MODEL OF QMS ADOPTION IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY: A CASE STUDY OF HOTELS IN ZIMBABWE

Abstract

The article is the construction of a model of quality management system (QMS) adoption in the hotel industry grounded on a multiple case study of hotels in Zimbabwe. QMSs in the hotel industry are adopted to guarantee certain levels of quality required by customers are achieved. Achievement of certain levels of quality can result in better customer satisfaction, which is important to ensure sustainable operations for hotels. The study was concerned with the late adoption of QMSs in the hotel industry due to several internal and external factors. This study is an extract from a Ph.D. project, which objects to investigate external and internal factors affecting QMS adoption in the hotel industry. To attain the objectives, interviews were conducted with hotel managers and key stakeholders while focus groups were conducted with hotel staff to outline the factors affecting the adoption of QMSs and to get general enablers for adopting these systems. Directed content analysis and NVivo 12 were used to analyse data. Eisenhardt's Model of developing theory from case studies was used. The study draws upon QMSs from the 1970s to 2020s. The main factors affecting the adoption of QMSs were established and their interrelatedness established. The BASERA-MWENJE model of QMS adoption was developed. The model has not been tested, besides some parts of it, during work. Model differences and similarities were identified from literature to fortify the BASERA-MWENJE model of QMSs adoption. This model will be offered to the hotel industry and other industries, in general, to simplify and improve the adoption of QMSs under Zimbabwe's National Development Strategy 1 (NDS) to realise Vision 2030 "Towards a Prosperous and Empowered Upper Middle-Income Society".