T. F. Wu et al. / Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp.

434-452, 2006

A Study of the Relationship between Manager

s
Leadership Style and Organizational Commitment in
Taiwan
s International Tourist Hotels
TAIN-FUNG WU1,*, MEI-HUI TSAI1, YEH-HSUN FEY2, AND ROBERT T. Y. WU3
1

Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Asia University, Taiwan

Department of Business Administration, Ling Tung University, Taiwan
3
Department of Hotel Management, Jin Wen University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
2

ABSTRACT
This study wasa
i
me
da
ta
na
l
y
z
i
n
gt
hec
o
g
n
i
t
i
o
na
nd t
her
e
l
a
t
i
o
ns
hi
p be
t
we
e
n ma
na
g
e
r
s

l
e
a
de
r
s
hi
ps
t
y
l
e
sa
nde
mpl
o
y
e
e
s
o
r
g
a
ni
z
a
t
i
o
n
a
lc
o
mmi
t
me
n
ti
nt
heo
pe
r
a
t
i
o
nun
i
to
fi
nt
e
r
n
a
t
i
o
na
l
tourist hotels. In order to meet the features of this industry, both the theories,
s
i
t
u
a
t
i
o
na
ll
e
a
de
r
s
hi
p
byHe
r
s
e
y& Bl
a
nc
h
a
r
da
nd
o
r
g
a
ni
z
a
t
i
o
na
lc
o
mmi
t
me
nt
byPo
r
t
e
r
,St
e
e
r
s
,Mo
wda
y& Bo
ul
i
a
ns
e
r
v
e
as the basis of this study. From the former theory, how subordinate managers prepare for the task
becomes a situational factor. Task and relationship develop as structural sides of situational leadership.
In this way, managersl
e
a
de
r
s
hi
ps
t
y
l
e
sc
a
nbes
o
r
t
e
di
n
t
ot
hef
o
l
l
owi
ngf
o
urt
y
pe
s
:selling (persuasion),
telling (command), participating and delegating (empowerment). In the latter theory,
v
a
l
ue
,
e
f
f
o
r
t
,
a
n
d
r
e
t
e
nt
i
o
nma
keu
pt
hema
i
np
a
r
t
st
obes
t
u
d
i
e
d.
The international tourist hotels involved in this study consisted of 58 state-qualified hotels which
were evaluated and granted qualification by the government in 2004. Three hundred and thirty-one
employees filled out the questionnaire. The survey instrument included: (a) leadership style inventory,
(b) organizational commitment inventory, and (c) personal background data. By analyzing all the data
collected, the results of this study indicate:
1.A
delegatingleadership style has the highest frequency of occurrences. It is followed by
selling
a
n
d
pa
r
t
i
c
i
p
a
t
i
ng
s
t
y
l
e
s
.
Tellingleadership has the lowest frequency of occurrences.
2.Employees of different ages, lengths of services, major subjects, top-level leadership styles, and the
locations of the hotels will show significantly different organizational commitments.
3.The more that managers belong to the selling, participating, and delegating leadership styles, the
more organizational commitment the employees have. In general, t
he
pa
r
t
i
c
i
p
a
t
i
ngl
e
a
de
r
s
hi
p
attracts the most employee commitment, whi
l
et
he
tellingleadership obtains the least.
Key words: international tourist hotel, leadership style, organizational commitment, situational
leadership.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
The French scholar J. Fourastie (Wikipedia, 2005) stated that the
development of modern economy moved toward the trend of tertiary industries.
According to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, & Statistics, the
number of employed persons in the service sector increased by 151,000 from
October 2004 to October 2006. Service sector employees account for 67.12% of the
total employed population. Thus, the service sector in Taiwan has not only met the
main global trend, but has also partly solved the unemployment problem.
International tourist hotels are the typical service-sector business (Huang, 1996). To

Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

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T. F. Wu et al. / Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 434-452, 2006

promote the hospitality industry and reach the goal of five million tourists,
Ta
i
wa
n
sg
ov
e
r
nme
nte
n
c
ou
r
a
g
e
spr
i
v
a
t
ei
nv
e
s
t
me
n
ti
ni
n
t
e
r
n
a
t
i
on
a
lt
ou
r
i
s
th
ot
e
l
s
.
Tourist hotels belong to a labor-intensive industry and employees can be regarded
as the most important capital. For the basic workers in this business, the
characteristics of their jobs are particular, their wages are at the lower levels, and
their working hours are long. This results in a high turnover rate (Yang & Wan,
2000). In addition since the implementation of a new labor retirement system, the
years that a worker serves for each company can be merged into his length of
service for a retirement pension (Council of Labor Affairs, 2005). The new
retirement system has been viewed as an important factor in accelerating
e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
t
u
r
n
ov
e
rr
a
t
ea
n
ddi
v
e
r
s
i
f
y
i
ngt
h
es
u
ppl
yof the basic manpower. More
contingency workers and part-time employees receiving professional training are
expected to replace full-time employees and engage in the tourism and food service
industries.
In the future, tourist hotels will have to confront the fierce competition in the
external market and the threat of unstable manpower. In order to maintain a
competitive advantage, the priority has become the stabilization of the backbone
elements, namely, the employees of business departments. The possible causes of
employees' resignation can be traced from organizational commitment (Steers,
1997). Organizational commitment is deeply influenced by the leadership style of
managers (Chen, 1995). Therefore, the leadership style of a manager is able to
affect subor
di
n
a
t
e
s
or
g
a
n
i
z
a
t
i
on
a
lc
ommi
t
me
n
ta
n
dor
g
a
n
i
z
a
t
i
on
a
lc
ommi
t
me
n
ti
s
r
e
l
a
t
e
dt
oape
r
s
on

