Social Intelligence and Its Impact on Women Hotel Managers

Abstract

Hospitality employees, specifically hotel managers, interact with a variety of people daily. During this interaction, they are responsible for understanding and acting upon interpersonal cues. Therefore, the skill of Social Intelligence (SI) is beneficial for anyone serving in this role. The purpose of this study is to examine social intelligence (SI) and its impact on women hotel managers. The Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale measures each component of SI with a 7-item subscale. A web-based questionnaire, including the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale, was distributed to 223 professional contacts within the hospitality industry. Of the 209 usable surveys, 120 (57%) were completed by women. Independent-sample t-tests were used to determine the impact of SI on women hotel managers. Results indicated that overall, while hotel managers perceive their SI to be higher than average, women are slightly more socially intelligent than men. Considering that SI can be taught and more women managers are needed, educational and human resource efforts should be designed to prepare women for hotel management opportunities.