Purpose: This study examines how paternalistic leadership dimensions—moral leadership (ML), benevolent leadership (BL), and authoritarian leadership (AL)—shape green innovative behavior (GIB) among hotel employees, drawing on Social Exchange Theory (SET) and the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) Theory. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 451 staff members in the hotels of Sharm El Sheikh city in Egypt were chosen through a two-wave time-lagged design. This study tests a model in which organisational clan culture (OCC) and green work engagement (GWE) function as mediators, while organisational-based self-esteem (OBSE) moderates the relationships, analyzed using PLS-SEM. Findings: The findings reveal that moral leadership and benevolent leadership foster the organisation clan culture, whereas authoritarian leadership undermines it. Additionally, clan culture is positively associated with employees' green engagement, which drives their green innovation. Moreover, OBSE strengthens the positive correlation between moral leadership and BL and buffers the negative linkage between authoritarian leadership and organisation clan culture. Practical implications: Hospitality managers should adopt paternalistic leadership dimensions like benevolent and moral leadership and avoid authoritarian styles—especially with Generation Z—to strengthen team culture, foster trust, collaboration, and shared values. Rewarding pro-environmental practices and holding workshops that involve all employees in creating green policies and goals can boost environmental participation and green innovation. Originality/value: This study advances hospitality sustainability literature by integrating paternalistic leadership with green innovation mechanisms along with the roles of organisation clan culture, green work engagement, and OBSE in translating leadership into pro-environmental innovation, and offering actionable insights for hotel managers aiming to cultivate a sustainability-driven organisational culture.

The research investigates the psychopathological mechanisms through which perceived leader favoritism (PLF) can affect counterproductive work behavior (CWB) through the mediating effects of employee jealousy toward their coworkers and the specialized form of envy known as malicious envy. Integrating Social Comparison Theory with Affective Events Theory, the study proposes that perceived favoritism triggers unfavorable social comparisons, which in turn evoke negative emotional states that manifest in dysfunctional workplace behaviors. The research used a quantitative study design to gather information from 436 employees working in hotels. The researchers used structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the research data while they also conducted reliability and validity assessments. The study shows that perceived leader favoritism leads to higher organizational counterproductive work behavior (CWB-O) and higher interpersonal counterproductive work behavior (CWB-I) among employees. The study found that PLF leads to higher employee jealousy levels which result in higher malicious envy levels that drive CWB behavior. The research found that jealousy and malicious envy function as central psychological pathways which connect favoritism to workplace deviance. This study offers a new contribution to the existing body of knowledge about leadership by extending its scope to investigate how subtle favoritism practices lead to harmful results while explaining the emotional mechanisms which cause counterproductive behavior. The research develops an integrated framework which helps people comprehend how perceived leader favoritism affects emotional responses and behavioral patterns within modern workplaces.

The rapid adoption of digital technologies in restaurants has transformed how consumers interact with smart service systems, making it increasingly important to understand the psychological mechanisms underlying continued digital technology use. Drawing on a digital consumer behavior perspective, this study investigates how Smart Service Interactional Experience (SSIE) influences consumers’ reuse intentions toward restaurant smart menus, with particular attention to the mediating roles of perceived value and memorable experience and the moderating role of technology anxiety. The study used a quantitative research design in conjunction with a purposive sampling method and gathered data from 397 consumers who had used smart menus at casual dining restaurants in Egypt, after which the data were analysed using SEM with the help of SPSS v 26 and AMOS v 28 software. The findings demonstrate that SSIE significantly enhances consumers’ perceived value and memorable experience, which, in turn, significantly increases their intentions to reuse smart menus. Importantly, both perceived value and memorable experience significantly mediate the relationship between SSIE and smart menu reuse intention, indicating that positive interactional experiences translate into continued digital usage by enhancing the value consumers perceive and the memorability of the ordering experience. However, contrary to expectations, technology anxiety does not significantly moderate the relationships between SSIE and either perceived value or memorable experience. These findings suggest that the quality of the interactional experience may play a more influential role than technology-related anxiety in shaping consumers’ evaluations and continued use of restaurant smart menus. The study contributes to the smart service and digital consumer behavior literature by clarifying how SSIE translates into reuse intention through consumers’ value perceptions and memorable experiences. Practically, the findings encourage restaurant operators to improve smart menu interaction quality, strengthen perceived value, and design memorable digital ordering experiences to foster continued consumer engagement and reuse.

Purpose: In the context of the luxury clientele in the hotel industry in Egypt, this research explores the key factors that influence the adoption of hotel applications facilitated by chatbots by consumers in practice. The article supports the notion that the technology acceptance model (TAM) and parasocial interaction theory are complementary and offer an integrated perspective on functional and emotional motives behind an interaction with chatbots. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative design was used to test the relationships between the constructs of the study using structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypotheses proposed. The sample was a sample of 418 customers of five-star hotels in Egypt. Findings: The results indicate that consumer compatibility has a positive influence on parasocial interaction and perceived usefulness of chatbot apps. In addition, parasocial interaction is a significant predictor of usefulness and endorsement; on the other hand, usefulness predicts endorsement. Further mediation analysis shows that the relationship between the concepts of consumer compatibility and endorsement is mediated by parasocial interaction and perceived usefulness. Practical implications: Hotel managers ought to create culturally responsive artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots in line with the profiles and communication needs of the guests in order to boost the utilitarian value and minimize technology resistance. IT departments and guest experience directors need to collaborate in order to incorporate chatbots into brand-aligned guest experiences. A combination of speed, accuracy, ease of use and human-like interaction makes chatbots beneficial in facilitating hospitality service excellence and enhancing the overall customer experience. Originality/value: The combination of TAM and parasocial interaction theory helps to create a new integrative model of assessing the acceptance of chatbots in the context of luxury hospitality. It adds to the academic discourse by expanding on the technological functionality aspect and adding emotional and relational aspects of AI interaction. In practice, hotel administrators are provided with practical advice on how they can maximize AI-based guest services in terms of both operational and emotional experiences in high-touch service settings.