Hospitality Jobs Research Articles

Hospitality Management Curriculum and Potential Market Competencies: An Assessment of the Compatibility of AUST Graduates with that of the Lebanese Hospitality Job Market

Background: The recurring dilemma encountered by the academic programs in the Hospitality Management field is how applicable these programs are to the realities of the job market. That is, matching academic preparation to desired competencies sought by the market. This paper provides a positive insight into the elements that have led to the success of the curriculum of the Hospitality Management Department at the American University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Lebanon. It is a unique case which offers lessons to be learned, and which are applicable on a larger scale. Aims: This paper presents a brief description of the travel and tourism sector in Lebanon, and the requirements necessary in the development of adequate human resources to cover the market’s needs. The paper provides necessary facts to assess the potentiality of the university’s graduates and what the Faculty of Business and Economics of AUST can offer to create a value-added workforce. Original Research Article Hejase et al.; JSRR, Article no. JSRR.2014.9.01

New casinos and local labor markets: Evidence from Canada

The local labor market effects of new casinos are examined by comparing the employment and earnings growth in areas with new casinos to the growth in areas with existing casinos and without casinos, exploiting numerous casino openings across multiple locations in Canada over several time periods. The opening of a new casino directly doubles the employment and earnings of the local gambling industry within five years, while this growth does not appear to continue beyond this period. Indirect positive spillovers are limited to the related local hospitality and entertainment industries. For every job created in the gambling industry, roughly one to two additional hospitality jobs are created. Increased gambling employment does not appear to increase employment in any other local industry.

Pre-smoke-ban café staff job satisfaction and attitudes in transition countries

While a growing number of countries and sub-national localities are banning smoking in hospitality workplaces, extant research on the impacts of smoke-free legislation has centered on hospitality employees and industries in developed countries. Hoping to assist in filling this void, this research empirically explores the relationships among café employees’ attitudes, demographics, work-related variables (WRV), and job satisfaction before the introduction of a smoke-free legislation in one transition economy, i.e. Bosnia-Herzegovina. Results revealed that café area served, gender, average weekly workload, café seating allocation, and education were for the most part not significant in explaining different perceptions toward a smoking ban. However, respondents’ preferred café smoking policy, smoking status, hospitality work experience, job satisfaction, and age did influence how respondents viewed the smoking ban. In terms of respondents’ preferred café smoking policy, significant differences were noted due to smoking status and café seating allocation. In regards to job satisfaction, staff with more positive pre-implementation attitudes towards the ban exhibit significantly higher levels of dissatisfaction with the current job. Overall, respondents appear willing to make concessions for both pro- and anti-smoking patrons, staff, and owners/managers. Therefore, lawmakers should consider population characteristics, seating allocation, and the combination thereof when devising café smoking policies.

“I would love to work in tourism, but …”: Exploring the outcomes of an ethnic tourism education initiative

This study focused on an ethnic tourism education initiative featuring Tibetan undergraduates in a coastal Chinese university. The employment intentions of the undergraduates and alumni were compared. The undergraduates were interested in hospitality and tourism jobs, while the alumni took stable government jobs. Using secondary data and focus groups, it was found that the Tibetan undergraduates “would love to work in tourism,” but strong barriers existed: namely personal pursuits, family and social pressures, educational factors, the nature of tourism jobs, and the benefits of working in the government. The wider implications of the study for tourism education programs were presented.

Using social networking websites as a selection tool: The role of selection process fairness and job pursuit intentions

A growing trend in the hospitality industry is openly encouraging applicants to join their social networking sites as part of their recruitment process (Dolasinki et al., 2010; Madera and Chang, 2011). However, there is a dearth of studies examining how applicants perceive and react to the use of social networking websites in the recruitment and selection process. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine how applicants react to the use of social networking websites as a selection tool. Using experimental methods, participants attending a career fair for hospitality jobs completed a questionnaire after reading about a hospitality company that does or does not use social networking sites in the selection process. The results showed that perceived fairness and job pursuit intentions of applicants were lower for an organization that used social networking websites as a selection tool than an organization that did not use social networking websites as a selection tool.

