Globalization and free trade continue to change the business
environment and increase global competition. In today’s business
environment, to stay competitive and deliver satisfactory financial
returns to the owners and shareholders, managers depend heavily
on how effectively they can cope with continuous and unexpected
changes. The ability to respond quickly and effectively (time-based
competition) and to satisfy customer needs has become a defining
characteristic of competitiveness and of success for many
companies (Gursoy and Swanger, 2007). Therefore, customer
satisfaction has been one of the most frequently examined topics in
hospitality tourism literature. Findings of previous studies suggest
that employees are likely to play a significant role on customer
satisfaction (Spinelli and Canavos, 2000; Wu, 2007). Since most
hospitality and tourism products are heterogeneous and inseparable hospitality and tourism employees tend to be more involved
with hospitality service offerings. Their involvement and interaction
with customers, therefore, tend to play a significant role in
quality perceptions and customer satisfaction due to the fact that
hospitality and tourism products are often highly complex and
presents a summation of interaction, exchange and performance
between employees and customers (Bitner et al., 1990).