Towards an Understanding of Experiential Learning in China’s Hospitality Education

Abstract

This study aims to develop a scale to measure experiential learning (EL) activities in China’s hospitality higher education. The scale development procedure involved four stages: developing the initial items, implementing purifying measures, collecting data, and assessing the reliability and validity of the proposed measurement scale. After exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the development process resulted in a reliable and valid scale for measuring EL. The scale consists of nine items with three dimensions: (1) practical learning activities, (2) school-based activities, and (3) professional skills-related activities. This study contributes to the literature by developing a measurement scale for EL that lays the groundwork for future study. A better understanding of EL activities can contribute to graduates’ career development, universities’ curriculum validation, and hotels’ service quality.