The U-shaped relationship between intellectual capital and hotel performance. The moderating effect of managerial gender

ABSTRACT

The aim of this research is to explore the intellectual capital in the hotel industry paying particular attention to the gender of the manager. A model is proposed that includes the determinants of the intellectual capital of hotels and the moderating effect of the general manager's gender. Our findings show the positive influence of turbulent environments and dynamic capabilities on intellectual capital development. The subsequent relationship between intellectual capital and hotel performance is U-shaped rather than linear. Furthermore, this relationship is more likely to be positive in hotels managed by women, due to their ability to enhance human, social and organizational capital. The analysis technique used is Partial Least Squares based on variance (PLS-SEM) on a sample of Spanish hotels in 2020.

KEYWORDS:

• Intellectual capital
• hotel performance
• dynamic capabilities
• women managers
• tourism industry
• U-shaped relationship

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In Figure 3, it is Gender Manager at + 1 SD.