Title Page
ABSTRACT
Contents
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 19
CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION 21
1.1. Introduction 21
1.2. Background 21
1.3. Problem statement and research gap 22
1.3.1. Problem statement 22
1.3.2. Research gap 23
1.4. Research objectives 25
1.5. Research questions 25
1.6. Scope and delimitations of the study 26
1.6.1. China's hinterlands 26
1.6.2. Five-star hotel 26
1.6.3. Frontline employees 27
1.7. Significance of the study 27
1.8. Operational definitions of key terms 28
1.8.1. Mixed service delivery system 28
1.8.2. Employees' job engagement 28
1.8.3. Service delivery 28
1.9. Organisation of chapters 29
CHAPTER TWO. LITERATURE REVIEW 30
2.1. Introduction 30
2.2. Individual behaviour theories 32
2.2.1. Conservation of resources theory 32
2.2.2. Theory of planned behaviour 33
2.2.3. Self-efficacy theory 33
2.3. Mixed service delivery system 34
2.3.1. Definition of mixed service delivery system 34
2.3.2. Dimensions of mixed service delivery system 36
2.3.3. Effects of the NGIT in mixed service delivery system 37
2.4. Employees' job engagement 57
2.4.1. Definition of employees' job engagement 59
2.4.2. Dimensions of employees' job engagement 59
2.4.3. Antecedents and outcomes of employee job engagement 61
2.5. Service delivery 64
2.5.1. Definition of service delivery 64
2.5.2. Antecedents of service delivery 65
2.6. Summary 66
2.7. Conceptual framework and hypotheses development 67
2.7.1. Conceptual framework 67
2.7.2. Research hypotheses 70
2.8. Proposed research model 73
2.9. Conclusion 77
CHAPTER THREE. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 78
3.1. Background 78
3.2. Introduction 78
3.3. Research design 79
3.3.1. Research philosophy 79
3.3.2. Research approach 80
3.3.3. Ethical issues 81
3.4. Quantitative research and the survey setting 82
3.5. Population 83
3.6. Sampling 84
3.6.1. Sample size 84
3.6.2. Sampling method 85
3.7. Data collection 86
3.7.1. Primary data 86
3.7.2. Secondary data 87
3.8. Research instrument development 87
3.8.1. Measurement scale for mixed service delivery system 87
3.8.2. Measurement scale for employees' job engagement 89
3.8.3. Measurement scale for service delivery 91
3.8.4. Measurement scale for control variables 92
3.8.5. Overall questionnaire statements 92
3.8.6. Back-translation 94
3.9. Pilot study 94
3.9.1. Objectives and data collection 95
3.9.2. Data screening 95
3.9.3. Demographic statistics 96
3.9.4. Item analysis 98
3.9.5. Reliability and validity of the scale 101
3.9.6. Results of the pilot study and the main survey setting 108
3.10. Proposed data analysis in the main survey 108
3.10.1. Descriptive analysis 108
3.10.2. Checking the scale reliability 109
3.10.3. Correlation analysis 109
3.10.4. Multiple regression analysis 109
3.10.5. Factor analysis 110
3.10.6. Structural equation model analysis 110
3.11. Conclusion 111
CHAPTER FOUR. RESULTS 112
4.1. Introduction 112
4.2. Missing data and outliers 112
4.3. Descriptive statistical analysis 113
4.3.1. Demographic statistics 113
4.3.2. Representative analysis of the sample 115
4.3.3. Descriptive statistics of variables 116
4.4. Reliability analysis 117
4.5. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) 118
4.5.1. CFA of mixed service delivery system 121
4.5.2. CFA of the first-order measurement model 124
4.5.3. CFA of the subdimensions of the mixed service delivery system measurement model 126
4.5.4. CFA of the subdimensions of employee job engagement measurement model 128
4.5.5. CFA of the second-order measurement model 130
4.6. Multivariate normality test 132
4.7. Common method bias 133
4.8. Correlation analysis 134
4.9. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) 135
4.9.1. SEM of the first-order model 136
4.9.2. SEM of the subdimensions of mixed service delivery system 139
4.9.3. SEM of the subdimensions of employees' job engagement 142
4.9.4. SEM of the second-order model 145
