Investigating customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (CO-OCB) of frontline employees in the hospital industry

Abstract

Customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (CO-OCB) is critical for service quality in the hospitality sector. This study investigates the antecedents of CO-OCB among frontline hotel employees in Vietnam through the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) framework. Specifically, it examines the direct effects of job demands and job resources, and their indirect effects via job stress and work engagement. A mixed-method, two-phase design was adopted. The preliminary phase included expert discussions with ten hotel managers in Da Nang to adapt measurement scales, followed by a pilot survey (N = 42). The main survey, conducted from March to May 2024, involved 288 frontline employees using online and face-to-face questionnaires. Data were analyzed using PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 4.1.0.0. Result shows that job demands positively affect job stress but have no significant effect on work engagement. Job resources significantly reduce job stress and enhance work engagement. Work engagement positively predicts CO-OCB, whereas job stress has no direct impact. Mediation analysis confirms that job resources indirectly promote CO-OCB through work engagement, while job stress is not a significant mediator. These findings enrich the understanding of CO-OCB drivers in emerging hospitality markets and provide practical implications for human resource strategies to foster employee engagement and service excellent. Research purpose: This study aims to propose and evaluate a research model to determine the influence of job demands and job resources on job stress, work engagement, and organizational citizenship behavior among frontline employees in the hotel industry. Research motivation: This study investigates Customer-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior (CO-OCB) among frontline employees in the hotel industry—a sector of high importance yet under-researched in Vietnam. While CO-OCB is considered a key factor influencing service quality and customer loyalty (Dimitriades, 2007), most domestic studies focus primarily on work motivation, satisfaction, or employee engagement, without exploring behaviors that go beyond formal job requirements in high-interaction service environments like hotels. Due to the unique characteristics of the hotel industry, such as service orientation, intangibility, simultaneity of production and consumption, and heterogeneity, CO-OCB plays a crucial role (Ma et al., 2013; Chen, 2016). Previous studies have largely focused on external factors influencing OCB, neglecting internal factors like work stress and job engagement that drive employees to perform CO-OCB. Research design, approach, and method: The research utilizes a mixed-methods approach, combining online and paper-based surveys with a 5-point Likert scale to collect data from hotel employees in Vietnam. A pre-test with expert evaluation and a preliminary study ensured the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4.0 software. Main findings: The result findings indicated that the proposed research model was consistent with the empirical data. Among the seven proposed hypotheses, four were supported while three were not statistically significant. Job resources were found to have a direct impact on work engagement and indirectly promote CO-OCB among frontline employees. In contrast, the direct relationship between job demands and work engagement, as well as the indirect effect of job demands on CO-OCB, were not statistically significant in this study, although job demands did have a direct influence on job stress among frontline hotel employees. Practical/managerial implications: The practical contributions of this study are related to how managers and frontline employees can reduce work stress, enhance work engagement, and promote customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (CO-OCB)