ss
e
r
v
i
c
ea
t
t
i
t
u
de
,pa
s
s
i
on
,a
n
dwi
l
l
i
ng
n
e
s
st
owor
k
.All of these
have become key factors in deciding the success of international tourist hotels
(Brotherton & Shaw, 1996). This study used an empirical approach to explore the
r
e
l
a
t
i
on
s
h
i
pbe
t
we
e
nt
h
ema
na
g
e
r
s
l
e
a
de
r
s
h
i
ps
t
y
l
e
si
ni
n
t
e
r
n
a
t
i
on
a
lt
ou
r
i
s
th
ot
e
l
s
and the organizational commitment of employees.
1.2 Purposes of the Study
Although tourist hotels are a booming industry, it is not easy to maintain
service quality due to the high mobility rate (Ghiselli, Joseph, & Billy, 2001). This
study was made for the following main purposes:
(1) To identify the general spread in leadership styles of managers of international
tourist hotels and then compare the differences in leadership styles of the
managers in this study.
(2) To investigate the differences in organizational commitment of the employees
in international tourist hotels.
(3) To examine the relationship between the managers
l
e
a
de
r
s
h
i
ps
t
y
l
ei
n
international tourist hotels and the employees organizational commitment.
(4) To offer the findings, as a reference, to international tourist hotels and the
departments of tourism and food service at technological colleges.
1.3 Research Questions
The primary research questions to be addressed in this study are as follows:

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T. F. Wu et al. / Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 434-452, 2006

(1) What are the leadership styles of managers perceived by their subordinate
employees in international tourist hotels?
(2) What are the perceived organizational commitment of employees in
international tourist hotels based on the employees' background?
(3) Wh
a
ti
st
h
er
e
l
a
t
i
ons
h
i
p be
t
we
e
nt
h
e ma
n
a
g
e
r
s
l
e
a
de
r
s
h
i
ps
t
y
l
ei
n
international tourist hotels and the employees' organizational commitment?
1.4 Research Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses are developed and tested at the 0.05 level of
significance for analysis:
Ho1. There are no significant differences in the leadership styles of managers of
international tourist hotels by e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
background.
Ho2. There are no significant differences in the organizational commitment of
employees in international tourist hotels by employees' background.
Ho3. There is no significant relationship between a managersleadership style in
international tourist hotels and employees' organizational commitment.
1.5 Research Procedure
Firstly, the study used individual interviews to research background and
motives. The research topics, scope, and purposes were decided. The research
frame was set up in accordance with information taken from the current literature.
Secondly, a questionnaire was developed and a pilot study was implemented to
examine its reliability as well as validity. After modification, formal questionnaires
were sent to the subjects in the sample. The data from the returned and useful
questionnaires were collected and analyzed using standard statistical methods.
Finally, the findings, conclusions, and suggestions of this study were elucidated and
made available.
1.6 Definition of Terms
Several terms and their operational definitions are described as follows:
(1) International tourist hotel
An international tourist hotel is built in accordance with the standards of
construction and facilities of an international tourist hotel. Such a hotel is also
evaluated as a certificated hotel through Taiwan
s evaluation and classification
system of international tourist hotels (Tourism Bureau, 2004).
(2) Leadership style
Hersey and Blanchard
s (1988) situational leadership theory indicates that
successful leaders adjust their styles depending on the readiness of the followers to
perform in a given position.
Readinessis based on how able, willing, and
confident followers are in performing required tasks. The possible leadership styles
include: (a) selling: a high-task, high-relationship style; (b) telling: a high-task,
low-relationship style; (c) participating: a low-task, high-relationship style; and (d)
delegating: a low-task, low-relationship style.