4.10. Mediating effect 148
4.11. Hypothesis test results 150
4.12. Measurement invariance 157
4.12.1. Measurement invariance of the mixed service delivery system scale 157
4.12.2. Structural invariance of the second-order model 157
4.13. Open comments analysis 158
4.14. Conclusion 160
CHAPTER FIVE. IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 161
5.1. Introduction 161
5.2. Recapitulation 161
5.2.1. Research Objective 1: Analyse mixed service delivery system in five-star hotels 162
5.2.2. Research Objective 2: Identify the impact of mixed service delivery system on frontline employees' job engagement in five-star hotels 163
5.2.3. Research Objective 3: Determine the effects of mixed service delivery system on service delivery in five-star hotels 164
5.2.4. Research Objective 4: Confirm the effects of frontline employees' job engagement on the outcomes of mixed service delivery system in five-star hotels 164
5.3. Implications of the research 165
5.3.1. Theoretical implications 165
5.3.2. Managerial implications 167
5.4. Limitations of the research 167
5.5. Recommendations for future research 168
5.6. Conclusions of the research 169
REFERENCES 170
APPENDICES 20
APPENDIX A. QUESTIONNAIRE COVER LETTER FOR HOTEL 208
APPENDIX B. QUESTIONNAIRE INTRODUCTION FOR EMPLOYEE 210
APPENDIX C. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PILOT STUDY-ENGLISH VERSION 212
APPENDIX D. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PILOT STUDY - SIMPLIFIED CHINESE VERSION 216
APPENDIX E. QUESTIONNAIRE-ENGLISH VERSION 220
APPENDIX F. QUESTIONNAIRE-SIMPLIFIED CHINESE VERSION 223
APPENDIX G. DATA ANALYSIS-PILOT STUDY 226
APPENDIX H. DATA ANALYSIS-MAIN SURVEY 240
APPENDIX I. SECONDARY DATA AND SAMPLING 271
APPENDIX J. CONFERENCES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS THESIS 277
Table 2.1. The main indicators of China's tourism development 2011-2019 31
Table 2.2. Research context of studies on the NGIT in hotels 41
Table 2.3. The distribution of articles based on types of NGIT 43
Table 2.4. Main topics of studies on the NGIT in the hotel industry 44
Table 2.5. Perspectives of studies on hotel NGIT 45
Table 2.6. Summary of research on the general industry/services (no. of articles: 24) 48
Table 2.7. Summary of research on employees (no. of articles: seven) 51
Table 2.8. Summary of research on customers (no. of articles: 19) 53
Table 2.9. Summary of research on revenue management (no. of articles: 4) 56
Table 2.10. Summary of journals (citation scores greater than 5.0) 58
Table 2.11. The sources of and items related to employee job engagement 60
Table 3.1. The number of five-star hotels and employees in China's hinterlands (2017-2021) 84
Table 3.2. Definitions and characteristics of service delivery systems 88
Table 3.3. Measurement items for mixed service delivery system 89
Table 3.4. Items regarding employees' job engagement 90
Table 3.5. Measurement items for employees' job engagement 91
Table 3.6. Statements regarding service delivery 91
Table 3.7. Measurement items for service delivery 92
Table 3.8. Overall preliminary questionnaire statements 93
Table 3.9. Demographic statistics 97
Table 3.10. Results of the item analysis 99
Table 3.11. Reliability analysis results of mixed service delivery system 102
Table 3.12. EFA results for mixed service delivery system 103
Table 3.13. Reliability analysis results of employees' job engagement scale 104
Table 3.14. EFA results for employees' job engagement 105
Table 3.15. Reliability analysis results for service delivery 106
Table 3.16. EFA results for the service delivery scale 107
Table 4.1. Results of missing data and outlier analysis 112
Table 4.2. Demographic statistics 114
Table 4.3. Results of the representative analysis of hotel groups 115
Table 4.4. Results of the representative analysis of cities 115
Table 4.5. Descriptive statistic results for the items (SPSS) 117
Table 4.6. Reliability results 118
Table 4.7. Goodness-of-fit indices and sources 120
