What does the Industry need to know about Chinese hospitality leadership?

Abstract

This study examines the hospitality leadership characteristics that are essential, as perceived by emerging hospitality leaders. Four focus group interviews were conducted in mainland China involving 29 middle level hotel managers. The respondents identified the backgrounds and leadership characteristics of a total of eight highly regarded hospitality leaders in contemporary China. The unique leadership characteristics that received comment are innovative and entrepreneurial. The analysis provides confirmation of earlier research—that Chinese hospitality leaders are transformational. Chinese cultural factors such as guanxi and collectivism have a certain impact on leadership. Finally, the findings reveal that the perceived future challenges for hospitality leaders relate to hotel brand building, recruitment of talent, enabling new technology and succession planning. The study concludes with recommendations for leadership development to capitalize on the growth of the industry.