BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHỆ ĐỒNG NAI BÀI BÁO ĐĂNG TRONG TẠP CHÍ QUỐC TẾ THUỘC DANH MỤC ISI JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT ISSN: 1447-6770 (Print); 1839-5260 (Online), SSCI Impact Factor: 5.959 (2020) Published online: 27 August 2021 Research Article: HOW CAN FRONTLINE MANAGERS’ CREATIVITY IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY BE ENHANCED? EVIDENCE FROM AN EMERGING COUNTRY Vo-Thanh Tan, Tourism Department, Economics – Management Faculty, Dong Nai Technology University, Dong Nai, Vietnam Địa tra cứu báo: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S144767702100139X Địa tải báo: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.08.018 Đồng Nai - Năm 2021 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 48 (2021) 593–603 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhtm How can frontline managers’ creativity in the hospitality industry be enhanced? Evidence from an emerging country Van Thac Dang a, Mai Nguyen Lisovich b, Tan Vo-Thanh c, Jianming Wang d, *, Ninh Nguyen e a Department of Business Administration, Business School, Shantou University, Guangdong, China Faculty of Business Administration, Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam c Department of Tourism Management, Dong Nai Technology University, Bien Hoa, Viet Nam d School of Business Administration, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics, Hangzhou, China e Charles Darwin University, Asia Pacific College of Business and Law, Darwin City, Australia b A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Keywords: Workplace learning Knowledge sharing Cognitive flexibility Creativity Hotel On the basis of social cognitive theory, social interaction theory, and cognitive flexibility theory, this study investigates the relationship between workplace learning and frontline managers’ creativity in the hospitality industry, with the mediating roles of knowledge sharing and cognitive flexibility This study uses structural equation modeling to test hypotheses using a three-wave time-lagged sample data of 307 frontline managers in the hospitality industry in Vietnam Results show that workplace learning is positively related to frontline managers’ creativity Furthermore, knowledge sharing has a positive mediating effect in the relationship be tween workplace learning and frontline managers’ creativity In addition, cognitive flexibility positively medi ates the relationship between workplace learning and frontline managers’ creativity Cognitive flexibility also positively mediates the relationship between knowledge sharing and frontline managers’ creativity These findings provide implications for both academics and practitioners in the hospitality industry regarding enhancing frontline managers’ creativity through workplace learning, knowledge sharing, and cognitive flexibility Introduction The hospitality industry often requires a high level of creativity and innovation (Romero & Tejada, 2020) One of the competitive advan tages of hospitality companies is rooted in creativity (Kitsios & Grigor oudis, 2020), because creativity helps hospitality companies improve service quality that meets customer demands (Romero & Tejada, 2020) Frontline managers in a hospitality company are people who are directly responsible for managing, supervising, and training frontline employees Frontline managers also need to understand the job of all frontline employees and the whole service process of a hospitality company (Lee, Townsend, & Wilkinson, 2020) For example, a frontline manager may often deal with customer complaints, and hence understand customers’ problems better than other types of managers in their company He/she may also understand what is wrong with service process that cannot meet customer demands In this case, if a frontline manager has a new idea to improve frontline employees’ skills and service process, service quality of a hospitality company can be improved to meet customer demands (Nasution & Mavondo, 2008) Therefore, frontline managers’ creativity could help frontline employees better accomplish their jobs, satisfy customer demand, and boost hospitality company’s competi tiveness (Romero & Tejada, 2020) Although frontline managers’ creativity is very important to a hos pitality company (Baradarani & Kilic, 2018), to our best knowledge, very few studies have determined frontline managers’ creativity in the hospitality industry For example, in reviewing the hospitality literature, Hon and Lui (2016) and Kitsios and Grigoroudis (2020) concluded that most of prior studies have mainly focused on frontline employees’ creativity and service innovation The possible reason is that frontline employees are people who often directly interact with customers; their creativity has a direct impact on improving customer’s experience (Kitsios & Grigoroudis, 2020) However, given the important role of frontline managers’ creativity in improving frontline employees’ job performance and service quality (Romero & Tejada, 2020), it is worthy * Corresponding author E-mail addresses: wshdang@stu.edu.cn (V.T Dang), mai.nq@vlu.edu.vn (M.N Lisovich), vothanht@excelia-group.com (T Vo-Thanh), sjwjm@zufe.edu.cn (J Wang), ninh.nguyen@cdu.edu.au (N Nguyen) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.08.018 Received 15 April 2021; Received in revised form August 2021; Accepted 21 August 2021 Available online 27 August 2021 1447-6770/© 2021 The Authors V.T Dang et al Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 48 (2021) 593–603 to determine frontline mangers’ creativity in the hospitality industry In the hospitality industry, frontline managers need