Critical Reading Worksheet: Hospitality Concepts and Context (HOH551)

This document presents a comprehensive solution to a critical reading worksheet focused on hospitality concepts and context. The worksheet covers several key articles, including Lashley's work on the social sciences of hospitality, exploring domains such as social, private, and commercial aspects, and the evolution of hospitality obligations. It also delves into O'Connor's views on 'natural hospitableness' in hospitality workers. The solution analyzes articles on Chinese tourists' perceptions of service quality in hotels, discussing themes and conflicting information across different studies, and the application of various research methodologies such as SERVQUAL and case studies. Additionally, it examines gender differences in the hospitality industry, exploring service orientation, job satisfaction, and potential biases in research findings. Finally, it addresses the broader context of the hospitality industry, including Slattery's perspectives on its core purpose and the significance of social science within the field.

Hospitality Concepts and Context

One: Studying Hospitality: Insights from Social Sciences
1. The correct referencing for the article in APA 6 format is :
Lashley, C. (2008). Studying Hospitality: Insights from Social Sciences1. Scandinavian Journal
Of Hospitality And Tourism, 8(1), 69-84. doi: 10.1080/15022250701880745
2. The in-text citation for the article is (Lashley, 2008).
3. A quote used in the article is:
“The problem is that many hospitality and tourism operators give priority to tangible aspects of
the customer offer. The quality of the food, facilities and comfort of the room, the range and
quality of the drinks on offer, etc., but fail to see that it is the quality of the employee
performance which creates guest emotional experience that impacts upon long-term customer
satisfaction and loyalty” (Lashley, 2008).
4. According to Lashley (2008), the three domains of hospitality are social, private and
commercial. Social hospitality considers the impact of social forces, consumption practices and
cultural norms. It includes the safety and well-being of the guests. Commercial hospitality refers
to the profit-making provision and consumption of services such as accommodation and food
facilities.
5. Lashley (2008) argues that the hospitality to strangers has changed over time because the
society is under threat. As the benefits and costs are borne by the entire society unevenly, the
increasing contact with the strangers may affect the hospitality obligations.

6. A few unfamiliar words are extolled, woe-betide and McDonalidization. The meaning of
extolled is to praise enthusiastically. Woe betide means the happening of something negative or
uncertain. McDonalidization is a term proposed by George Ritzer that means the process by
which fast-food chains are dominating the significant part of society.
Two: Towards a new interpretation of “hospitality”
1. The aim of this article is to discover the genuine meaning of hospitality. As the world is
suffering from hostility and unfriendliness, the article aims to discover whether or not hospitality
can be steered in the right direction in future.
2. Historically, it has been found that hostility shapes hospitality. The guests were often the
enemies or potential enemies of their host. Also, there were times when the guest was a potential
threat. In ancient times, hospitality involved welcoming the stranger ad offering him the basic
necessities like food, safety and shelter. Feuding was quite common in the pastoralist societies of
North Africa. Therefore, the networks of supporting relations gave rise to hospitality.
3. Yes, I believe in the principal that the intrinsic part of being a host is to have regard or
consideration for the ‘sacred nature’ of the guest. It is because a guest brings honour and status to
the host. Hospitality is considered virtue as when a person is hospitable, he brings in positive
energy conveying that the universe is a friendly place. Hospitality is a way of peace in the hostile
world.
4. According to O’Connor, hospitality workers must have ‘natural hospitableness’ as it is more
believable. Natural hospitableness is not something that can be developed over time. There has
been evidence that the ancestors used to disregard the hospitable gestures if they found it unjust.

A customer in the hospitality industry can judge the level of natural hospitableness which may
create paranoia. Therefore, with natural hospitableness the customers would not leave the
establishment with a negative mindset.
5. A few new words are palaeontology and feuding. Palaeontology refers to the study of fossils
and existence of prehistoric creatures. Feuding means to have a clash or dispute.
Three: Multiple Readings
1. The reference of the chosen article is:
Nadji, C., Ping, Y., & Sebata, E. (2018). Chinese Tourists’ Perceptions of Service Quality in
West African Hotels: A Case Study of Senegal. Journal of China Tourism
Research, 14(1), 61-70.
2. The key points from the chosen article is that Chinese tourists perceive the service quality in
hotels depending on cleanliness of staff, customer care services, food quality, physical
environment and quality of facilities. It was also found that the perceptions of clients keeps
changing and the hotels need to provide exceptional quality services.
3. The common themes found across all articles is the perception of Chinese customers in the
hospitality industry. The Chinese tourist perception and culture is studied across the three
articles.
4. The conflicting information found in the articles is that the perceptions of hospitality in UK,
Australia and West Africa are different. The perception of hospitableness differs in the three
countries.

5. Wang, Royo Vela and Tyler (2008) adopts the SERVQUAL questionnaire to measure service
quality attributes. Further, quantitative data analysis was done using t-test and Mann-Whitney
test. Nadji, Ping and Sebata (2018) followed the case-study qualitatitive approach for examining
customer satisfaction. Fredline and Jin (2017) conducted an exploratory study where a Likert-
scale questionnaire was prepared to measure attractiveness of Australian events. A range of
quantitative analyses such as descriptive analysis, ANOVA and cluster analysis was used for
analysing data.
Four: Why should gender differences in hospitality really matter? A study of personnel’s
service orientation and job satisfaction in hotels
1. The study conducted by Petrovic et al. (2014) used quantitative tools for the research. A 5-
point Likert-scale questionnaire was prepared for assessing job satisfaction for a sample size of
112 employees.
2. The main finding of the research is that organizational support is of greater importance to men
in creating job satisfaction as they value service procedures more. For women, customer focus is
of greater importance as they build relationship with the guests.
3. I believe in these findings as male and female behave differently to situations, work
environment and their level of job satisfaction depends on it.
4. There are signs of bias in the text as the research by Rafaeli (1989) claims that women need
extra social approval. It is claimed that women tend to behave in a pleasant fashion.
5. There is bias in the article as the sample size is limited to Novi Sad Hotels in Serbia with a
restricted geographical location. Also, the article is restricted to quantitative analysis where the

feelings and behaviour pattern of the employees are not known in details. Therefore, the reasons
behind their judgment are not known.
6. Service orientation refers to the ability to participate in meeting the needs of others. Job
orientation refers to the process of making an employee familiar with the work environment.
Five: Finding the Hospitality Industry
1. According to Slattery (2002), the main purpose of the article is to understand the hospitality
industry and the factors that degrade hospitality. The article also aims to introduce necessary
context of the hospitality industry.
2. Slattery (2002) argues that the concept of hospitality does not just revolve around the three
domains of hospitality- private, social and domestic. Slattery argues that Lashley and Selwyn
arguments are deprived of power and it needs to be developed according to 21st century. Slattery
also argues that the relationship between guests and hosts is economic rather than philanthropic.
3. Out of the two readings, I am more persuaded by the article Theorizing Hospitality as it fills
the research gap by adding a page of Intellectual Hospitality. Different themes of hospitality are
discussed by Lynch et al. (2011) as social control, social and economic exchange, and as a
metaphor.
4. According to Selwyn, hospitality is meant to promote exchange of goods and services. I agree
with the relevance of guests and hosts exchanging the same moral universe. I believe that social
science is necessary in the hospitality industry. Social sciences must be applied in hotels, bars
and restaurants for interpreting hospitality events.