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(3) Organizational commitment

Organizational commitment means the degree of one
s identification with,
and participation in, a certain organization. It includes three characteristics: (a) one
believes in, and accepts, organizational goals and value (value commitment), (b)
one is willing to make an effort (effort commitment), and (c) one has a strong
desire to remain a member of the organization (retention commitment) (Porter,
Steer, Mowday, & Boulian, 1974).
(4) Manager
In this study, managers consist of the top-level leaders, middle-level
managers, and lower level managers.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Definition and Organization of International Tourist Hotels
2.1.1 Definition and classification system of international tourist hotels
The word
hoteloriginates from Latin hospitalis
ofag
u
e
s
t
,s
h
owi
n
g
h
os
pi
t
a
l
i
t
y
,
f
r
om hospit-, hospes,
h
os
t
,s
t
r
a
ng
e
r
,gu
e
s
t
.
This is derived the Old
French word hostel, a better-class of house for entertaining strangers or travelers;
an inn. Consequently, an apartment or villa rented by tourists has come to be called
a hotel (Medlik, 1961). At present, Taiwan
s government divides hotels into two
categories: international tourist hotels and ordinary hotels.
The hotel classification system has been set up by the Tourism Bureau in
order to evaluate the structure, facilities, software, and services of a hotel. The
hotels assessed are granted a grade mark according to their performance. Currently,
there are no unified standards of evaluation and classification (Lin, Liu, Sun, Lee,
& Lin, 2000). In 2003, for the purpose of promoting tourism, Taiwan
s government
accelerated the implementation of the Doubling Tourist Arrivals Plan. Thus the
Tourism Bureau formulated both the new evaluation and classification system of
hotels and evaluation standards of hotels. The latest system adopts stars, which are
widely used throughout the rest of the world, instead of the mark of a plum
previously used in Taiwan. In addition, after referring to the American AAA
evaluation system, the Tourism Bureau drew up a two-stage evaluation including
structure, facilities and service quality. Those which are evaluated by the two-stage
evaluation and reach evaluation standards are accredited as international tourist
hotels (Tourism Bureau, 2004). In 2004, there were fifty-eight qualified
international tourist hotels in Taiwan (see Table 1). To meet customer
s demand
and offer a high quality service, these international tourist hotels all have been
equipped with a network ordering system (Wei, Rugs, Hoof, & Combrink, 2001;
Yang & Wan, 2000).
2.1.2 Organization of international tourist hotels
From the viewpoint of the structure of hotels, the differences in scale of hotels,
variety of business, and departmentalization, there are various types of organization.
Based on the fundamental functions and work specialization, the structure of a

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T. F. Wu et al. / Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 434-452, 2006

hotel, in general, can be grouped into two major departments including front-end
business departments and back-end support departments. Business departments
consist of room service section, restaurants, marketing section, and other business
units. Support departments include personnel, general affairs, administration,
purchasing, finance, and engineering units (Wu, 2000).
The structure of small and medium hotels is simpler. One department can deal
with several business areas, and one employee can have more than one task. In
contrast, international tourist hotels belong to a larger scale and have a complicated
organizational structure with more levels. However, different types of management
result in various levels of organization. International tourist hotels often have a
higher degree of work spe
c
i
a
l
i
z
a
t
i
on
.Cu
r
r
e
n
t
l
y
,Ta
i
wa
n
si
nt
e
r
n
a
t
i
on
a
lt
ou
r
i
s
t
hotels have developed into two types of organization due to differing managerial
styles. One is a simple structure with a low degree of departmentalization, fewer
layers, and wide span of control, and the other is a taller, pyramid-like structure
with a high degree of departmentalization, more layers, and more managers.
Table 1. International Tourist Hotels in Taiwan
Region

Number

Taipei

25

Kaohsiung

Taichung

Hualien

Scenic
Sites

Taoyuan,
Hsinchu,
and Miaoli

Taoyuan Hotel, Ta Shee Resort, Royal Hsinchu Hotel, Ambassador

Hotel

Others

Hotel Tainan, Formosan Naruwan Hotel & Resort Taitung, Tayih

Landis

Total

58

Hotels
Grand Hotel Taipei, Ambassador Hotel Taipei, Mandarin Hotel,
Imperial Hotel Taipei, Gloria Prince Hotel Taipei, Emperor Hotel,
Riverview Taipei Hotel, Golden China Hotel, Caesar Park Taipei, San
Want Hotel, Brother Hotel, Santos Hotel, Landis Taipei Hotel, United
Hotel, Sheraton Taipei Hotel, Taipei Fortuna Hotel, Asiaworld Plaza
Hotel, Royal Taipei Hotel, Howard Plaza Hotel Taipei, Rebar Crowne
Plaza, Grand Hyatt Taipei, Grand Formosa Regent Taipei, Sherwood
Taipei, Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, The Westin Taipei
Kingdom Hotel, Holiday Inn, Ambassador Hotel Kaohsiung, Han-Hsien
International Hotel, Grand Hi-Lai Hotel, Howard Plaza Hotel
Kaohsiung, Splendor Kaohsiung
Park Hotel, National Taichung Hotel, Plaza International Hotel,
Evergreen Laurel Hotel Taichung, Howard Plaza Hotel Taichung,
Splendor Taichung
Hualien Aster, Marshal Hotel, Chinatrust Hotel Hualien, Parkview
Hotel, Hualien Farglory Hotel
Landis Resort Yangmingshan, Grand Hotel Kaohsiung, Caesar Park
Hotel Kenting, Royal Chihpen Hotel, Grand Formosa Taroko, Howard
Beach Resort Kenting, HiHotel, The Lalu-Sun Moon Lake

Note. Adapted from the data of the Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Communications (2005).

