관광산업의 특수목적영어(ESP) 교육프로그램이 직원의 영어역량, 직무만족 및 고객지향성에 미치는 영향

Abstract

English language skills are required for tourism service employees to satisfy customers' needs and increase revenue from their customer service encounters. Particularly, employees in hotels and various tourism businesses should provide smooth and professional services to foreign tourists, and their English language skills are deeply related to job competency. However, tourism businesses often fail to provide sufficient task-related English education programs to employees, particularly ESP programs that can increase work efficiency. This study aims to understand the current status of employees’ English language skills and English education environments to emphasize the necessity of ESP programs and to provide a framework for developing and operating a curriculum accordingly. Also, the relationship among ESP programs, tourism employees' English language skills, job satisfaction, and customer orientation was examined. A total of 300 respondents completed a professional online survey. Results of the SEM analysis suggested that ESP programs positively influenced the English language skills of tourism employees, resulting in higher job satisfaction and strengthened customer orientation. This study systematically analyzed the structural impacts of in-house English language programs on customer orientation mediated by job satisfaction, a topic that has not been tapped much by tourism researchers. This study will make a meaningful contribution to the literature and also provide practical guidance for various sectors of the tourism industry in Korea.