Journal of Hotel and Business Management
Open Access

Abstract

The Impact of Employee Uniforms on Job Satisfaction in the Hospitality Industry

Guenther E. Karch and Mike Peters

Uniforms play a major role during any service encounter and can impact stakeholder experience. The authors review current literature in the field of uniform provision in the hotel industry and present a comparative study from two different cultural settings: Hong Kong SAR, China and Tyrol, Austria. The research gathered quantitative data from those that wear business attire or uniforms and are engaged in the provision of services and or products alike. The data presents six factors, which describe uniform wear influences on customer contact employees. The overall result shows, that in the three highest scores, contact staff considered their job pleasant; uniforms communicate to others that one belongs to the organization, and they were very satisfied with their current job. On the other spectrum, the lowest scores were collected for wearing a uniform towards improving the job satisfaction, and the lack of involved in uniform design process.