Are chefs happiness providers? Exploring the impact of organisational support, intrapreneurship and interactional justice from the perspective of happiness management

Abstract

Current scientific studies on corporate governance in the fine dining industry must consider the attractive culture of happiness management. A business management model that aims to cement the corporate happiness of all the members of its organisation. Undoubtedly, a vital intangible resource to offer a service of excellence and quality to customers. As is well known, this is an aspect of particular relevance for haute cuisine restaurants. From this perspective, this paper arises from recent happiness management research that points to the need for a happy leadership style to actively reduce the psychological stress and physical exhaustion that chefs suffer daily in the kitchen. Inspired by the achievement of this goal, and therefore their happiness at work, this research conducts an exploratory study on how the dimensions: of organisational support, intraentrepreneurship and organisational justice empirically associate with the variable happiness at work. To this end, a structural equation model will be carried out based on the 136 surveys carried out on trainees at the Basque Culinary during the 2022–2023 academic years. The empirical results of this work show that the constructs of organisational support and organisational justice positively influence the happiness at work parameter. The same is not valid for the intrapreneurship factor. On the one hand, these findings can be exciting to demonstrate the complexity of generating a climate of subjective well-being within haute cuisine restaurants. Moreover, on the other hand, it shows that chefs are a source of culinary innovation and creativity when they carry out their professional activities in a positive and happy environment.