The Effects of Food Safety Knowledge, Attitude and Practices on Hotel Competitive Advantages: Perceptions of Food Service Staff in Hotels

Abstract

Food reputation is beliefs about the effects of food on its consumers. The health and safety of hotel guests is considered a vital driver for the repeat business and reputation of the hotel brand. Studies references have shown that 10 percent of travellers to foreign destinations become ill after consuming contaminated food or water, and most will not return to the hotel where they became sick. The food and beverage department staff’ knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practices (KAP) create a competitive advantage as a quality differentiator for consumers, hotels, tour operators, and travel agencies. Food safety has become a subject of enormous interest. In the latest years, offering safe food has become the obsession that irritates food enterprises in both developed and developing countries. Where world health organisation (WHO) recorded that millions of people in developed and developing countries infected with food borne diseases. Therefore, everyone handles food in business needs to know how to handle it safely. Before any person starts work as a food handler, they should have the relevant knowledge and skills of food safety and hygiene. This study investigated the factors of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP model) of food safety among the food and beverage department staff that could have critical effects on hotels' reputation, cost savings, market share, and competitiveness of hotels in Egypt. An investigation of KAP in the hotel food service is carried out using multiple sources of data, including a semi-structured questionnaire, observations of the business environment, and a review of documentation. The study aims to explore the effect of gained knowledge, attitudes and practices of food safety among the food and beverage department staff on hotels' competitive advantages in Egypt. The current study is based on a quantitative approach to achieve its aim. Data collection technique for the study will be a Semi-structured questionnaire to collect data from different food and beverage department staff at five-star hotels in Cairo. Obtained data will be analysed using SPSS version 22. The results reveal that food and beverage staff perceives the three KAP variables to have positive effect on hotels' reputation, cost savings, market share, and competitiveness of hotels in Egypt. The knowledge variable is positively affecting the hotel reputation (β=0.770 and p<0.05). Furthermore, the attitude is found positively affecting the hotel market-share (β=0.640 and p<0.05), and self- reported practice are positively affecting the reducing of the production cost in hotels (β=0.740 and p<0.01). Finally, results partly confirmed the fourth hypothesis for some of the tested relationships. Indeed, overall, they show that food and beverages reputation affects consumers’ choices. This study contributes to knowledge through incorporating three main variables in one model to measure their effect on hotel competitive advantages. The attributes of food and beverage (knowledge, attitudes, and practices) are critical factors that have significant impact on customers' selection of hotels and repeat business. The study contributes to practice as well by providing insights to hotel managers on how to improve hotel competitive advantages and mitigate any defects that can affect this reputation.