1. Introduction
The number of foreign workers in the Republic of Korea has increased since the 1960s. As the growth of industries has rapidly increased, labor shortage has become a serious social problem [
1,
2]. The labor shortage results in low birth rate, high education level, and difficult and dangerous work avoidance in South Korea [
1]. For this reason, the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) introduced the foreign workforce quota to solve the labor shortage and balance human resource supply and demand for the affected industries [
1]. Legally employed foreign workers have become an important human resource, particularly for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) [
1,
2]. According to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) [
2], South Korea has approximately 2.14 million foreign workers from China (44.2%), Vietnam (10.1%), Thailand (8.9%), the United States (6.9%), and Uzbekistan (3.3%). However, other social problems related to foreign workers have emerged. Companies hiring foreign workers have reported negative aspects such as employee job stress, high turnover intention, conflicts between employees and owners, cultural differences, and communication problems [
3,
4].
In hospitality and tourism, employee service quality is one of the critical components for customer satisfaction and loyalty. The intangible service quality of employees can fulfill customer needs and desires and reduce the gap between customer expectations and service quality performance [
5,
6]. Furthermore, service quality can become a core competency and create a unique brand image that leads to strong competitiveness in hospitality and tourism [
7,
8,
9]. As companies in hospitality and tourism seek growth through attracting international tourists, diversifying the travel market, and facilitating international cooperation and exchange, managing a multicultural workforce is essential [
10,
11].
Given that most companies in hospitality and tourism are micro- and small-sized enterprises, many foreign workers are employed in this industry in South Korea. However, limited research has focused on foreign workers with the aim of understanding their work environment, creating a sustainable workplace, and facilitating quality of service for customers. As a result, research on leadership and work environment for foreign workers and employees with different cultural backgrounds, and the creation of a sustainable work environment is necessary [
4,
12]. The present study focuses on the restaurant industry, which is service intensive. The success of restaurants mainly depends on the efficiency of human resource management and employee understanding of organizational operations and intangible service delivery [
6,
13,
14].
In this regard, the service climate can become a useful theoretical framework [
15,
16]. Perceived customer orientation, interaction with managers, and rewards and recognition in the workplace are closely associated with employee commitment and outstanding performance [
17]. Furthermore, understanding the mediating role of empowerment between service climate and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) expands the knowledge on how to create a better work environment for employees and achieve their high service quality for customer satisfaction and loyalty [
18,
19]. Although the relationships between critical factors and OCB, such as psychological attachment, commitment, and job satisfaction, have been explored [
20], identifying the important factors that are closely associated with OCB among employees, especially those with different cultural backgrounds, is necessary [
21].
Therefore, the purpose of this study examines the relationships among service climate, empowerment, and OCB among Vietnamese employees of restaurants in South Korea. The mediating role of empowerment between service climate and OCB is also examined. This study provides empirical evidence of employee perceptions of service climate and of the influence of service climate on employee empowerment and OCB for customer service delivery. In addition, this study expands the knowledge of foreign employees at restaurants and provides important theoretical and practical implications for creating a sustainable work environment and empowering employees who strive for a high quality of customer service in the context of the restaurant industry.
5. Discussion and Conclusions
5.1. Theoretical Implications
The present study focuses on the relationships between service climate, empowerment, and OCB among Vietnamese employees at restaurants in South Korea. This study provides empirical evidence that OCB among employees is enhanced not only by service climate, but also by empowerment. Service climate increases empowerment and enhances OCB. Regarding service climate, the results reveal three factors of service climate: customer orientation, managerial support, and work facilitation [
15,
16].
The present study demonstrates the mediating role of empowerment and suggest a critical factor related to service climate, thereby enriching the previous literature in hospitality and tourism [
26]. The empirical findings indicate that work facilitation is the most influential service climate that affects empowerment. However, two factors of managerial support and customer orientation are not statistically significant. Employees with rewards and recognition are likely to be empowered. Rewards and recognition can serve as an important signal for perceiving organizational benefits and valued actions among employees at restaurants.
The relationship between managerial support and empowerment is not statistically significant (β = 0.258, p = 0.072). This study rejects this hypothesis. However, the interpretation of this result might depend on the p-value criteria. Given the small number of studies on the relationship between the three constructs of service climate and empowerment, further research should examine the relationship between managerial support and empowerment.