2.2 Leadership Style

Drucker (1993) indicated that the quality and performance of managers are
the key criteria in deciding organizational success. An enterprise without a
manager
s leadership is not able to transmute input resources into competitive

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T. F. Wu et al. / Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 434-452, 2006

advantage. Therefore, it is clear that the leadership style of a manager has a close
relation to the development of organization. The study made by Bass (1990) shows
that 45% to 65% of the total factors causing success or failure of organization are
decided by leaders.
2.2.1 Definition of leadership
Leadership is defined as the ability to influence a group towards the
achievement of goals (Robbins, 1993). Tannenbaum et al. (1964) considered
leadership an influence of human relations. Leadership guides the followers to
achieve specific goals through communication. Fiedler (1967) believed that
leadership is a kind of relationship to apply power and influence to make people
work together and accomplish common goals. Rauch and Behling (1984) and Hsieh
(1993) all regarded leadership as the process of influencing a group to move
towards the goal.
2.2.2 Theories of leadership
Since the middle of the twentieth century, various theories and literature have
been developed by many scholars with different standpoints. These theories can be
classified into four major perspectives as follows:
(1) Trait Theories: Stogdill (1963) and Davis (1972) proposed the personality and
traits that a successful leader should have.
(2) Behavior Theories: These theories resulted from research that began at Ohio
State University in the late 1940s. Halpin & Winer (1957) pointed out two
dimensions initiating structure and consideration. Subsequently, many studies
such as those of Stogdill (1963), Likert (1967), and Kotter (1988) also offered
related behavioral theories of leadership.
(3) Contingency Theories: Fiedler (1967) first developed the contingency model
of leadership. House (1971) developed the path-goal theory that extracted
essential elements from the research of Ohio State University and the
expectancy theory of motivation. In 1977 Hersey and Blachard also developed
the situational leadership theory which used the two leadership dimensions in
terms of task and relationship behaviors, and combined their degrees into four
specific leadership behaviors: telling, selling, participating, and delegating.
According to the contingency theory, leaders adopt a suitable leadership
style depending on the readiness of followers. The telling style is suitable for
unable and unwilling followers. The selling style is effective for unable and
willing followers. The participating style is useful for able and unwilling
followers. The delegating style is adequate for able and willing followers.
(4) Neocharismatic Theories: These theories are mainly represented by
transactional leadership and transformational leadership.
From the characteristics of international tourist hotels, the main goods
provided by international tourist hotels include not only visual products such as
room, restaurant, facilities for leisure and amusement, but also invisible services.
The management and product outputs all are customer-driven. The international
tourist hotel industry heavily depends on a great amount of manpower, while the

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T. F. Wu et al. / Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 434-452, 2006

employees are different in ability and willingness. Therefore, it is essential for

ma
n
a
g
e
r
st
ou
t
i
l
i
z
eas
u
i
t
a
bl
el
e
a
de
r
s
h
i
ps
t
y
l
ewi
t
hwh
i
c
ht
ome
e
tas
u
bor
di
n
a
t
e

s
readiness to accomplish tasks. Considering the purpose and context of research,
He
r
s
e
y& Bl
a
n
c
h
a
r
d
ss
i
t
u
a
t
i
on
a
ll
e
a
de
r
s
h
i
pt
h
e
or
yi
sa
ppr
opr
i
a
t
ea
n
du
t
i
l
i
z
e
di
n
this study.
2.3 Organizational Commitment
Morris & Sherman (1981) indicated that organizational commitment is able to
effectively predict the employee
s performance and turnover. Meyer, Paunonen,
Gellatly, Goffin, & Jackson (1989) also found that organizational commitment was
a proper indicator of work performance. It is important for managers and leaders to
pay more attention to the employee
s organizational commitment.
2.3.1 Definition of organization commitment
Based on various viewpoints, the definitions of organizational commitment
differ. However, most scholars recognize that organizational commitment is loyalty
to the organization (Price & Mueller, 1986). Most of Taiwan
s researchers agree
with the concept of Porter, Steer, Mowday, & Boulian (1974); that organizational
commitment is the degree of one
s identification and participation for a certain
organization. There are three characteristics: (a) one believes in and accepts
organizational goals and value (value commitment), (b) one is willing to make an
effort (effort commitment), and (c) one has strong desire to maintain the
membership of the organization (retention commitment). Organizational
commitment is regarded as a mental contract connecting the individual
s
identification and attribution with the organization and performing his duty
(Wallace, 1995). Organizational commitment is able to facilitate voluntary
cooperation within an organization.
2.3.2 Theoretical model of organization commitment
Theories of organizational commitment result from several studies conducted
by Sheldon (1971), and Hrebiniak & Alutto (1972). Buchanan (1974) and Steers
(1977) made studies concerning organizational commitment and found that
organizational commitment was affected by three major factors: personality, job
specialty, and working experience. The outcome affected by organizational
commitment includes the retention willingness, retention demand, attending rate,
and work performance. Based on the related theory, Steers (1977) proposed a
cause-effect relationship model (see Figure 1). From this model, organizational
commitment is the intervening variable which affects a member
s value, attitude,
and behavior in the organization.

3. METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
To achieve the purpose of this study, a descriptive research design was used.
Documentary analysis was executed in order to understand theories and studies
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T. F. Wu et al. / Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 434-452, 2006

concerning leadership and organizational commitment. This study made use of a

questionnaire to collect data from the subjects employed in international tourism
hotels. Thus, this study is classified as survey research.
Personality (achievement
motives, age, education level)

Job Speciality (job identification,

interaction, feedback)

Organizational
Commitment

Retention Willingness
Retention Demand
Attending Rate
Work Performance

Working Experience (team

attitude, reliability of
organization, personal
importance)

Figure 1. The cause-effect relationship model of organizational commitment (Steers, 1977).

3.2 Sample
The sample of this study consists of the employees (lower-level managers) of
17 international tourist hotels from 58 qualified international tourist hotels
evaluated by the Tourism Bureau in Taiwan in 2004. By using stratified random
sampling, these subjects were the lower-level managers of restaurants and room
services and they were selected according to four regions: northern, central,
southern, and eastern. The questionnaires were sent to all 390 subjects in the
sample. Three hundred and fifty-one of them responded and 331 were useful. The
useful response rate was 83.2%.
3.3 Instrumentation
The study was implemented through questionnaire survey. The draft survey
instrument mainly consists of a leadership style inventory and an organizational
commitment inventory. The leadership style inventory, including twenty items, was
based on the Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) (Tu, 2003;
Stogdill, 1963) and Supervising Behavior Description (SBD) (Fleishman, 1953).
The organizational commitment inventory with twenty-five items was developed
on the basis of the OCQ (Porter et al., 1974) and Organizational Commitment
Inventory (OCI) (Lee, Chun, and Lin, 2000). A Likert five-point scale was used for
the questionnaire.
A pilot study for the draft questionnaire was carried out in order to examine
its reliability and construct validity. The results of the pilot study revealed that
Cronbach
s coefficients for the leadership style inventory and the organizational
commitment inventory were 0.9437 and 0.9690, respectively, which showed a high
degree of reliability. Item analysis revealed that in the leadership style inventory,
only the Pearson correlation of item 19 did not reach the significant level of 0.05

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T. F. Wu et al. / Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 434-452, 2006

and was consequently deleted. The results of factor analysis also showed adequate
construct validity. However, through the pilot study and related analyses, the
formal survey questionnaire involves three major parts: (a) leadership style
inventory with 19 items, (b) organizational commitment inventory with 25 items,
and (c) personal data.
3.4 Statistical Analysis
The study utilized SPSS for Windows to analyze the collected data. The
statistical procedures for quantitative research include factor analysis, reliability
analysis, descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and the Scheff test.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of this study are summarized in Table 2 and the findings are
described as follows:
Table 2. Differences in Leadership Styles of Middle Level Managers and Empl
oy
e
e
s

Organizational Commitment by Background Variables of Employee

Independent Variables
Background Variables of Employees
Factors

Leadership Style
Selling
Telling
Participating
Delegating
OrganizationalCommitment
Value
Effort
Retention
Overall
Note. *P< .05, **P<.01.

Gender

Age

Education
Level

Major
Subject

Dept.

Position

Length
of
Service

*
**

**
**
**
**
**
**

*
**
*

No. of
Hotels
served

Top Level
Leadership

Region

**
**
**

**

**
**
**
**

**
**
**
**

**

Table 2. (continue)
Independent Variables
Factors
Leadership Style
Selling
Telling
Participating
Delegating
OrganizationalCommitment
Value
Effort
Retention
Overall
Note. **P<.01.

Ma
n
a
ge
r

sLe
a
de
r
s
hi
pSt
y
l
e

Selling

Telling

Participating

Delegating

**
**
**
**

**
**
**
**

**
**
**
**

**
**
**
**

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T. F. Wu et al. / Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 434-452, 2006

4.1 The Differences in Manager

s Leadership Styles by Empl
oye
e
s

Background
According to the statistics concerning the e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
perception of mangers
leadership styles, the delegating (empowerment) style was adopted most, followed
by the selling (persuasion) style, participating style, and telling (command) style,
respectively.
4.1.1 The differences of empl
oye
e
s
background in manager
s leadership styles
(1) In terms of the gender, age, education level, position, and number of hotels
served before, there is no significant difference in the manager
s leadership
style. It showed that leadership styles used by managers were not significantly
influenced by e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
background variables.
(2) By the major subject, department serving, and length of service, there are
significant differences in the manager
s leadership style. Thus, the null
hypothesis 1 that there are no significant differences in managersleadership
styles by e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
background is rejected. Managers generally adopt a

tellingstyle for the employees with a tourism related major subjects.

