The Mediating Role of Organizational Agility on the Relationship between Environmental Uncertainty and Innovation in Hotels

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Sadat City University

2 Sinai High Institute for Tourism and Hotels, Ras Sidr

Abstract

Organizational agility leads to many positive outcomes for hotels, such as adapting to and surviving in a volatile, uncertain, and dynamic environment, increasing product or service quality, etc. In addition, agility has become essential for different types of innovation. As agility is of crucial importance for hotels, they must be aware of its effects. Thus, this study aimed at determining the degree of environmental uncertainty (EU) in hotels; assessing the agility and innovation in hotels; investigating how the EU influences innovation dimensions, and finally examining the effect of agility as a mediating variable on the relationship between EU and innovation in hotels. The research population was the department managers and supervisors in five-star hotels in Greater Cairo. The convenience sampling method was adopted to attain the objectives of this research. A total of 480 questionnaire forms were handed out to the respondents. The questionnaires valid for analysis were 420, with a response rate of 87.5 percent. To analyze these forms, descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were used. The main results revealed that the EU has a positive effect on the four dimensions of hotel innovation (i.e., product innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation, and marketing innovation). Additionally, the results showed that organizational agility fully mediates the impact of the EU on the four dimensions of hotel innovation. Hence, it was recommended that hotels should continue with the best practices of organizational agility.

Keywords