Enhancing teamwork in the hospitality industry: The importance of empathy

Empathy is vital to successful teamwork in the hospitality industry, but the effects of empathy on team members’ interpersonal relationships have gone largely overlooked. This study investigated how employees engage in two dimensions of empathy (perspective-taking and empathic concern) during intrateam members’ interactions based on differences in employees’ personality traits. Hotel and restaurant employees were recruited for the survey. The analysis is based on a sample of 312 respondents. We analyzed the data via a two-step structural equation modeling procedure using the R Lavaan package. Results indicated that perspective-taking influenced team members’ interpersonal relationships more than empathic concern, producing positive effects on team performance. Agreeableness was the most favorable personality characteristic in understanding team members’ positions, followed by openness and conscientiousness. Interestingly, extraversion demonstrated a negative relationship with perspective-taking. These findings offer guidance for promoting empathy-related training in the hospitality sector.