Compared with employees majoring in leisure management, a
delegating
style is mostly used for the employees with majors in food, tourism, and other
related subjects. There are significantly more managers with selling and
delegating styles for the employees serving the department of room service
than those for the employees serving the department of customer service.
There is no significant difference in the leadership style between front-end
respondents and back-end respondents in the restaurant service. In terms of
working with managers with telling leadership, the number of employees with
16 years of service or longer is higher than that of those with three service
years or less.
4.1.2 The effect of top-level managersleadership styles on the manager
s
leadership style
(1) Compared with top-level managers with a noninterference leadership style,
the top-level managers with an authoritative style and a democratic style have
significantly more subordinate managers with telling, participating, and
delegating styles. A telling style is adopted most frequently by the managers
when their top-level managers possess an authoritative leadership style. On
the contrary, participating and delegating styles are adopted most frequently
by the managers when their top-level managers possess a democratic
leadership style.
(2) When top-level managers use an authoritative style and a democratic style:
telling, participating, and delegating styles are significantly less used by the
their managers. This finding coincides with the Stogdill
s study (Bass, 1990),
that leaders utilize a noninterference style and seldom offer directions,
supervision, and empowerment to their subordinates. Therefore, the

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organizational operation is in a loose status and managers are not able to use
adequate leading strategy to reach organizational goals.
4.1.3 The differences in managersleadership styles by empl
oye
e
s
region
(1) More managers adopt a telling style in the southern region than those in
northern, central, and eastern regions. There may be a relationship between
slow information circulation, slow pace of life, and insufficient readiness to
reach goals.
(2) There are significantly more managers in the northern region who adopt a
delegating style than in the central region. This may be caused by more
international tourist hotels and more hotels belonging to international chains,
and faster information circulation in the northern region. Furthermore, the
greater resources in terms of capable employees with specialty in food and
tourism, and the higher readiness of managers are other possible factors
contributing to this result.
4.2 The Differences in Organizational Commitment by Employees
Background
According to the results regarding the e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
perception to
organizational commitment, the employees of international tourism hotels have a
positive organizational commitment. They also show high effort but low retention
commitment.
4.2.1 The differences in organizational commitment by empl
oye
e
s
personal
background
(1) The findings showed that the organizational commitment of employees of
international tourism hotels was not significantly affected by the gender,
education level, department, position, and number of hotels previously served.
(2) By the age, length of service and major subject, there is a significant
difference in organizational commitment. Thus the null hypothesis 2, that
there are no significant differences in organizational commitment of
employees by their background, is rejected. The older the employees are, the
higher their levels of organizational commitment. The employees with a
longer length of service also express a higher level of organizational
commitment. The employees who have graduated from non-tourism programs
have more effort commitment than those majoring in home economics. The
graduates majoring in food and tourism management, tourism business,
leisure management, and Chinese and western food & cooking do not show
superior performance in effort commitment.
4.2.2 The differences in organizational commitment by top-level leadership
style
(1) When the top-level leadership is a democratic style, the degree of the
subordinatesoverall and effort commitments are significantly higher than
those led by authoritative and noninterference leadership styles. The
subordinates led by a democratic leadership style have a higher degree of

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T. F. Wu et al. / Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 434-452, 2006

value and retention commitments than those led by an authoritative

leadership style. This finding implies that a democratic style has the highest
degree of overall and effort commitments for subordinates and an
authoritative style results in the lowest degree of overall and retention
commitments for the followers.
(2) In terms of effort commitment, the employees led by a democratic style have
the highest effort commitment, followed by those led by authoritative and
interference styles.
4.2.3 The differences in organizational commitment by empl
oye
e
s
region
(1) The e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
degree of value commitment in the northern region is
significantly higher than that in central and eastern regions. The e
mpl
oy
e
e
s

degree of value commitment in the southern region is significantly higher than

that in the central region.
(2) The e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
degree of effort commitment in the northern region is
significantly higher than that in the central region.
(3) The e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
degrees of retention commitment and overall commitment in
the northern and southern regions are significantly higher than those in the
central region.
4.3 The Relationship between Leadership Style and Organizational
Commitment
4.3.1 The correlation between leadership style and organizational commitment
As shown in Table 3, selling, participating, and delegating styles of managers
have a significant positive relationship with e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
organizational commitment.
Therefore, the null hypothesis 3, that there is no significance relationship between
managersleadership style and employees' organizational commitment, is rejected.
The correlation between the telling style and e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
organizational
commitment is not significant. The findings indicate that when managers use more
selling, participating, and delegating leadership styles, the e
mpl
oy
e
e
s

organizational commitment is higher. In contrast, the use of the telling leadership

style does not strengthen t
h
ee
mpl
oy
e
e
s
organizational commitment.
Table 3. Correlation Coefficient between ManagersLeadership Style and Empl
oy
e
e
s

