, fairness and innovativeness (Bock et al 2005; Porter 2008), and explore their role in shaping positive psychological capital, branding support behavior and work innovation of employee The findings of this study are expected

to contribute significantly to enhancing the organizational climate and increasing the brand image of the organization (Herrera et al 2011) The research model was tested using the structural equation modeling (SEM), based on survey data of different staff groups from 50 hotels and resorts in Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam Tourism business is a type of service, based on different norms and characteristics, suitable to the culture and tourism resources Therefore, this research context is expected to provide an interesting perspective on the research phenomenon

2 Methodology

2.1 Theoretical background

2.1.1 Employee work innovation

Although innovation has been defined by authors, all emphasize "novelty" as the core of innovation Most current definitions of innovation refer to the development and implementation of new ideas One of the first scholars to address innovation in the workplace of workers with a multi-stage process is Scott and Bruce (1994) Innovation is activities such as detecting emerging problems, formulating new and useful ideas or/and solutions, preparing resources and planning action, and applying ideas and applying ideas

to practice In that trend, some later scholars have also developed constructs and multidimensional scales of innovation in their researches (De Jong and Hartog 2010)

In this study, innovation in the work of workers is based on the views of some scholars (e.g., Carmeli and Spreitzer 2009; Janssen 2000; Scott and Bruce 1994; Yuan and Woodman 2010), it is the employee's autonomy in forming, developing and applying new processes, methods or products to improve performance, achieve benefits for individuals, groups or organizations

Personally, innovation in the workplace is an individual's activity in initiating and proactively introducing new or/and useful ideas, processes, products, or mechanisms However, because innovation is characterized by intermittent activities rather than sequential stages, workers can participate in this activity at any time Employee innovation

is the foundation for the company's efforts to renew its business in the creation of new products and services (Janssen, 2000) In service, employee innovation is the result of the process of interacting with customers (Michael et al 2011) In this study we focus on the employee work innovation and consider it a multi-stage process, not consider each of the concepts of innovation as well as a multidirectional scale

2.1.2 Brand supporting behaviour

The attitude and behavior of employees plays a very important role in conveying the brand image in the service, both positive and negative, from protection to undermining organizational brand It is they who transfer brand identity into the minds of consumers (Wangenheim et al 2007) Therefore, service employees not only understand what the brand stands for, but more importantly act to support or build the brand, as well as fulfill the brand promise Without these actions, negative consequences can occur, creating bad brand image

in the minds of stakeholders (Miles and Mangold 2004)

Today, brand supporting behavior is important because it has a positive impact on the branding of hotels and resorts (Burmann et al 2009) In the process of providing services, employees should behave in accordance with customer’s requests or feedbacks And employee brand-supporting behavior is evident to the customer to assess the quality of hotel service (King 2010) The studies also show the role of brand-supporting behavior in positively influencing the hotel brand, and are the basis for better employee performance (Baker et al 2014) The next hypothesis is proposed:

H1: Brand supporting behavior positively affects employee work innovation 2.1.3 Psychological capital

Psychological capital is considered to have an important influence on the behavior and work efficiency of the individual (Luthans et al 2005) Moreover, psychological capital

is a relatively new concept that has not been fully researched, especially as an intermediary role in theoretical research (Qadeer and Jaffry 2014)

To make a difference, the accommodations always have specific standards to form a style of their own specific service, and they need employees who are not only good at the job but also have confidence in the job, have the optimism to serve the client better, know how to stand up after failure, and have motivation to complete goal These are the employees who have high psychological capital Employees will work harder, and have a safe work environment, have the opportunity to develop their career, develop their own capacity, if they have a psychological capital (Nafei 2015) Studies (e.g., Kumar and Uzkurt 2010) also point out that, employees with high self-esteem are creative and tend to develop into innovative behaviors Research by Avey et al (2011) also suggests that psychological capital has a significant impact on attitudes, actions, and work efficiency From this theoretical basis, further hypotheses are given:

H2: Psychological capital positively affects employee work innovation

2.1.4 Organizational climate

Organizational climate is “a relatively enduring characteristic of an organization which distinguishes it from other organizations and embodies members collective perceptions about their organization with respect to such dimensions as autonomy, trust, cohesiveness, support, recognition, innovation, and fairness …” (Moran and Volkwein 1992, p.20 ) Within this article, the employee's perceptions about their organization with respect

to such dimensions as:

(i) Affiliation (The perception of social norms),

(ii) Fairness (The perception of trustworthiness) and

(iii) Innovativeness (The organizational practices accepts failure, and transparent information, free publicity) (Bock et al 2005)

