EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING AND SERVICE QUALITY IN CHINA'S HOTELS WITH COMMITMENT AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

Abstract

This study examines the relationships among employee well-being, organisational commitment, ethical leadership, and service quality in China‘s hotel industry. Drawing upon Social Exchange Theory and the Job Demands-Resources Model, survey data were collected from frontline hotel employees across China and analysed using structural equation modelling. The results indicate that employee well-being significantly and positively affects service quality. Organisational commitment partially mediates this relationship, suggesting that well-being enhances service quality both directly and through increased employee commitment. Ethical leadership significantly moderates the well-being-commitment relationship, with the positive effect being strongest when employees perceive their supervisors as ethical. The moderated mediation analysis confirms that the indirect effect of employee well-being on service quality through organisational commitment is conditional on the level of ethical leadership. These findings contribute to hospitality literature by integrating these constructs within a single empirical model and providing practical guidance for hotel managers on designing well-being programmes and developing ethical leadership competencies to achieve sustainable service excellence.