Service Climate, Employee Identification, and Customer Outcomes in Hotel Property Rebrandings

ABSTRACT Rebrandings have become commonplace on the hotel landscape. Research has not directly examined rebrandings from the employee's perspective, nor has previous research considered the impacts of rebranding on service quality and customer outcomes. In this paper we discuss the role of service climate and employee identification in hospitality organizations and propose a conceptual model that links service climate and employee identification with customer service and related outcomes such as word of mouth communication behaviours. As part of a larger project, 228 employees in three hotels in Australia completed a self-report survey. At the time of the survey, the hotels were undergoing rebranding processes. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis investigated the relationships between the variables of interest. Preliminary findings demonstrate the significant role of customer-contact aspects of service climate and the role of employee identification with their department in predicting employee perceptions of customer outcomes. Future research is proposed.