Sociocultural Strategies for Stress Reduction Among Hospitality Workers in Developing Contexts: The Case of Zimbabwean Chefs

In the media, the chef profession is portrayed as exciting and glamorous. However, research on the ground reveals that the job is characterized by high levels of stress and burnout, resulting from long and unsocial working hours, poor remuneration, close and direct supervision, and few career advancement opportunities, among other factors. Although the problem of job stress and burnout in hospitality jobs is well recognized in the literature, most of the empirical research has largely overlooked African countries. This study is an attempt to investigate sociocultural strategies for coping with stress and burnout in a developing country context, and to analyze these interpretively within the relevant sociocultural framework. Semistructured interviews were carried out with 23 hotel chefs in the resort town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The research concludes that any effective strategy for dealing with stress in the workplace can only be successful to the extent that it takes into account relevant sociocultural dynamics.

University challenge: sharing some experiences of engaging with industry

PurposeThis paper aims to share the experiences of one team working in management education for hospitality practitioners in a UK context, a setting in which the primacy of employers – as the key stakeholder in education provision – has been articulated for three decades.Design/methodology/approachThe paper undertakes a literature review exploring practitioner education and the stakeholders in the UK settings, and presents a study of the approach taken at one university.FindingsDespite being the dominant factor in this mono‐stakeholder approach in training policy provision and delivery employers continue to complain of skill shortage and difficulties when recruiting for skilled hospitality jobs. At heart, the problem rests with the assumption that skill needs are the same for all employers and that all employers know what skills they need and will need in the future. The paper also provides insights into one team's experiences of working exclusively with commercial clients.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is limited to the exploration of a case study, though it does provide some interesting insights into management development and research with a totally commercial client base.Originality/valueThe study provides fresh ideas and perspectives on issues related to hospitality management education. The insights and discussions promote critical thinking on hospitality industry management development and the relationships between educators and industry practitioners.

In defence of hospitality careers: perspectives of Zimbabwean hotel managers

PurposeMost of the research on hospitality jobs has focused on the least enjoyable aspects of hospitality careers, while overlooking its “upside”. This paper aims to look at the “love” side of what could be described as a love‐hate relationship that hospitality managers share with their jobs.Design/methodology/approachThe research used qualitative interviews with 83 hotel managers in 23 registered hotels belonging to the three‐ and four‐star categories in Zimbabwe.FindingsThe most liked attributes of hospitality management careers among Zimbabwean hotel managers were found to be: interacting with people from various countries, cultures, and lifestyles; working in a “nice” environment; perks; challenging work; stimulating work; glamour/prestige; the global nature of the industry and associated mobility; opportunities for networking with various groups of people; growth opportunities; dynamic and exciting nature of the industry; ability to apply individual creativity; and working with a diverse workforce.Research limitations/implicationsThe use of a Zimbabwean sample means that findings cannot be generalised for the worldwide hospitality industry.Originality/valueThe research rebalances the assessment of hospitality work by looking at the often overlooked “upside” aspects of hospitality careers.

The effects of personality traits and attitudes on student uptake in hospitality employment

A good understanding of why students either abandon or desire hospitality jobs is critical. The present study investigates the effects of personality traits and attitudinal factors on hospitality employment aspirations in a sample of 483 post-internship undergraduate hospitality seniors in Taiwan. The results show that the personality trait of extroversion is a significant predictor of students’ attitudes towards and aspirations regarding hospitality jobs. Industry-person congruency is a key attitudinal factor mediating the effect of extroversion on hospitality employment aspirations. Several implications for both hospitality educators and practitioners are also discussed.

Hotel job burnout: The role of personality characteristics

In hospitality and tourism academia, most research focuses on the work domain as a major source of hospitality job stress, with little attention given to employee characteristics. This study examines the effect of the Big Five personality dimensions (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience) on hotel employees’ job burnout. After controlling for two commonly known job burnout antecedents (autonomy and quantitative workload), study results indicate that personality attributes explain significant proportions of three job burnout factors. The most noteworthy finding is the predictability of the agreeableness trait in hotel employees’ job burnout. Because of the mixed results reported on the relationship between this trait and job stress in other disciplines, more vigorous future research is recommended to validate the value of this personality to the hospitality industry.

