The Impacts of Cultural and Emotional Intelligence on Hotel Guest Satisfaction: Asian and Non-Asian Perceptions of Staff Capabilities

Abstract

This study examines the impacts of frontline hotel employees’ emotional intelligence (EI) and cultural intelligence (CQ) on guests’ satisfaction, and uniquely captures guests’ perceptions of staff capabilities. The results of a survey conducted with Asian and non-Asian respondents suggest there is a strong positive relationship between employee EI and CQ. More significantly, non-Asian hotel guests perceived higher employee EI and CQ than Asian hotel guests. Finally, both employee EI and CQ had positive and significant impact on overall satisfaction, nevertheless, CQ had a much stronger prediction of overall satisfaction than EI. The paper examines the implications of these findings for human resource practices with particular reference to businesses targeting culturally diverse market segments. The conclusion also considers the potential for future studies to expand research based on consumer’s conceptions and perceptions of frontline staffs’ EI and CQ capabilities in alternative hospitality and service domains.