Purpose Drawing on the theories of servant leadership and upper echelons, this paper aims to highlight the mechanisms through which CEO servant leadership enhances firm innovativeness in hotels. This study aims to test a multiple mediation model by considering the mediating role of encouragement of participation (EoPART) – a high-performance human resources (HR) practice – and employees’ voice (EVOICE) in sequence. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from HR managers of 34 hotels in the hospitality industry in Spain, which represents an important international tourist destination. Two methods of rigorous data analysis were used (partial least squares [PLS], structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis [fs/QCA]), which enabled robust findings to be produced with minimal sample size requirements. Findings CEO servant leadership had a positive indirect effect on firm innovativeness in hotels, via the sequential application of EoPART and EVOICE. Research limitations/implications The findings provide new HR-related insights regarding the encouragement of firm innovativeness in hotels: CEOs can boost innovativeness in their hotels through the development of EoPART systems, which in turn favor EVOICE. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to analyze whether CEO servant leadership has an impact on innovativeness in hotels. Moreover, this study is the first to show the internal mechanisms (EoPART, EVOICE) through which CEO servant leadership encourages hotel innovativeness.
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