Chinese Hospitality Students’ Perceptions of Diversity Management

Abstract

Given China’s rapid modernization, the recent focus on diversity management (DM) in hospitality curricula, and their prospects as managers in national and multinational hospitality organizations, 361 Chinese university hospitality students were the subjects of the present study. The aim was to determine and examine these potential managers’ understanding and perceptions of DM and its characteristics and their willingness to employ DM in their future workplaces. Primary data were gathered via a structured questionnaire, then analyzed using descriptive and advanced statistics. Although the Chinese students understood the essence of DM, their thorough knowledge of DM was disappointingly weak and their perceptions of DM were inconsistent. Furthermore, not all of the respondents were willing to employ DM in their future workplaces. Therefore, it is recommended that Chinese universities include DM in their hospitality curricula and engage qualified educators to deliver DM so as strengthen their students’ knowledge of DM.