Can I Trust You? An Exploration of the Role of Trust in Hospitality Service Settings
- 1 August 2009
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Tourism and Hospitality Planning & Development
- Vol. 6 (2), 145-157
- https://doi.org/10.1080/14790530902981548
Abstract
This paper focuses on the concept of trust as it applies to service encounters in hospitality settings. The view of hospitality employees as dull and low-skilled bears on their performance as a participant in the service transaction. Perceived through this lens, employees are subject to an atmosphere of direct control and a management focused on financial metrics. This impacts on the way the employee is treated by management and by guests, and the way the employee feels about themselves in their employment, yet, they perform extraordinary feats of kindness and generosity for guests. This paper proposes that trust underpins the employee relationship with guests and is the humanising factor in the transaction. The paper explores the meanings, definitions and uses of trust and demonstrates how these differing meanings are applied within hospitality organisations.Keywords
This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
- Customer confidence: the development of a “pre‐experience” conceptInternational Journal of Service Industry Management, 2005
- Introduction: trust within organisationsPersonnel Review, 2003
- Trust within organisationsPersonnel Review, 2003
- Not So Different After All: A Cross-Discipline View Of TrustAcademy of Management Review, 1998
- Straining for Shared Meaning in Organization Science: Problems of Trust and DistrustAcademy of Management Review, 1998
- Customer contributions and roles in service deliveryInternational Journal of Service Industry Management, 1997