Organizational Commitment
Style
Selling
Telling
Participating
Delegating

N
105
39
44
143

Value
Commitment
.475**
.053
.429**
.497**

Effort
Commitment
.291**
.063
.305**
.455**

Retention
Commitment
.562**
.100
.496**
.411**

Overall
Commitment
.553**
.093
.503**
.508**

Note. **P< .01.

4.3.2 The differences in organizational commitment by leadership style

As shown in Table 4, when managers of international tourism hotels adopt a

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participating leadership style, employees perform best in the commitments of

overall, value, effort, and retention. Employees perform worst in the four types of
commitment when a telling leadership style is adopted. The managers with the
selling style have a higher degree of retention and overall commitment than those
with the delegating style. If managers adopt a delegating leadership style, the
number of employees with value and effort commitment is greater than the number
of those led by a selling style.
Table 4. Analysis of Variance of the Organizational Commitment by Middle-Level
Manager
s Leadership Style
Style
Value Commitment
(1) Selling
(2) Telling
(3) Participating
(4) Delegating
Effort Commitment
(1) Selling
(2) Telling
(3) Participating
(4) Delegating
Retention Commitment
(1) Selling
(2) Telling
(3) Participating
(4) Delegating
Overall Commitment
(1) Selling
(2) Telling
(3) Participating
(4) Delegating
Note. *P< .05.

SD

Source of Variance

SS

Df

MS

Scheff Test

105
39
44
143

31.95
28.51
33.57
32.17

4.74 Between groups

5.34 Within groups
5.35 Total
5.17

579.77
8447.27
9027.04

3
327
330

193.26
25.83

7.48*

(1)>(2)
(3)>(2)
(4)>(2)

105
39
44
143

20.11
19.31
21.45
21.00

2.97 Between groups

2.98 Within groups
2.82 Total
2.91

144.78
2793.85
2938.63

3
327
330

48.26
8.54

5.65*

(3)>(2)
(4)>(2)

105
39
44
143

43.44
37.28
44.68
40.52

9.16 Between groups

10.35 Within groups
10.52 Total
9.05

1665.08
29184.9
30850.04

3
327
330

555.03
89.25

6.22*

(1)>(2)
(3)>(2)

105
39
44
143

95.35
84.90
99.73
93.66

15.49 Between groups

17.04 Within groups
16.81 Total
14.99

4883.21
80038.49
84921.70

3 1627.74
327 244.77
330

6.65*

(1)>(2)
(3)>(2)
(4)>(2)

5. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 Conclusions
Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn:
(1) Most managers of international tourist hotels adopt a delegating style, fewer
managers adopt selling and participating styles, and the telling style is least
adopted. An e
mpl
oy
e
e

s major subject, department, length of service,

top-level leadership style, and region, have significant influence on a
manager
s leadership style.
(2) The variables, including age, length of service, major subject, top-level
leadership style, and region, have a significant influence on e
mpl
oy
e
e
s

organizational commitment.
(a) The older employee and the employee with a longer length of service
have a higher degree of organizational commitment. The organizational
commitment of the employees majoring in food and tourism is not as
high as those who majored in other fields.
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(b) Under democratic top-level leadership, the subordinates have the highest
degree in value, effort, retention, and overall commitments. On the other
hand, under authoritative top-level leadership, the subordinates perform
the least retention and overall commitments. The subordinates under
noninterference top-level leadership have the least effort commitment.
(c) The degrees of value, effort, retention, and overall commitment of
employees in the northern region are higher than those in the central
region. The degrees of value, retention, and overall commitment of the
employees in the southern region are higher than those in the central
region. Compared with other regions, the employees in the central region
have the lowest levels of the four types of commitment.
(3) While selling, participating, and delegating styles are utilized more often by
the managers of international tourism hotels, employees have higher
organizational commitment. The employees under a participating leadership
style achieve the highest value, effort, retention, and overall commitments. On
the other hand, a telling leadership style used by managers is not able to
enhance e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
organizational commitment. Furthermore, the findings
show that a telling style leads to the lowest level of the four types of
organizational commitment.
5.2 Suggestions
Some relevant suggestions regarding international tourist hotels and the
related college programs are provided as follows:
(1) Suggestions for international tourist hotels
(a) The top-level decision maker should stress t
h
e
leadingfunction as an
essential factor in influencing their subordinates. It is suggested that
top-level decision makers should adopt a democratic leadership instead
of an authoritative or noninterference leadership.
(b) Managers ought to employ a participating leadership style. It is
recommended that the leaders of restaurants and the department of room
service should pay more attention to developing efficient team work and
express warm concern and trust to coworkers through participating
leadership.
(c) Based on the findings of the study, it is imperative to establish a sound
system of benefits, promotion, and development in order to increase
e
mpl
oy
e
e
s
organizational commitment, reduce labor turnover, raise
productivity and improve service quality. This suggestion also meets the
viewpoint of Siguaw and Ens (1999), that reasonable pay, a good
benefits system, and systematic promotion are the necessary ways to
maintain human resources.
(d) Employees should stress professional development. According to
Bluedorn (1982), job satisfaction can affect organizational commitment,
which influences the motivation of retention. Therefore, it is suggested
that employees should take part in various training and workshops so as

