The Antithesis of Hospitality: Unpacking Workplace Bullying and Advancing a Māori-centric Response

Abstract

This paper examines workplace bullying in the hospitality sector – an industry paradoxically defined by welcoming others – through a mixed-method approach integrating large-scale quantitative analysis with an in-depth qualitative case study. Study 1 draws on survey data from 2,302 hospitality employees in Aotearoa, New Zealand, to identify the prevalence, patterns, and perpetrators of bullying, and employees’ confidence in employer responses. Over half (56%) reported experiencing or witnessing bullying, with women and supervisors most affected. Study 2 explores a Māori hospitality business guided by manaakitanga (care), whanaungatanga (relationships), and tika (fairness), illustrating how Māori values can counter bullying behaviours. Together, the studies reveal the gap between hospitality’s ideals and workplace realities, proposing Māori-informed approaches as a pathway towards more respectful, inclusive, and restorative organisational environments. The paper contributes to management and hospitality scholarship by demonstrating how Indigenous relational ethics can operationalise organisational care as an antidote to workplace harm.