Service orientation of the employees in Serbia’s tourism agencies

Milos Marjanovic

Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, The Republic of Serbia

In a time of fierce competition in the tourist services market, it is very important to pay attention to businesses’ service orientation towards end users. Service orientation can be considered as a competitive advantage on the demanding tourism market. In this study, the relationship between service orientation, job satisfaction and empowerment among the employees of Serbian travel agencies is examined. A survey was conducted through an online questionnaire. The survey included a total of 94 respondents. The study is aimed at investigating the connection between employee service orientation, job satisfaction and empowerment. The paper also investigates whether there are significant differences between the measured variables among the employees with and without tourism education. The results showed that job satisfaction had a significant impact on service orientation. The impact of empowerment on service orientation proved to be a less significant statistical variable. According to the research study, job satisfaction occurs as a mediator between empowerment and service orientation. Also, there is no statistically significant relationship between the measured variables and tourism-related education.

Keywords: service orientation, job satisfaction, empowerment, travel agencies, tourism education, prosocial service behavior

JEL Classification: L83