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(e)

to upgrade their skills to meet changing job requirements.

It is necessary to facilitate the cooperation between universities and the
hospitality industry. In order to obtain capable, professional, and stable
human resources, international tourist hotels ought to establish a
well-designed practical training program with full professional support,
effective education, and work-experience in order to cultivate
well-grounded graduates with a strong willingness to serve in the
hospitality industry.

(2) Suggestions for technological universities and colleges

(a) Educational institutions should foster the professional attitude of
students majoring in food and tourism. The tourism related programs at
universities should arrange suitable curricula, course design, teaching,
and other educational activities to f
a
c
i
l
i
t
a
t
es
t
u
de
n
t
s
learning, passion,
and self-identification.
(b) Universities should continue to promote an alliance with international
tourist hotels. Through further collaboration, it is expected to attain more
concrete outcomes such as curricula meetings, understanding the
demands of hotels, more h
ot
e
l
s
practitioners teaching at universities,
and greater opportunities for practical training.
(3) Suggestions for the authorities concerned
(a) The authorities concerned should make some plans to train managers in
the aspects of effective leadership. Because the products and services
provided by international tourist hotels depend on good performance
from all members, from CEOs to lower supervisors, effective leadership
plays a critical role. Roper et al. (1999) noted that in the hospitality
industry, the source of the workforce tends to be international. In order
to interact adequately with employees from different countries, managers
need to adopt more effective leadership.
(b) The authorities concerned should make comprehensive plans to assist
vocational high school and technological college teachers to improve
their skill and gain work experience in international tourist hotels so that
their teaching quality and teaching material will be enhanced.
(4) Suggestions for further research
(a) For further research, it is suggested to bring the employees of business,
leisure, and supporting departments into the sample. Furthermore,
top-level managers and managers can be interviewed to ascertain their
perceptions regarding the leadership style and organizational
commitment. The results of the study of the upper-level managers
perceptions could profitably be compared with the findings of this study.
(b) Considering sampling, the stratified sampling by the operating style in
international tourist hotels is suggested for further study. It can then be
used to compare the differences in the leadership style and organization
among various operating styles in terms of individual operations, local
hotel chains, and international hotel chains.

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Dr. Tain-Fung Wu is currently a Professor of

Business Administration at Asia University. Professor Wu
holds a Master of Industrial Science from Truman
University, and a Ph. D. in PAVTE from the University of
Missouri-Columbia, USA. He undertakes research,
teaching and consultancy relating to Human Resource
Management and Operation Management, especially in
Industrial Competitiveness Analysis, and has published
many papers in this field. In his career, Professor Wu
received a National Outstanding Youth Award (ROC), a
Teaching Excellence Award, and research grants from
National Science Council. Professor Wu has published more than 150 articles and
contributed to various international conferences. His current research interests
include human resource management, technical/vocational training, operational
management, strategic management, and competitive advantage.

Mei-Hui Tsai received the B.S. degree in food &

beverage management of home economics from Fu Jen
University, Taipei, Taiwan in 1983, and the M.S. degree in
business administration from Asia University, Taichung,
Taiwan in 2006.
Mi
s
sTs
a
i

sr
e
s
e
a
r
c
hi
nt
e
r
e
s
t
si
n
c
l
u
def
oodn
u
t
r
i
t
i
on
,
food and beverage management, and hospitality
management.

451

T. F. Wu et al. / Asian Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 434-452, 2006

Dr. Yeh-Hsun Fey is an Associate Professor in the

Department of Business Administration at Ling Tung
University, Taiwan. He received Ph.D. from Ohio
University and M.Sc. from North Carolina State
University, U.S.A. respectively. Dr Fey
s primary research
areas are strategic management, institutional efficiency,
educational administration, and educational evaluation.

Dr. Robert T. Y. Wu is currently a Professor of

Hotel Management at Jinwen University of Science and
Technology in Taiwan, where he teaches classes in event
management, human resource management, and research
method. His areas of experitse are event management and
human resource development. He is a frequent conference
presenter for some prestigious international associations
including Association for Career and Technical Education,
International Congress for School Effectiveness and
Improvement, and APac CHRIE and APTA.

452