Many factors have been consistently found to be facilitators of innovation at differing levels of analysis These are organizational, team, job, and individual label factors However, there is a small body of research that focuses on climate environmental factors Environmental factors also contribute to employee individuality So there is a need for better understanding of its relationship with employee outcomes (Luthans et al 2008)

When employees work in an organization where they are recognized and rewarded appropriately, trained and developed, and confident, it will stimulate and motivate them to share their knowledge with colleagues (Kim and Ko 2014), as well as increase the satisfaction and commitment to the organization, develop their own capacity, thereby improving the efficiency of the work of employees (Sheikhepoor and Sheikhepoor 2015)

In addition, positive working environment will help employees to find happiness in their work, thereby increasing brand supporting behavior (Punjaisri and Wilson, 2011)

Besides, Shahnawaz and Jafri’s (2009) study has also shown that the organizational environment is important in identifying employee psychological capital Hence we expect that:

H3: Organizational climate positively affects employee brand supporting behavior H4: Organizational climate positively affects employee psychological capital 2.1.5 Brand supporting behaviour and Psychological capital as Mediators

As mentioned, brand supporting behavior and psychological capital are factors to increase innovation in the work of employees in the organization Brand support behaviors help ensure the quality of service Psychological capital is a psychological state that helps shape positive behaviors of workers Therefore, the mediating role of brand supporting behavior and psychological capital are quite significant in current research The combination of psychological capital and brand-supporting behavior with innovation has broadened our perspective on the importance of these factors Innovation at work is the basis for an organization's productivity and efficiency Because they share the same goals, workers will share their creative ideas with colleagues and supervisors and work together The sharing of knowledge, as well as the interaction between employees, has increased the behavior and innovation capacity in their work in general and in the service sector in particular (Hu 2009)

When employees work in an organization where they are recognized and rewarded appropriately, trained and developed, and confident, it will stimulate and motivate them to share their knowledge with colleagues (Kim and Ko 2014), as well as increase the satisfaction and commitment to the organization, develop their own capacity, thereby improving the efficiency of the work of employees (Sheikhepoor and Sheikhepoor 2015) Therefore, the innovative process can progress steadily, organizations need to shape and develop an environment in which employees’ creativity is encouraged to thrive and be realized through their actions From there, spread organizational brand image to the customer In other words, the organizational climate plays an important role in increasing learning capacity, professional skills, as well as problem solving and innovation Therefore, variables brand supporting behavior and psychological capital are likely to act as intermediaries The next hypotheses are proposed:

H5: Organizational climate positively affects employee work innovation

H6: Brand supporting behavior mediates the relationship between organizational climate and employee work innovation

H7: Psychological capital mediates the relationship between organizational climate and employee work innovation

Figure 1 Theoretical Model

2.2 Methodology

The search for related documents is done first In line with the context of study in Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam, the items that make up the scale are calibrated according to experts' input They are lecturers or administrators in the hospitality industry From there, form a draft scale This study workers a survey method, using a questionnaire to check the conceptual model and developed hypotheses A quantitative preliminary study was conducted with 30 questionnaires surveying employees working in the hotels and resorts The results show the relevance of the content of the concepts The official study was conducted with 361 valid records (from 390 records) collected from May 2016 to February

2017 at hotels and resorts in Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam

To measure the various constructs, validated items were adapted from prior studies The measurement of the three components of the organizational climate (Bock et al 2005), brand support behavior (Punjaisri et al 2009), thirteen items of the psychological capital (Block and Kremen 1996; Carver and Scheier 2002; Parker 1998; Snyder et al 2002) and employee work innovation (Scott and Bruce 1994) inherited from previous studies using a five-point Likert scale, with a rating scale from (1) “strong disagree” to (5) “strong agree”

To create the measurement, a group interview was conducted with 10 experts in hotels and resorts The content of each item is discussed As a result, all items of the scales were retained

in the study Moreover, in line with the research context in Vietnam, the items were adjusted according to expert opinion, through in-depth interviews All expert opinions are recorded Finally, adding or decreasing or using the appropriate word for each item is decided by the majority of experts Preliminary research was conducted with 30 samples to examine and adjust the scales The results show that the scales are reliable with a value that exceeds the minimum threshold of 0.60 for commonly used scales (Hair et al 2010)

3 Results

3.1 Correlation Analysis

Table 1 shows the correlation between the research constructs: Organizational climate (OC), brand supporting behavior (BS), psychological capital (PC), employee work innovation (WI) The results shown in the correlation matrix provided the initial data supporting the proposed hypotheses Specifically, the correlation coefficients indicate a

significant relationship between brand supporting behavior and employee work innovation (r = 0.406), psychological capital and employee work innovation (r = 0.592, p < 0.1), organizational climate and brand supporting behavior (r = 0.670, p < 0.1) and psychological capital (r = 0.495, p < 0.1), organizational climate and employee work innovation (r = 0.434,

p < 0.01) These coefficients are in accordance with the hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4 and H5 respectively