Age Management in Norwegian Hospitality Businesses

This study investigates how managers direct issues of an ageing workforce, and whether this has implications for the hospitality industry. Managers' experiences with managing age‐mixed workforces are outlined, and implications of an ageing workforce for the hospitality industry are discussed. The study is centred on five human‐resource areas; (1) Job recruitment, (2) training, development, and promotion, (3) flexible working practice, (4) job design, and (5) younger versus older workers. The latter includes managers' attitudes towards older employees. Data was collected by interviewing 20 Norwegian hospitality managers. Results indicated that managers have more positive than negative experiences with balancing the workforce with younger and older workers. No explicit age‐barriers were found in recruitment, but few managers planned to actively recruit older workers. Training programmes were not designed specially for older workers. Flexible working practices are difficult to organize in hospitality jobs. The study indicated that there are positive outcomes of creating age‐balanced workforces in the hospitality industry, because younger and older workers complement each other. No overt negative attitudes towards seniors were expressed, and older managers seemed to be more positive towards older workers.

Changes in hospitality workers’ exposure to secondhand smoke following the implementation of New York’s smoke-free law

Objective: To assess the impact on hospitality workers’ exposure to secondhand smoke of New York’s smoke-free law that prohibits smoking in all places of employment, including restaurants, bars, and bowling...

Managers' perceptions of older workers in the hotel and restaurant industry

The purpose of the study was to investigate how managers direct issues of an aging workforce, and whether this has implications for the hospitality industry. Further, managers' experiences with managing age-mixed workforces are outlined. Implications of an aging workforce for the hospitality industry are also discussed. Qualitative data were gathered from 20 hospitality managers in Norwegian hotels and restaurants through employing interviews. A three-step analysis indicates that in organizations employing an age-mixed workforce, managers have more positive than negative experiences with balancing the workforce with younger and older workers. No age barriers were found in recruitment, but few managers plan to actively recruit older workers. Training programmes are not designed specially for older workers. Flexible working practices are difficult to organize in hospitality jobs. There are positive outcomes of creating age-balanced workforces in the hospitality industry, because younger and older workers complement each other. No overt negative attitudes towards seniors were expressed, and older managers seemed to be more positive towards older workers.

The Development of an Instrument to Address the Negative Perception of Hospitality Jobs

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to introduce a new construct that would assist in understanding employee attitudes and behaviors in hospitality sector jobs. The research introduces job-esteem and justifies it as a unique construct worthy of further study. Job-esteem is defined as the level of respect and dignity an individual believes is associated with his/her job. An instrument was developed to assist in measuring the level of job-esteem found in hospitality employees. The instrument was then administered to 75 employees of a large hotel chain in Hawaii. Tests show the instrument meets reliability standards.

Attitudes of minority adolescents toward hospitality industry careers

A challenge facing America is the development of human capital, especially for the rapidly growing hospitality industry. Few studies have investigated high school students’ perceptions of hospitality careers, especially those of ethnic minorities in the US. This survey discovered significant differences between the perceptions of Anglo and minority students in Arizona. Surprisingly, although minority students often had less knowledge about hospitality jobs, they often had more interest in those jobs and in education and training programs for hospitality careers. The industry can capitalize on minority students’ interest, and enable them to pursue careers that will integrate the ranks of hospitality management.

Student expectations of hospitality jobs

This study identifies some of the basic expectations of students before being recruited by hospitality companies

Student Expectations of Hospitality Jobs

This study identifies some of the basic expectations of students before being recruited by hospitality companies

VOCATIONAL CAREER TESTING CONTRIBUTES TO STUDENT RETENTION IN HOSPITALITY PROGRAMS

This paper documents the successful use of The Self-Directed Search to improve student retention in a hospitality school. This vocational/career test helps students to identify their talents and interests and to match them to hospitality job positions which require the same type of personality qualities as they have. This paper is based on five years of data collection and analysis at a private two year career college.

Internships: A Two Year Community College Perspective From Ohio

Internships, externships, field experiences, cooperative work experiences, apprenticeships, practicums—There are probably as many combinations and adaptations of these terms in educational institut...