The effects of self-awareness on perceptions of leadership effectiveness in the hospitality industry: A cross cultural investigation

The nature of the hospitality industry requires leaders to effectively interact with both clients and their subordinates. Hospitality leaders may need to be emotionally intelligent or self-aware in order to be perceived as effective leaders. This study examines whether self-awareness, one important facet of emotional intelligence relates to perceptions of leadership effectiveness for hospitality leaders taking cultural context into consideration (e.g., uncertainty avoidance, performance orientation, and in-group collectivism). A total of 696 managers at an international organization in the hospitality sector were surveyed and each selected up to 3–5 other individuals to complete a description of their leadership styles of thinking and behaving. Results indicate that self-awareness resulted in increased perceptions of leader effectiveness in all but one of the cultural conditions of this research, even when the quality of the work relationship between leader and others was first taken into account.