to possess knowledge, skills, and experiences on both micro and marco level (Wong & Pang, 2003) On a micro level, an individual frontline manager need to have necessary knowledge and skills to perform a specific job before ăseoglu et al., 2020) On a he/she is promoted to a manager position (Ko macro level, an individual frontline manager need to have knowledge and understanding of all job of each frontline employee and the whole service process of a hospitality company, because he/she is responsible for managing, supervising, and training all frontline employees ¨seoglu et al., 2020) In order to possess knowledge, skills, and ex (Ko periences at both micro and macro levels, frontline managers need to be trained and educated in their workplace (Theodosiou et al., 2012) In this case, workplace learning provides necessary knowledge, skills, and experiences for frontline managers to succeed in their job position (Kellner et al., 2016) Furthermore, when frontline managers learn rich knowledge and skills from different training and learning programs, they tend to be more creative in their work (Cohen, 2013) Therefore, workplace learning may enhance frontline managers’ creativity Furthermore, knowledge sharing is identified as an important factor that contributes to service innovation in the hospitality industry (Chen & Cheng, 2012) A frontline manager often has to work directly with both customers and frontline employees He/she needs to be more creatitive to fulfill high demand from customers and complex requirements from frontline employees (Yang, 2010) Advanced knowledge from sharing activities in the workplace may increase frontline managers’ creativity to improve service quality and meet high demand from customers (Chen & Cheng, 2012; Swanson et al., 2020) Thus, knowledge sharing may play an important role in affecting frontline managers’ creativity In addition, the work of frontline managers in the hospitality in dustry often requires high flexibility (Baradarani & Kilic, 2018) Unex pected events and constantly changing demand of customers often require quick responses from frontline managers Specifically, frontline managers need to think and deal flexibly with different perspectives to solve problems (Dajani & Uddin, 2015) In other words, cognitive flex ibility is an important factor that helps frontline managers deal with complex problems in work environment (Theodosiou et al., 2012) Cognitive flexibility may play a role in affecting frontline managers’ creativity, because it helps to enhance frontline managers’ ability to think and act flexibly (Ou et al., 2018) Given the aforementioned, this study aims at investigating the rela tionship between workplace learning and frontline managers’ creativity in the hospitality industry, with the mediating roles of knowledge sharing and cognitive flexibility This study will contribute to the cur rent literature in several ways First, anchored on social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986; Miller & Dollard, 1941), this study sheds a new light on the issue of frontline managers’ creativity in the hospitality industry Second, drawing on the theoretical foundation of social interaction theory (Bales, 2000; Turner, 1988), this study infers and helps clarify the mediating mechanism of knowledge sharing in the link between work place learning and frontline managers’ creativity Third, based on cognitive flexibility theory (Spiro et al., 1987, 1988), this study enriches current knowledge about the mediating role of cognitive flexibility in the effects of workplace learning and knowledge sharing on frontline managers’ creativity Finally, this study’s findings provide valuable implications for developing frontline managers’ creativity through enhancing workplace learning, knowledge sharing, and cognitive flexibility understanding through sensation and thinking process (Bandura, 1986; Miller & Dollard, 1941) Specifically, people observe and receive in formation from the external environment, which is turned into new knowledge through cognitive processes, in which people’s brain works to comprehend and memorize the information (Solomon, 2018; Ten nyson, 1990) Consequently, people may apply what they have learned to solve problems in current and future situations (Tennyson, 1990), as well as increase their work performance (Sternberg & Zhang, 2014) SCT has been successfully used to explain learning behavior and its outcomes in the fields of psychology, organizational management, and education (Solomon, 2019) Hence, SCT informed this study to explain the rela tionship between workplace learning and frontline managers’ creativity SIT refers to the interaction among people in a society where people learn and form attitudes and behavior through social interaction process (Bales, 2000; Turner, 1988) In a social context, people can learn knowledge, skills, and experiences because people obtain and integrate information through communication and interaction (Turner, 1988) SIT has been widely used to explain leaning and sharing behavior in physical and virtual environments (Dang, 2021) The present study therefore based on SIT to investigate the mediating mechanism of knowledge sharing in the relationship between workplace learning and frontline managers’ creativity CFT was first proposed by Spiro et al (1987, 1988) to clarify the role of cognitive process in affecting the success of advanced knowledge transfer in problem solving and decision making Essentially, cognitive flexibility triggers individuals to switch between different perspectives and strategies, which allow them to effectively process information and deeply understand different concepts (Spiro et