Abstract:
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The purposes of this research are to examine firstly, the meaning of innovation
and how innovative work behavior is developed, secondly, the meaning of work
passion for innovative work behavior among executives and employees in the small
hotel business, thirdly, the factors leading to work passion for innovative work
behavior, and lastly, the model of factors leading to work passion for innovative
work behavior of executives and employees of the small hotel business.
This research employed a qualitative method with multiple case studies. Six
boutique hotels and four hostels with Thailand Boutique Award and has been
described by online reviewers as being innovative were chosen from different regions
of Thailand. Forty participants including ten owners/executives and thirty employees
with innovative experience were purposive selected for the interview in a form of
semi-structure both individually and focus group.
In finding the meaning of innovation, executives and employees of the small
hotel business view innovation as improvement, novel, uniqueness and modification.
In addition, there are five categories of innovation found from the participants’
innovation experiences which included; product/service, process, managerial,
marketing, and institutional. Product/service was the most visible form of innovation
among participants. Moreover, the innovative experience of participants developed
through different stages of innovative work behavior including; idea generation, idea
promotion, and idea realization.
To explain the meaning of work passion for innovative work behavior among
executives and employees in a small hotel business, the major themes that described
work passion were presented in the aspect of affect (complacency, euphoria, anxious),
cognition (concentration on developing business, sense of ownership, concern for
stakeholders) and behavior (striving for excellence, eagerness to learn, exertion/never
giving up, altruism, entrepreneurial spirit). However, the research findings mainly
suggested that work passion concept for innovative work behavior of executives and
employees of the small hotel business were perceived as positive feeling (e.g.
complacency and euphoria), concern for stakeholders, striving for excellence, and
entrepreneurial spirit to create and develop an innovative work.
The results of factors leading to work passion for innovative work behavior
revealed in four different themes included; job factors (autonomy, meaningful work,
feedback, task variety), organizational factors (collaboration, performance expectations,
engagement in the organization, development program, organizational strategy),
relationship factors (connectedness with leader, connectedness with colleagues,
engagement with the customer), and individual factor (personality). The finding also
reported that executives and employees perceived meaningful work, engagement in
the organization, and personality as an important factor which could lead them to have
more work passion for innovative work behavior.
The implication of this study was to provide guidelines with useful
recommendations and practices for building work passion for the innovative work
behavior of the small hotel business. The researcher would propose the executives or
owners of the small hotel business to work with employees as a team, give a clear
guidance, empower as possible, and assure to accommodate/facilitate guests well
since employees really concerned with the great experience of their guests. The
researcher also recommended to motivate employees more by providing training and
development and business trip to other hotels to stimulate their innovation.
Since the findings found Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a factor to
increase work passion for innovative work behavior of small hotel business, the
researcher recommended to conduct further study under the topic of “Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) as a factor leading to work passion for small hotel
business”.
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