Ashokkumar Manoharan

Purpose: This paper aims to address the methodological inconsistencies prevalent in qualitative-based systematic literature reviews (Q-SLRs) within hospitality and tourism (H&T) and proposes a comprehensive framework to enhance their rigor and replicability. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents a quality framework for Q-SLR methodology, outlining best practices for conducting Q-SLRs and a “theorizing from association” approach to guide the development of theoretical implications for Q-SLRs. Findings: The framework presents four phases: planning, conducting, extracting and analyzing, providing a step-by-step approach to Q-SLR. The novel “theorizing from association” integrates H&T literature with related fields, including management, organizational behavior and marketing. Practical implications: The proposed framework enhances methodological rigor and fosters theoretical advancement, ensuring that future reviews can more effectively contribute to the field. Originality/value: This paper addresses a critical gap in the H&T literature by providing a comprehensive guide to conducting Q-SLRs and to theoretical development from Q-SLRs.

The recent backlash against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) creates a strategic paradox for hospitality and tourism (H&T) firms: the sector’s demographic and cultural diversity heighten the need for DEI initiatives even as such efforts face opposition. In response, we develop a framework that reframes DEI as the process safeguarding procedural fairness to ensure merit-based outcomes. We integrate identity-blind personnel scholarship (e.g., validity and KSAOs) with identity-conscious DEI research (e.g., structural bias and intergroup dynamics) to show how DEI practices mitigate bias that undermines merit. We further propose targeted moral appeals (care, fairness, loyalty, authority, purity) mapped to specific backlash mechanisms to strengthen perceived fairness of DEI-integrated systems. By grounding a moral appeal in shared standards of procedural and outcome fairness, this framework moves beyond the DEI business case rationale and provides pathways for future research.

This study sought to identify barriers and facilitators to the employment of people with disabilities in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in hospitality. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with hospitality employers (n = 35). Purposive sampling was used to recruit employers with varied experiences of employing people with disability. A conceptual model of five demand-side predictors of disability employment success was used as an analytical lens (employer attitudes, job characteristics, organisation characteristics, workplace concerns, corporate culture). Data was coded to the five predictors, in addition, "co-workers" attitudes' and "workplace accommodations and adjustments" emerged as additional predictors. All participants raised workplace concerns, with employers with experience adopting a range of strategies to address concerns. Employers with no prior experience were passively rather than actively creating barriers to employment. Smaller organisations were more likely to view employing people with disabilities as high risk. Few organisations reported accessing the services of disability employment providers. This study extended the model of demand-side predictors in alignment with evidence from the SME hospitality sector adding two additional predictors. Future employment in the sector might be facilitated by more partnerships with disability employment service providers who have the requisite expertise that most SMEs do not have in-house.

The hospitality industry employs people with disabilities; however, as an emerging research area, little is known about the antecedents, experience, and consequences of disability employment in the sector. To address this gap, this article provides a systematic literature review of the peer-reviewed literature to improve the understanding of the employment of people with disability in the hospitality sector. This review analyzes papers published between 1990 and 2021 reporting on organizational programs established to increase the recruitment and retention of employees with disabilities. This resulted in 36 papers for systematic review analysis and answers three essential questions regarding employer initiatives to promote the employment of people with disabilities, barriers and facilitators to the employment of people with disabilities, and benefits and challenges of employing people with disabilities in the hospitality sector. Our review provides a conceptual framework that integrates the present body of literature. This review also identifies a future research agenda for the future study of disability employment in hospitality organizations by outlining five gaps in the literature, which include theoretical rigor, expansion of disability employment research scope, country context, methodological improvement, and disability diversity management.

The hospitality industry depends on a highly diverse workforce. While the relationship between organizational culture and organizational outcomes has been well studied, little research has focused on understanding the relationship between organizational culture and organizational effectiveness in the context of a highly diverse workforce. This chapter presents a study that aims to advance how ethnic diversity can moderate the organizational culture and organizational outcomes relationship. Organizational culture was examined using the competing values framework (CVF) and measured through four types of culture that are observed in organizations: clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy. Organizational effectiveness was examined using employee turnover, innovation, financial effectiveness, and quality of service. Ethnic diversity in the organizational workforce was tested as a moderator of the relationship between the four different culture types and organizational effectiveness. The data were obtained from managers in medium-sized hotels in Australia and multiple regression analysis was applied to demonstrate relationships among variables. The results suggest that diversity in the workforce enhances the effect of an adhocracy organizational culture on the organizational effectiveness measure of innovation.

The lack of findings in the research on formal diversity management practices in the Australian hospitality industry demands exploration of the best diversity management practices. The present research explores diversity management practices in the Australian hospitality sector through a qualitative research design. Data were collected from Australian hospitality firms listed in the Australian securities exchange (ASX) and analyzed using an abductive logic. The findings show that these Australian hospitality firms have implemented eight of the nine best diversity management practices presented in the literature. Furthermore, this study identified Indigenous employment support as a unique diversity management practice Australian hotels offer to its Indigenous employees. This study provides recommendations for managers to implement diversity management practices and improve corporate communication. The study also provides future research directions to improve diversity management practices research in the Australian hospitality context.

Interdisciplinary in terms of both its coverage and contributions, The Routledge Handbook of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Management in the Hospitality Industry provides an informative and systematic guide to the current state of knowledge on workforce diversity and its management. Providing empirical knowledge and reflective practice on diversity issues and their management in the hospitality industry, this handbook includes chapters written by a plethora of experts in the diversity management (DM) field, including scholars, academics, and industry experts, such as managers from leading hospitality industry firms. Logically structured and embellished with illustrative figures throughout, the volume provides critical reviews and an appraisal of current research and the future development of conceptual and theoretical approaches to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) management in the hospitality industry, including dimensions of diversity in hospitality, such as gender, cultural/ethnic, age, disability, sexual orientation, and Indigenous workers. Elucidative examples are used from different countries such as Australia, Austria, Canada, Japan, United Arab Emirates, and India, and the volume takes a solution-based approach, providing future directions for emerging diversity researchers. Global in perspective, this book is a pivotal teaching resource for academics, an illustrative reference resource for Ph.D. students and early career researchers who work on workforce diversity and a practical guide for managers and HR consultants. It will also appeal to wider audiences, including those in tourism, recreation and leisure studies, and other professional fields.