The impact of chefs' moral maturity on service performance in the hospitality sector

İFLAZOĞLU N., Tahmaz G. S., Gulec H., AKSOY M.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT, cilt.140, 2027 (SSCI, Scopus)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 140
  • Basım Tarihi: 2027
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2026.104868
  • Dergi Adı: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Hospitality & Tourism Complete, Hospitality & Tourism Index, Psycinfo
  • Hatay Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This study examines the relationship between moral maturity and service performance among chefs in the hospitality sector. While moral maturity-MM is considered an important personal characteristic reflecting individuals' ethical reasoning and value-based decision-making processes, service performance is evaluated through concrete elements such as tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, which are dimensions of SERVPERF. Using quantitative, correlational research design, data were collected from 371 chefs in T & uuml;rkiye and analyzed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, reliability tests, and structural equation modeling-SEM. The structural model showed acceptable fit. The results indicated that moral maturity is moderately and positively associated with employee-perceived service performance (SERVPERF) and explained 20.8% of its variance. All five SERVPERF dimensions loaded significantly onto the higher-order construct. These findings highlight moral maturity as a meaningful factor associated with employees' perceptions of service performance, offering both theoretical insights and managerial implications to encourage the provision of ethically and emotionally appealing services in the hospitality sector. Future research should adopt longitudinal or cross-cultural approaches and examine mediating mechanisms such as moral self-efficacy and ethical climate, to better understand how moral maturity translates into enhanced SERVPERF in hospitality contexts.