Table 1 Correlation coefficients for pairs of variables

Organizational climate (OC) -

Brand supporting behavior (BS) 0.670 -

Psychological capital (PC) 0.495 0,419 -

Employee work innovation (WI) 0.434 0.406 0.592 -

Note: correlations are statistically significant at 5%

3.2 Evaluate structural relationships and test hypotheses

The results of model testing by SEM show the fit of the model with data (CFI = 0.970, TLI = 0.968, GFI = 0.927, RMSEA = 0.031) Accordingly, organizational climate has positive influence on both psychological capital and brand support behavior And next, both organizational climate and brand loyalty have positive influence on brand support behavior Next, psychological capital and brand support behavior have positive influences

on employee work innovation (see Table 2) Thus, hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4 are supported

Table 2 Result of verifying relationship between concepts Relationship Hypothesis Path Coeffient

(Standardized) P-value

Result

Chi-square = 765.954; df = 483; TLI = 0.968; CFI = 0.970; GFI = 0.927; RMSEA = 0.031

To test the mediation role of Brand supporting behavior and Psychological capital for the relationship between Organizational climate and Employee work innovation (H6, H7), the research using Baron and Kenny's (1986) mediation test, requires:

i The independent variable (In this study is Organizational climate) to predict the dependent variable (in this case, the innovation in the work of the employee) and the mediation variable (for this study, Brand supporting behavior and Psychological capital)

ii The mediation variable must also predict the dependent variable, and

iii The relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable will decrease with the control participation of the mediation variable

Results from Table 1 and Table 2 show the relationship between OC and WI, between

OC and BS, between OC and PC Thus the first condition (i) is satisfied Next, BS and PC also have a positive influence on WI, so the second condition (ii) is satisfied And finally, when there is concurrent involvement of the mediation variable (BS and PS), the relationship between OC and WI is insignificant (p = 0.281) So the third condition (iii) is also satisfied This implies that, when employees are working in the appropriate organizational climate, they will form a positive psychological state and thrive at work, thereby increasing innovation in the workplace Thus, hypotheses H6 and H7 are supported

4 Conclusion and discussion

This study is an attempt to propose implications for human resource management for the sustainable development of hospitality industry This is an interesting study considering the impact of the organizational environment on brand and psychological support As a result, it is the employee work innovation in hotels and resorts in Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam

The research results have shown the importance of learning, as well as perseverance and determination in the work of employees working in the field of tourism The experiences they have gained from that will help them have the capacity to proactively identify and face all obstacles, find appropriate solutions and seize opportunities in situations On that basis, get the right ideas This is especially important when businesses are facing challenges in the period of strong integration of Vietnam today Therefore, determining the factors that create the passion as well as the working capacity of workers are always concerned by tourism businesses

The research results have contributed to the direction of action for managers when pointing out the role of brand support and psychological capital for innovation in the work

of workers

Specifically, employees who believe in their goals, have optimism in all situations, stand up after failure, as well as believe in themselves are important resources that businesses can leverage to can make breakthroughs This result is also consistent with the research of Nguyen (2014) on the positive effect of psychological capital on employee efforts, which is a key factor to create a competitive advantage for businesses, creating work efficiency (Spreitzer et al 2005), discover and find new solutions (Niessen et al 2012)

Moreover, this study contributes to a better understanding of employee work innovation by exploring how workers become more innovative at work In the service sector, innovation plays an important role in today's business environment And this research has made certain contributions in theory and practice

To our knowledge, no previous study has examined the relationship between organizational climate, brand support behavior, psychological capital and innovation in Vietnam hospitality industry Moreover, there have been no studies examining the intermediary mechanism of brand support behavior and psychological capital in the relationship between organizational climate and employee work innovation in this field

Studies can contribute to the field of organizational behavior in a variety of ways Our research shows that psychological capital and brand support behaviors are important mediating factors in promoting innovation at work Moreover, the results of the analysis of the intermediary mechanism have brought about a better understanding of the formation and development of employees' supportive brand and positive psychological state Since then increase innovation in work

Along with the theoretical contribution, our research provides practical implications for managers and researchers That is, when employees have a positive state of mind, they will be more thrive at work, thereby increasing innovation at work The findings of our study also indicate that when organizations focus more on the mental health of workers, they will have the energy to learn, accumulate more knowledge and increase their increase positive behavior From there lead to employee work innovation This is a reliable basis for the appropriate decisions of the administrator in each stage of the organization's development

Integration not only brings opportunities and challenges for businesses but also for employees The workforce today is not merely concerned with job satisfaction, but more It

is a work environment that can energize, revitalize them, as well as form positive behaviors

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