Our PhD graduates in profile: Michael Moran’s research

Michael Moran recently graduated with a PhD from DCU Business School. He is a Senior Lecturer in Management, Leadership & Organisation at Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire.

My thesis focused on ‘high-end’ front-line hospitality. In doing so, it called on two theoretical frameworks to help inform the understanding of the high-end’ front-line hospitality employment relationship. From this, it examined voice mechanisms and skill learning systems as potential antecedents to work engagement and employee retention. In order to conduct this sectoral-specific analysis of high-end’ front-line hospitality based on these four variables, the research is conducted using a mixed methods approach across this sector in both Ireland and Sweden. For the quantitative methodology, Structural Equation Modelling was utilised for analysing the questionnaires received from these employees and ‘employee turnover’ responses (n=272) from 50 ‘high-end’ hospitality organisations (4 and 5 star hotels, restaurants, bars and cafes) across Ireland and Sweden. The qualitative element of the methodology (semi-structured interviews) allowed for further understanding of the micro-processes at play within the ‘triangular’ employment relationship of high-end front-line hospitality.