Accommodators or non-accommodators? A typology of hotel frontline employees’ attitude towards guests with disabilities

Abstract

Though studies on the experiences of travellers with disabilities abound, little is known on the attitude and attitudinal functions of frontline employees towards guests with disabilities. Using data from 825 hotel frontline employees in Ghana, this study applies the functional theory of attitude to understand their attitude and attitudinal functions towards guests with disabilities. Employing the two-step cluster, Kruskal-Wallis test and Chi-square test of independence, this study established that there are four segments of hotel frontline employees based on their attitude, and attitudinal functions towards guests with disabilities: pretending accommodators, empathetic accommodators, apathetic non-accommodators, and egoistic non-accommodators. As theoretically anticipated, each of the attitudinal segments is cultured to serve specific function and behavior. Meanwhile, the attitudinal segments differed by sex, formal educational attainment and hotel category. The service and managerial implications on accessible tourism are discussed