Elucidating the ‘dark side’ and unintended consequences of frontline worker high employee engagement practices in the hospitality sector

Barry, S, Collins, H ORCID: 0000-0001-9380-9025, D’harboullé, C and Jolliffe, P (2023) Elucidating the ‘dark side’ and unintended consequences of frontline worker high employee engagement practices in the hospitality sector. In: University Forum for Human Resource Development Conference Proceedings . (University Forum for Human Resource Development Conference, 7th - 9th June 2023, Dublin).

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Abstract

While there has been a wealth of studies on Employee Engagement (EE) within HRM, a paucity of research exists about extreme EE and its potential for unintended consequences and darker side. The view of EE as positive often goes unchallenged, reproducing an engagement/disengagement binary that posits engagement as a normative standard by which other behaviours are found wanting. Hospitality front line workers (FLWs’) participated in both focus groups and semi- structured interviews, with a sample of 32. This paper challenges the extreme EE that pervades hospitality and examines EE’s unintended consequences and impact on employees in and beyond work, including upon team members, home life and the organisation. Drawing on dynamic systems theory and Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory, we present a holistic framework that focuses on the interconnected ripple effects of extreme EE and argue that a focus on unintended consequences can disrupt unhelpful EE initiatives and lead to more authentic and sustainable engagement. Globally, the hospitality sector employs over 334 million people. This study underscores the futility of attempts to pursue extreme EE and calls for increased research with FLWs’ to uncover more responsible, sustainable responses to engagement.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Divisions:	Business and Management (from Sep 19) Leadership and Organisational Development (from Sep 19)
Publisher:	https://ufhrd.co.uk/resources/
Date of acceptance:	15 March 2023
Date of first compliant Open Access:	16 October 2025
Date Deposited:	03 Oct 2023 11:28
Last Modified:	16 Oct 2025 13:14
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/20407

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