al., 1988) Furthermore, cognitive flexibility works to break cognitive persistence and make in dividuals sensitive to alternatives (Eslinger & Grattan, 1993) Through a process of flexible adaptation and internal state change, cognitive flex ibility helps individuals obtain advanced knowledge and transfer it to comprehend and solve problems (Ritter et al., 2012) Thus, the current study used CFT to infer the mediating role of cognitive flexibility in the link between workplace learning and frontline managers’ creativity, and that between knowledge sharing and frontline managers’ creativity 2.2 Workplace learning and individual creativity 2.2.1 Workplace learning Workplace learning is defined as “the processes and outcomes of learning that individual employees and groups of employees undertake under the auspices of a particular workplace” (Holliday & Retallick, 1995, p 7) Particularly, workplace learning refers to training, teaching, and learning activities that occur in the work environment where em ployees can obtain knowledge, skills, and experiences that enhance their productivity and work performance (Dang & Chou, 2019) Workplace learning is a multidimensional construct that includes three dimensions, namely, informal, incidental, and formal learning (Watkins & Marsick, 1992) Informal learning does not occur in the classroom or educational institution with formal educational programs It occurs in the workplace as a results of interaction, teamwork, or problem solving among em ployees and with supervisors (Kyndt et al., 2013) Incidental learning often occurs as a byproducts of interaction in the workplace or as a result of a trial-and-error process and organizational supports (Rowden, 2002) Formal learning refers to formal training programs that are officially designed for employees with formal supports from organizations and leaders (Rowden, 2002) These dimensions of workplace learning make employees learn new knowledge, skills, and experiences in their work environment effectively (Billett, 2020) In the hospitality industry, the concept of workplace learning is viewed as the training, teaching, and learning activities that occur in a service context in which frontline managers can obtain knowledge, skills, and experiences Similarly, workplace learning in the hospitality industry also includes formal, informal, and incidental learning activites in a service context Literature review and hypotheses 2.1 Theoretical background This study is underpinned by social cognitive theory (SCT), social interaction theory (SIT), and cognitive flexibility theory (CFT) SCT states that learning is a mental process of gaining knowledge and 594 V.T Dang et al Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 48 (2021) 593–603 2.2.2 Individual creativity Creativity is often viewed as an important source of firms’ innovation and competitive advantage (Gong et al., 2009) The difference between creativity and innovation has been discussed in piror literature (Gong et al., 2009) The former refers to the action of new idea generation whereas the latter refers to the convertion of new idea into an end product (Perry-Smith & Mannucci, 2015) At an individual level, crea tivity refers to “activities undertaken by individuals within an organi zation to enhance their capability for developing something, which is meaningful and novel within their work environment” (Bharadwaj & Menon, 2000, p 425) Individual creativity is often treated as a single construct in prior literature It reflects the use of knowledge and ability to generate useful and novel ideas (Gong et al., 2009) employees’ problem-solving capacity De Clercq and Pereira (2020) found a positive effect of knowledge sharing on employees’ creative behavior Lee, Malik, et al (2020) found a positive relationship between knowledge sharing and employee performance Poleacovschi et al (2017) reported a positive effect of knowledge sharing on employees’ time savings Salehi-Kordabadi and Zad-Doosti (2020) found that knowledge sharing among employees enhances team performance These studies have provided evidence for the important role of knowl edge sharing in affecting employee behavior and performance in an organization Thus, findings from these studies may provide basis to clarify that knowledge sharing is also important in the context of the hospitality industry, because it may help frontline managers obtain advanced knowledge and skills that are useful for their work (Chen & Cheng, 2012; Yang, 2010) 2.2.3 The relationship between workplace learning and creativity In a working environment, creativity is often viewed as a source of competitive advantage for organizations, because creativity creates new products and services that meet customer demands (Orfila-Sintes & Mattsson, 2009) However, creativity often requires the creation of new and useful ideas, and individuals are one of the most important sources of new idea generation (Armstrong et al., 2018) From formal learning, informal learning, and social interaction in the workplace, individuals can gain new knowledge and skills These knowledge and skills will help individuals prepare new abilities and use their new knowledge to generate ideas for innovation (Orfila-Sintes & Mattsson, 2009) For example, a formal learning program about service innovation with professional experts designed by a hospitality company may help in crease frontline managers’ new knowledge and motivate them toward service innovation (Vladimirov & Williams, 2018) Furthermore, an interaction with coworkers and customers may help frontline managers understand their customers and implement innovation in improving service process to satisfy customer needs (Enz & Siguaw, 2003) On the basis of SCT, when frontline managers participate in work place learning, they will obtain new knowledge and experiences through cognitive process Consequently, frontline managers may use their new knowledge and experience to engage in creative activities (Nooteboom, 2000) That is, mental processes help frontline managers obtain new sources of information in the workplace Through comprehension and integration of new information and knowledge, they can generate new ideas and be creative by combining new information and knowledge into their current knowledge base (Nieves & Diaz-Meneses, 2018) Therefore, workplace learning will enhance frontline managers’ crea tivity because they gain new ideas from various sources of information in the workplace (Nooteboom, 2000) Thus, the following hypothesis is developed 2.3.2 The mediating role of knowledge sharing In a working environment, SIT can be used to explain the relation ship among workplace learning, knowledge sharing behavior, and in dividual creativity Accordingly, learning and training in a working environment is a social interaction process that occurs in different di rections (Dang & Chou, 2019) That is, when individuals learn new knowledge and skills from formal learning programs and informal interaction with their coworkers, they may share these knowledge and skills with other coworkers as a result of discussion, meeting, and interaction in the workplace (Manuti et al., 2015) Particularly, when individuals engage in learning activities, they will also engage in knowledge sharing activities, because both learning and sharing activ ities often occur in interaction and discussion in a working environment (Wang, 2018) For example, a local manager may learn how to operate a machine through a formal training program and then he/she may teach a new foreign worker to operate that machine based on what he/she has learned (Dang et al., 2020) Thus, when individuals learn new knowl edge and skills, they tend to share with other coworkers, because they automatically and forcibly engage in social interactions in which learning and sharing behavior may occur intentionally or unintention ally in the workplace (Wang, 2018) In other words, workplace learning enhances knowledge sharing as a result of interaction and discussion in a working environment (Wang, 2018) Furthermore, as individuals learn and share knowledge with one another in the workplace, they will also obtain new knowledge, skills, and experiences (Manuti et al., 2015; Rowden, 2002) As a result, a rich knowledge base will enhance individuals’ capability and creativity, because they can develop various new and useful ideas when they have rich information and knowledge (Shah et al., 2020) That is, knowledge sharing helps to increase individuals’ creativity, because knowledge sharing activities enrich individuals’ knowledge base with useful in formation and ideas (Harel et al., 2020; Zohoori et al., 2013) Several studies have found a positive relationship between knowledge sharing and creative behavior For example, Yeh et al (2012), Zohoori et al (2013), and Harel et al (2020) found that knowledge sharing helps create new knowledge that improves individuals’ creativity and orga nization innovation In the context of the hospitality industry, a frontline manager is often responsible for the works of all frontline employees He/she is also responsible for solving customer problems (Theodosiou et al., 2012) The requirements of the work of a frontline manager require him/her to have rich knowledge and skills in their positions (Romero & Tejada, 2020) In accordance with SIT, frontline managers can obtain knowl edge and skills through workplace learning and interaction Specifically, formal and informal learning activities provide opportunity for frontline managers to gain new knowledge and skills (Rowden, 2002) Moreover, to ensure high service quality for customers, frontline managers must train and educate frontline employees This can be done through social interaction and training activities, where frontline managers provide and share what they have learned with frontline employees (Wang, 2018) These knowledge sharing activities also enable frontline H1 Workplace learning is positively related to frontline managers’ creativity 2.3 Knowledge sharing and its mediating role 2.3.1 Knowledge sharing Knowledge sharing is a core concept in knowledge management of organizations (Weathersby, 1999) It refers to “the provision of task information and know-how to help others and to collaborate with others to solve problems, develop new ideas, or implement policies or pro cedures” (Kim & Lee, 2013, p 327) Specifically, knowledge sharing reflects the exchange of advanced knowledge, skills, and experiences between employees through the entire organization (Kim et al., 2013) That is, individuals may learn knowledge from different sources and they share it with coworkers after knowledge has been absorbed, pro cessed, and refined in their brains (Shah et al., 2020) Knowledge sharing is known as a key factor that helps organizations gain higher effectiveness, better competitiveness, and greater performance (Kim & Yun, 2015) Carmeli et al (2013) suggested that knowledge sharing increases 595 V.T Dang et al Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 48 (2021) 593–603 managers to gain new information and useful ideas from other co workers and frontline employees (Bales, 2000; Turner, 1988), since such activities are social interaction which often occurs in different directions (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2000) As a result, knowledge sharing ac tivities enhance frontline