The relationship of knowledge management, organizational capabilities and hotel performance: the moderating effect of workplace spirituality / Nor Shahrul Nizam Muhamad Nor

Knowledge management has always been an important factor to organizations to sustain competitive advantages. It has become the main focus area for researchers with various perspectives and contexts. Thus, the researcher has tried to investigate which factor of knowledge management influences performance as well as organizational capabilities that mediate the relationship between knowledge management and hotel performance. This study has also attempted to answer one part of the previous researchers’ suggestions. The researcher believed that workplace spirituality is an encouragement for implementation of knowledge management and other organizational capabilities in the organizations for better performance. This research focusses on hotel industry in Malaysia as part of the hospitality and tourism industry that contributes to the nation’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The unit of analysis was the organization and top management from three, four and five-star hotel nationwide representing their organizations. An e-survey was conducted to collect the data. A total of 269 questionnaires were distributed and 148 questionnaires were returned and used for further data analysis. Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 23 and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS- SEM) were used to analyze the data. The findings of study revealed that knowledge management and organizational capabilities have positively direct influence on endogenous variable. Organizational capabilities have positively shown to mediate between knowledge management and hotel performance. The result also showed that workplace spirituality plays a moderating role in the relationship between knowledge management and organizational capabilities. In addition, this study has also highlighted the contributions to theory, literature and practice.