Date of Award

4-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Department

Bisk College of Business

First Advisor

Robert Schaller

Second Advisor

Radhika Krishnamurthy

Third Advisor

Penny Vassar

Fourth Advisor

Theodore Richardson

Abstract

The hospitality industry of the United States continues to thrive and grow each year with millions of tourists and business visitors. The exceptional quality of guest services that hospitality organizations provide makes the U.S. by far the top world destination for international travelers. In 2015, the number one tourist destination in the United States was Orlando, Florida. Sixty-six million visitors were hosted in this area. Approximately thirty percent of the total Orlando inventory was accounted for in the Lake Buena Vista district, which is located within the Disney World submarket. The firm’s service-profit chain model suggests that satisfied employees increase the value of services that fulfill the needs of guests and exceed their expectations. Thus, satisfied customers would, in turn, lead to improved business performance, such as revenue and profitability growth. Previous research suggests that employing the concept of organizational alignment enables hospitality

organizations to improve employee job satisfaction, increase guest satisfaction and company performance. This research examines the impact of EB-5 owners on employee job satisfaction and guest satisfaction in a hospitality organization. Due to a distinct ownership type, the EB-5 hotels are expected to perform differently than non-EB-5 hotels. Because more and more hospitality organizations are financed by EB-5 immigrant investors, the main area of interest is to learn how this type of ownership may influence hotel performance. The purpose of this dissertation is to advance additional research in the field by exploring the phenomenon of EB-5 hotel ownership and to develop recommendations for practitioners to improve the performance of their organizations. More specifically, through the prism of organizational alignment, the researcher examined how EB-5 ownership affects employee job satisfaction and retention and, ultimately, shapes the hospitality firm’s guest satisfaction and performance. A case study method, with 47 survey participants and five interview participants, was employed to answer the research questions, test a proposition, and provide valuable insight into one EB-5 hospitality firm in Orlando, Florida.

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