managers’ ability to create new ideas, based on the knowledge obtained through social interaction with other coworkers and frontline employees (Chen & Cheng, 2012) Thus, it is expected that workplace learning enhances knowledge sharing, which in turn in creases frontline managers’ creativity Thus, the following hypothesis is developed because workplace learning provides rich materials and information for frontline managers to dynamically engage in cognitive processes (Kim & Yun, 2015) According to CFT, workplace learning enhances frontline managers’ ability to think and deal flexibly with different perspectives, because frontline managers can obtain new knowledge and skills from learning activities through cognitive processes (Moore & Malinowski, 2009) As a result, frontline managers may depend on a rich knowledge base and system of linkages among knowledge elements to engage in new idea development and creative behavior (Martin & Anderson, 1998; Ou et al., 2018) Therefore, workplace learning increases cognitive flexibility, which in turn enhances frontline managers’ creativity The following hypothesis is developed H2 Knowledge sharing positively mediates the relationship between workplace learning and frontline managers’ creativity H3 Cognitive flexibility positively mediates the relationship between workplace learning and frontline managers’ creativity 2.4 Cognitive flexibility and its mediating role Similarly, knowledge sharing is another way for frontline managers to involve in cognitive processes When frontline managers engage in knowledge sharing activities, they participate in social interaction and discussion (Kim & Lee, 2013) Due to knowledge sharing provides advanced knowledge and useful information, frontline managers can engage in mental processes to deal with different alternatives This is because knowledge sharing provides rich information and useful ideas that trigger cognitive processes to interpret, integrate, and combine new information and ideas into current knowledge base in an individual’s brain (De Clercq & Pereira, 2020) That is, knowledge sharing increases frontline managers’ ability to deal flexibly with information and ideas from sharing activities Thus, knowledge sharing increases frontline managers’ cognitive flexibility According to CFT, cognitive processes help an individual successfully transform knowledge into problem solving and decision-making (Martin & Anderson, 1998) When knowledge sharing drives frontline managers engaging in a cognitive process, frontline managers may flexibly and dynamically deal with different information and useful ideas from sharing activities (Dajani & Uddin, 2015) As cognitive flexibility works in a dynamic way to interpret, integrate, and combine information and knowledge obtained from sharing activities, frontline managers are more likely to be creative, because cognitive flexibility helps them come up with different alternatives in problem solving (Eslinger & Grattan, 1993) In other words, knowledge sharing enhances frontline managers’ cognitive flexibility, which in turn increases creative behavior Thus, the following hypothesis is developed 2.4.1 Cognitive flexibility Cognitive flexibility refers to individuals’ “(a) awareness that in any given situation there are options and alternatives available, (b) willing ness to be flexible and adapt to the situation, and (c) belief that one has the ability to be flexible” (Martin & Anderson, 1998, p 4) In other words, cognitive flexibility is defined as a person’s ability to think and deal flexibly with different perspectives (Ou et al., 2018) Specifically, cognitive flexibility reflects individuals’ ability to “break old cognitive patterns, overcome functional fixedness, and novel associations between concepts” (Ritter et al., 2012, p 961) In the hospitality industry, due to frontline managers often deal with complex problems (e.g., customer complaints, service failure, employee conflicts), cognitive flexibility may be an important factor that helps frontline managers come up with new solutions for their problems Thus, cognitive flexibility is consid ered as important factor in our research model 2.4.2 The mediating role of cognitive flexibility According to CFT (Spiro et al., 1987, 1988), conceptual complexity and ill-structuredness of concepts restrict knowledge acquisition In the case of lack of cognitive flexibility, people cannot understand and obtain knowledge, because people not engage in deep mental processes (Dajani & Uddin, 2015; Moore & Malinowski, 2009) By contrast, people who engage in cognitive flexibility will easily “attain a deeper under standing of content material, reason with it, and apply it flexibly in diverse contexts” (Spiro et al., 1988, p 2) That is, people use deep mental processes to promote multiple alternative systems of linkage among knowledge elements This process will help people generate new ideas and be creative, because cognitive flexibility is a dynamic process that helps people obtain new and advanced knowledge (Martin & Anderson, 1998) In other words, through deep mental processes, people process information, obtain new knowledge, and integrate it into their current knowledge base With rich and advanced knowledge acquisition, people may be more effective and flexible in transferring their knowl edge into creative behavior (Ou et al., 2018) Thus, according to CFT, cognitive flexibility can enhance creativity Furthermore, according to CFT, cognitive flexibility is a mental process in which individuals mentally acquire and process information and knowledge from external contexts (Spiro et al., 1987, 1988) In the context of the hospitality industry, workplace