One of the important findings is that customer orientation does not significantly influence empowerment, similar to its insignificant relationship with employee psychological factors such as commitment [
26,
29]. A possible reason for this is that customer orientation emphasizes standardized operational procedures and provides training programs for employees. Therefore, customer orientation would be effective when companies increase the efficiency of employees by enhancing their understanding of standardized organizational operations and service processes. However, these training programs may neither increase the sense of control nor facilitate empowerment among employees.
The results indicate that empowerment positively influences OCB, which is consistent with previous research [
13,
18,
33]. Employees that are empowered in their work role are likely to help others, be willing to show extra-role behavior for customers, and deliver excellent service to customers at restaurants. This study empirically demonstrates that highly empowered employees with different cultural backgrounds show OCB in the restaurant industry.
Furthermore, the results highlight the mediating role of empowerment in the context of restaurants and provide empirical evidence. The literature related to internal marketing and employee service quality for increasing customer satisfaction can be enriched. This study suggests that employees have multidimensional service climate factors. Employees’ service climate has previously been explored in luxury hotels and major companies. This study extends the Vietnamese employee service climate with respect to the restaurant industry and the empowerment associated with OCB.
5.2. Practical Implications
The findings of this study suggest important practical implications. One of the important findings is that empowerment is enhanced by work facilitation, indicating the need for rewards and recognition from managers to empower employees. For example, managers need to consider having events for their employees to provide tangible rewards and psychological recognitions for sharing information about employees’ valued service performance for customers. In addition, managers need to provide the desired benefits and work facilitation for their employees.
Work facilitation is essential to understanding the reason for employees’ willingness to perform extra-role tasks for customers. Matching rewards and recognition when developing employee performance evaluation programs and events can increase employee empowerment, because work facilitation is offered to employees who are devoted to excellent service delivery. To increase empowerment among frontline employees, restaurant owners and managers should appreciate employee contributions towards the provision of excellent service, as well as their autonomous decision making with respect to innovative service delivery. Moreover, the respondents in this study belonged to a relatively young age group, and managers should be aware of the differences between generational cohorts [
64].
However, managerial support does not strongly influence empowerment. Managers need to provide sufficient instructions for customer service and provide employees with opportunities to make their own decisions in order to provide a high quality of customer service. In this way, empowerment level among frontline employees can be increased. Restaurant managers need to develop effective human resource management strategies. Moreover, maintaining an autonomous atmosphere that allows employees to understand customer service and restaurant operations is essential.
Customer orientation shows a direct relationship with OCB. Managers need to provide training programs for employees and increase their understanding of customer orientation. For example, managers could consider recruiting Vietnamese employees who understand the organizational culture and are willing to learn customer orientation and the vision of the restaurant.
Finally, the results suggest that empowerment affects OCB. Employees reporting high levels of empowerment are likely to engage in extra-role behavior in order to provide better customer service. Employees display their OCB for customers. With respect to customer orientation, employees need to learn the visions and goals of their organization. Therefore, managers should seek effective ways to recruit highly qualified employees that are willing to learn customer orientation. Moreover, managers need to provide signals regarding their desired employee behaviors through various empowering events that increase OCB at restaurants.
5.3. Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research
This study provides important empirical evidence, but also has several limitations. First, this study collects data from Vietnamese workers in South Korea in the context of the restaurant industry. The results cannot be generalized, and the proposed model needs to be replicated in different contexts related to hospitality and tourism. Further research needs to carry out a cross cultural research among multicultural workforce groups, and should be conducted by using different methods (e.g., experimental research, qualitative research). Second, this study utilizes cross-sectional data and cannot capture the longitudinal effects of the service climate on empowerment and citizenship behavior. The longitudinal study of these relationships can be used for further investigation. Third, this study focuses on one dimension of empowerment. Future studies using multiple dimensions of empowerment could enrich the mediating role between service climate and citizenship behavior. Finally, this study does not have statistically significant results of a multigroup analysis (e.g., gender, part time and full time). Future research needs to examine the moderating role in the proposed model.