The weakest link? Product market strategies, skill and pay in the hotel industry

Caroline Lloyd, Chris Warhurst and Eli Dutton
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Caroline Lloyd: Cardiff University, UK
Chris Warhurst: University of Sydney, Australia
Eli Dutton: University of Strathclyde, UK

Work, Employment & Society, 2013, vol. 27, issue 2, 254-271

Abstract: There is a widely held assumption that product market strategies, skill and pay are linked. Supportive evidence is typically drawn from manufacturing and using quantitative analyses. Emergent research of the link in services is ambivalent and has methodological limitations. This article addresses this weakness. It compares the skills and pay of room attendants in upper and mid-market hotels using qualitative research. It finds that the link is weak, even decoupled. The findings suggest a reconceptualization is needed of the link in services and that interventions other than product market re-positioning are needed to deliver higher skills and better pay.

Keywords: hotels; low wage work; pay; product market strategies; skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:27:y:2013:i:2:p:254-271

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