learning is inputs for frontline managers’ cognitive process, because they acquire and comprehend content materials from formal and informal learning ac tivities (Rowden, 2002) As a result, learning activities help frontline managers create new knowledge through mental processes (Kim & Yun, 2015; Lee, Legood, et al., 2020) In other words, learning in the work place provides rich sources of information and knowledge base for frontline managers who will engage in cognitive processes to acquire advanced knowledge in the workplace (Yeh et al., 2012) Consequently, frontline managers may find it flexible to apply their obtained knowl edge to problem solving and decision making (Ritter et al., 2012) Thus, workplace learning increases frontline managers’ cognitive flexibility H4 Cognitive flexibility positively mediates the relationship between knowledge sharing and frontline managers’ creativity Fig shows the research model of this study Methods 3.1 Research design The current study employed a hypo-deductive quantitative research design (Saunders et al., 2019) Accordingly, the research model and hypotheses were developed on the basis of relevant theories and studies in the literature, and then tested using quantitative data obtained from a survey Specifically, the survey questionnaire was developed using a backward translation technique Next, a pilot test was conducted to ensure the quality of this questionnaire This was followed by a formal survey aimed at collecting sample data Finally, the data were analyzed using advanced statistical techniques and software 3.2 Sample procedure Following McGorry’s (2000) method, a backward translation was adopted to design the questionnaire Particularly, a professional trans lator was invited to translate the questionnaire from English to 596 V.T Dang et al Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 48 (2021) 593–603 Fig Research model Vietnamese and translated back into English by another translator A third translator rechecked the questionnaire between English and Viet namese Furthermore, three doctoral students were invited to check the wordings and meanings of each item in the questionnaire After that, this study conducted a pilot test with a sample of 20 hotel frontline managers in Vietnam These managers reported a good understanding and clari fication of the wordings and meaning of the measurement items Hence, no modifications were made to the questionnaire Finally, a formal survey was conducted to collect data The target sample was frontline managers from hotels in Vung Tau City Vung Tau City is one of the largest tourism cities in Vietnam, which attracts several domestic and foreign tourists yearly It is qualified as one of the best regional tourism cities in Asia-Pacific Through a Facebook hotel community, a list of more than 12,000 hotels was obtained Based on their websites, a target sample of 600 three-to five-star hotels was randomly selected The frontline managers of these hotels were con tacted via telephone and face-to-face to request their participation This study only focused on managers of departments that directly deal with customers because these departments need high levels of service inno vation (Baradarani & Kilic, 2018) To ensure selecting qualified re spondents (i.e., frontline managers), a filter question – “Are you manager of a customer service department?” – was employed A sample data of 310 questionnaires was obtained, and 307 questionnaires were valid with a response rate of 51.17% Only three questionnaires were invalid with some missing values and excluded from the final sample Table presents the demographic characteristics of the respondents scales from previous studies These measurement scales were adopted because they have been widely used in extant literature with high reli ability and validity (Dang & Chou, 2019; Gong et al., 2009; Yu et al., 2010; Zhang & Bartol, 2010) The reliability values for these measure ment scales were 0.90 for “workplace learning”, 0.80 for “knowledge sharing”, 0.80 for “cognitive flexibility”, and 0.81 for “creativity” The survey was conducted in a three-wave time-lagged period Each stage was lagged 30 days In the first stage (January 2021), workplace learning and respondents’ demographic characteristics were completed by the frontline managers In the second stage (February 2021), the frontline managers completed the measures of knowledge sharing and cognitive flexibility In the final stage (March 2021), frontline managers’ creativity was measured by their direct supervisor All items were measured using a five-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree, = strongly agree) Table shows the variables, items, and sources of each measurement scale 3.4 Ethical consideration Since the research design involved human subjects, ethical standards should be considered in this study Because there are no formal ethical standards for social sciences research in Vietnam, this study followed the ethical standards suggested by the American Psychological Association to conduct the survey design Respondents voluntarily participated in the survey and they were announced that their anonymity were guar anteed and that the survey was for academic purpose only 3.5 Analysis methods 3.3 Measures To analyze data and test hypotheses, this study used SPSS 20 and structural equation modeling with AMOS 20 statistical software First, SPSS 20 was used to screen data and analyze descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, and reliability of variables Second, Amos 20 was adopted to perform confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and test the validity of variables and hypotheses in the research