Table 4.8. CFA results of goodness-of-fit indices of MSDS (first order) 121
Table 4.9. Construct reliability results of the MSDS (first order) 122
Table 4.10. Convergent validity results of the MSDS (first order) 122
Table 4.11. CFA results of goodness of fit indices of MSDS (second order) 123
Table 4.12. Construct reliability results of the MSDS (second order) 123
Table 4.13. CFA results of the goodness-of-fit indices of the first-order measurement model 124
Table 4.14. Construct reliability results of the first-order measurement model 125
Table 4.15. Convergent validity results of the first-order measurement model 126
Table 4.16. CFA results of the goodness-of-fit indices of the subdimensions of the MSDS measurement model 126
Table 4.17. Construct reliability of the subdimensions of the MSDS measurement model 127
Table 4.18. Convergent validity of the subdimensions of the MSDS measurement model 128
Table 4.19. CFA results of the goodness-of-fit indices of the subdimensions of the EJE measurement model 128
Table 4.20. Construct reliability of the subdimensions of the EJE measurement model 129
Table 4.21. Convergent validity of the subdimensions of the EJE measurement model 130
Table 4.22. CFA results of the goodness-of-fit indices of the second-order measurement model 130
Table 4.23. Construct reliability of the second-order measurement model 131
Table 4.24. Convergent validity of the second-order measurement model 132
Table 4.25. Results of the multivariate normality test (AMOS) 132
Table 4.26. Results of the total variance explained (SPSS) 134
Table 4.27. Results of correlation analysis (SPSS) 135
Table 4.28. Results of the goodness-of-fit indices of the first-order model 136
Table 4.29. SEM results of the first-order model 137
Table 4.30. Results of the goodness-of-fit indices of the subdimensions of the MSDS model 139
Table 4.31. SEM test of the subdimensions of the MSDS model 140
Table 4.32. Results of the goodness-of-fit indices of the subdimensions of the EJE model 142
Table 4.33. SEM test of the subdimensions of the EJE model 143
Table 4.34. Results of the goodness-of-fit indices of the second-order model 145
Table 4.35. SEM test of the second-order model 146
Table 4.36. Bootstrapping results of the SDC-SD 148
Table 4.37. Bootstrapping results of the UIT-SD 149
Table 4.38. Bootstrapping results of HRS-SD 149
Table 4.39. Bootstrapping results of MSDS-SD 149
Table 4.40. Results of all hypotheses tests across different models 155
Table 4.41. Results of the measurement invariance of the MSDS scale 157
Table 4.42. Results of the structural invariance of the second-order model 158
Table 4.43. Results of the AIC and ECVI of six models 158
Table 4.44. Results of open answer coding 159
Figure 2.1. Journal distribution of articles on hotel NGIT. 39
Figure 2.2. Yearly distribution of articles on hotel NGIT. 40
Figure 2.3. Positive effects of EE. 62
Figure 2.4. Negative effects of EE. 62
Figure 2.5. Conceptual model of a service delivery system. 68
Figure 2.6. The service delivery process model in a mixed service delivery system. 68
Figure 2.7. The research framework. 70
Figure 2.8. The proposed main hypotheses of the research. 70
Figure 2.9. Overall research hypotheses 74
Figure 2.10. Hypotheses in first-order model 75
Figure 2.11. Hypotheses in the subdimension of the MSDS model 76
Figure 2.12. Hypotheses in the subdimension of the EJE model 76
Figure 2.13. Hypotheses in the second-order model 77
Figure 3.1. The research approach. 81
Figure 3.2. Sample size formula 85
Figure 3.3. Scree plot for mixed service delivery system 103
Figure 3.4. Scree plot for employees' job engagement 106
Figure 3.5. Scree plot for service delivery 107
Figure 4.1. SEM results of the first-order model 138
Figure 4.2. SEM results of the subdimensions of the MSDS model 141
Figure 4.3. SEM results of the subdimensions of the EJE model 144
Figure 4.4. SEM results of the second-order model 147