The relationship between leisure outsourcing and specificity: performance and management perception in hotels in the Canary Islands

Abstract

The objective of this article is to determine the factors that influence the outsourcing of leisure services in the hotel business. First, this work studies the relationship between the specificity of the hotel leisure activity and the activity's performance depending on whether it is outsourced or retained in house. Second, the article analyzes the extent to which the perceived advantages can extend the strategy of outsourcing hotel leisure services. Third, the work analyzes the influence of outsourcing hotel leisure services on organizational performance. The results obtained indicate that there is a positive relationship between specificity and performance of the activity when it is carried out in house. They also show that the advantages that give this strategy greater potential for further use are related to greater concentration on core competences. On the other hand, it was shown that hotels that have outsourced leisure services have better organizational performance, especially nonfinancial.