model Some variables were controlled in the analysis due to their potential impact on the dependent variable These control variables were re spondents’ gender, age, education, marital status, and tenure Variables in this study were measured using existing measurement Table Demographics of respondents Variable Gender Male Female Age 25 or below 26–35 36–45 46–55 56 or above Education High school or below University or college Graduate or above Marital status Single Married Tenure (months) Frequency Percent 235 72 76.5% 23.5% 95 107 79 22 1.3% 30.9% 34.9% 25.7% 7.2% 260 46 84.7% 15.0% 0.3% Results 4.1 Results of descriptive statistics Table presents the descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlations between the variables in this study Workplace learning was positively related to knowledge sharing (r = 0.50, p < 0.01), cognitive flexibility (r = 0.54, p < 0.01), and creativity (r = 0.57, p < 0.01) Furthermore, knowledge sharing was positively related to cognitive flexibility (r = 0.55, p < 0.01) and creativity (r = 0.53, p < 0.01) In addition, cognitive flexibility was positively related to creativity (r = 0.58, p < 0.01) Given that the Pearson’s correlations between variables were slightly high, we 84 27.4% 223 72.6% Minimum = 1, Maximum = 70, Average = 23.40 Note: n = 307 597 V.T Dang et al Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 48 (2021) 593–603 conducted a multicollinearity test The results of this test indicate that the VIF values of variables raged from 1.51 to 1.97, which were less than a threshold value of 10 (Kutner et al., 2005) Thus, multiculinearity between variables may not be a serious problem in our data Table Measurement items Constructs Items Sources Workplace learning Informal learning: My boss helps identify what to to avoid making the same mistake When the company buys new equipment or system, someone is asked to show us how to use it I often work with coworkers who show me the ropes Sometimes I have opportunity to work closely with my coworkers Incidental learning: The company encourages coworkers to share work experience with me I often learn my job as consequences of doing and keeping busy The company supports professional associations related to my work We can get enough information to a good job Formal learning: There is support from the top management for formal training I have opportunity for cross training to learn skills from others Company provides support if I want further formal education Training funds are available for our formal education if I need it I have contributed advanced knowledge to this company I usually actively share my advanced knowledge with coworkers I have contributed advanced knowledge to other coworkers that resulted in the development of new insights I have tried to share my educational and training expertise with other coworkers in more effective ways I explore creative ideas from broad and different perspectives I use free association to consider creative alternatives I come up with creative ideas by thinking in many different directions I make novel connections among seemingly unrelated ideas I think out of the box to explore unconventional approaches I switch perspectives flexibly to generate novel ideas This person often develops creative custommade service packages for clients This person often uses creativity to develop new clients through different means and channels This person often uses creativity to increase service forces in different ways Dang and Chou (2019) Knowledge sharing Cognitive flexibility Creativity 4.2 Results of CFA This study performed a CFA According to Kline (2011), a good model fit is indicated when the Chi-square/degree of freedom is less than 3, comparative fit index (CFI) and goodness of fit index (GFI) are greater than 0.90, and root mean square of error of approximation (RMSEA) is less than 0.08 The results of CFA showed a good model fit between the sample data and the hypothesized model in this study (Chi-square/degree of freedom = 1032.642/356 = 2.90, CFI = 0.91, GFI = 0.91, and RMSEA = 0.07) 4.3 Results of reliability and validity In this study, the variables’ reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha (Hair et al., 2010) As indicated in Table 4, the Cronbach’s alpha of all variables were 0.80 (informal learning), 0.75 (incidental learning), 0.83 (formal learning), 0.80 (knowledge sharing), 0.80 (cognitive flex ibility), and 0.81 (creativity) These values were all greater than the suggested cutoff value of 0.60 (Hair et al., 2010) Thus, the reliability of Table Results of measurement model Yu et al (2010) Constructs Items Factor loadings CR AVE Cronbach’s α Informal learning (IFL) IFL1 IFL2 IFL3 IFL4 INL1 INL2 INL3 INL4 FOL1 FOL2 FOL3 FOL4 KS1 KS2 KS3 KS4 CF1 CF2 CF3 CF4 CF5 CF6 CR1 CR2 CR3 0.85*** 0.72*** 0.74*** 0.55*** 0.72*** 0.73*** 0.60*** 0.79*** 0.77*** 0.72*** 0.77*** 0.69*** 0.68*** 0.67*** 0.73*** 0.83*** 0.70*** 0.73*** 0.66*** 0.70*** 0.69*** 0.81*** 0.76*** 0.78*** 0.78*** 0.81 0.52 0.80 0.80 0.51 0.75 0.83 0.55 0.83 0.82 0.53 0.80 0.86 0.51 0.80 0.81 0.59 0.81 Incidental learning (INL) Zhang and Bartol (2010) Formal learning (FOL) Knowledge sharing (KS) Cognitive flexibility (CF) Gong et al (2009) Creativity (CR) Note: n = 307, ***p < 0.001 Table Descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlations Variables Mean SD Workplace learning Knowledge sharing Cognitive flexibility Creativity Gender Age Education Marital status Tenure 3.43 3.30 3.35 3.20 – – – – – 0.56 0.64 0.60 0.68 – – – – – 50** 54** 57** 27** 15** 10 -.03 -.01 55** 53** -.05 -.10 01 04 -.01 58** 12** -.04 06 04 11** 08 -.04 11** 19** 05 -.13** 06 06 -.16** -.13** 13** 30** -.18** -.01 13** Note: n = 307, **p < 0.01 598 V.T Dang et al Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 48 (2021) 593–603 The results in Fig show that workplace learning was positively related to frontline managers’ creativity (β = 0.290, p < 0.001) Thus, H1 was supported Furthermore, results show that workplace learning was positively related to knowledge sharing (β = 0.501, p < 0.001), which in turn was positively related to creativity (β = 0.263, p < 0.001) The results of bootstrap analysis with 1000 samples and 95% confidence interval (Hayes, 2017) also showed that the indirect effect of workplace learning on creativity through knowledge sharing was statistically significant (β = 0.132, p < 0.001; Table 6) Thus, H2 was supported That is, knowl edge sharing mediated the relationship between workplace learning and creativity Fig also shows that workplace learning was positively related to cognitive flexibility (β = 0.506, p < 0.001), which in turn was positively related to creativity (β = 0.231, p < 0.001) The results of bootstrap analysis showed that the indirect effect of workplace learning on crea tivity through cognitive flexibility was stistically significant (β = 0.117, p < 0.001; Table 6) Thus, H3 was supported That is, cognitive flexi bility mediated the link between workplace learning and creativity In addition, as indicated in Fig 2, knowledge sharing was positively related to cognitive flexibility (β = 0.295, p < 0.001), which in turn was positively related to creativity (β = 0.231, p < 0.001) The results of bootstrap analysis showed that the indirect effect of knowledge sharing on creativity through cognitive flexibility was stistically significant (β = 0.068, p < 0.001; Table 6) Thus, H4 was supported That is, cognitive flexibility mediated the link between knowledge sharing and creativity Fig also shows the results of R2 for knowledge sharing (R2 = 0.251), cognitive flexibility (R2 = 0.493), and creativity (R2 = 0.474) all variables was acceptable Following Hair et al (2010) and Kline (2011), convergent validity was tested using composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) Accordingly, CR values must be greater than 0.70, and AVE values must be above 0.50 The results in Table indicate that all AVE and CR values met the requirements Thus, the convergent validity of all variables was satisfactory To test the discriminant validity, this study followed Hair et al.’s (2010) method and conducted a series of CFA to compare the hypoth esized model with different models Mathieu and Farh (1991) suggested that construct with multi-dimensions can be operated as averaging scores of items into their corresponding dimensions, which can be treated as indicators of their corresponding construct This study aver aged scores of items of each dimension of workplace learning and treated these dimensions (i.e., informal learning, formal leaning, and incidental learning) as indicators for workplace learning Thus, the hy pothesized model was composed of four constructs: workplace learning, knowledge sharing, cognitive flexibility, and creativity Results of models’ comparison in Table indicate that only the hypothesized model shows a good model fit Thus, discriminant validity of the vari ables was satisfactory in this study 4.4 Results of common method bias To avoid common method bias that may occur when using survey questionnaire to collect data, each questionnaire was completed from two sources (frontline managers and their supervisors) Furthermore, the sample procedure was conducted in three stages This study also followed Podsakoff et al (2003) to conduct a Harman’s single-factor test The results of unrotated solution showed factors with 68.32% of variance, and the first factor accounted for only 28.02% of variance Furthermore, the results of the single-factor model of CFA showed an extremely poor model fit (Chi-square/degree of freedom = 1703.203/275 = 6.19, CFI = 0.64, GFI = 0.69, and RMSEA = 0.13) Thus, common method bias may not be serious in the study’s sample data Discussion, implications, and future research 5.1 Discussion of findings 4.5 Results of hypotheses testing This study aims at investigating the relationship between workplace learning and frontline managers’ creativity in the hospitality industry, with the mediating roles of knowledge sharing and cognitive flexibility The findings provide evidence to support hypotheses in the research model This study adopted SEM-AMOS to test the hypotheses The results in Fig show that among the control variables, only education (β = 0.076, p < 0.05) and tenure (β = 0.173, p < 0.001) were significantly and positively related to creativity Thus, the frontline managers who have high level of education and long tenure would have more creativity, because they have more knowledge and experiences in their jobs 5.1.1 The link between workplace learning and frontline managers’ creativity The current study found that workplace learning had a positive direct influence on frontline managers’ creativity This finding is consistent with the viewpoints of Mumford and Todd (2020) and Wang (2018) These authors suggested that learning activities in the workplace Table Results of model comparison analysis Constructs/model Thresholds Hypothesized model Three-factor model Three-factor model Three-factor model Two-factor model Two-factor model Two-factor model One-factor model χ2 1032.642 581.608 539.130 625.895 696.882 658.178 736.256 764.773 df 356 101 101 101 103 103 103 104 △χ2 χ2/df GFI CFI RMSEA 478.97*** 493.51*** 406.75*** 335.76*** 374.65*** 296.39*** 267.87*** 0.90 0.91 0.82 0.82 0.80 0.68 0.79 0.77 0.76 >0.90 0.91 0.80 0.83 0.78 0.75 0.77 0.73 0.72