Undergraduate Hospitality Research Articles

Food Safety Knowledge of Undergraduate Nutrition Majors vs. Hospitality Management Majors

Food Safety Knowledge of Undergraduate Nutrition Majors vs. Hospitality Management Majors

Social networking sites versus professional networking sites: Perceptions of hospitality students

ABSTRACTCollege age students make up the largest segment of social networking populations, with 75% of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 participating to some degree. Previous research has shown that people are often exposed to social networking sites during their college years. This study examines hospitality students' perceived benefits and drawbacks of social networking sites versus professional networking sites. The sample consisted of students in undergraduate hospitality classes. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and multiple regression methods were utilized. This study found that Facebook was perceived to have no significant benefits and several drawbacks; whereas LinkedIn was found to have several significant benefits and no drawbacks. Implications are provided for the hospitality industry, as well as for business, human resources, and education.

Investigating the Entrepreneurship Behaviour among Hospitality Undergraduates in Egypt

The present paper makes an attempt to highlight the concept of entrepreneurship behaviour as a new way of employment patterns among hospitality seekers. Nowadays the hospitality graduates find themselves facing the public and private sector challenges. Work vacant places in both the Egyptian public and private sector are seldom to get it due to many problems such as nepotism, lack of salaries fairness, government legislation and privatization. Entrepreneurial behaviour has been a vibrant field of study because of the advantages of its career creation for those who need a career opportunity in their own potential companies. The main aim of this comparative research is to understand undergraduate student behaviour for entrepreneurship and the factors affecting entrepreneurial behaviour in the tourism and hospitality faculties in two different samples of universities in Egypt. One is private Pharos University in Alexandria and the other is public Fayoum University in Fayoum. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to a convenient sample of 130 students based in Fayoum and 60 students from the private one. Results revealed that respondents are considering entrepreneurship and interested in it especially in case of tourism crises that has been appeared after Egypt revolution and the inflation decision of the Egyptian central bank 2016. This research hypothesised that different personality traits, and education influence and shape the hospitality graduates entrepreneurial intentions. Some implications for practice are discussed and the research conceptual model contribution is recommended.

The Effect of Previous Work Experiences on Hospitality Undergraduate Students' Future Career Intention

This study aimed to discover how the better perceived previous work experience affect student career intention. To achieve this objective, a survey with self-administered questionnaire was conducted of hospitality undergraduate juniors and seniors. An analysis of the responses of 241 students revealed that students’ person-job fit, work engagement, and intrinsic/extrinsic job satisfaction perceived during their previous jobs promoted their’ future career intention to join the hospitality industry. Therefore, it is advisable that the industry practitioners and educators cooperate to arrange various job-experience programs so that participating students can find the right career earlier. By doing so, businesses can also be benefited in that they can have better chances to recruit right people for their businesses.

Taiwanese College Students’ Perceptions of Integrating Multimedia into ESP Courses

<p><em>The purpose of this study was to investigate the learning difficulties and the preferred learning strategies among Taiwanese college students while they were taking English for Specific Purpose (ESP) courses. Two different ESP courses are examined: one of the courses is an undergraduate Marketing English course and the other is an undergraduate Hospitality English course, both in a college of liberal arts and social science in the national university in Taiwan. The instructor in the ESP courses adopted the multimedia—integrated instruction. The multimedia—integrated instruction not only provided authentic materials for learners in the target ESP, but also offered students real situational settings and useful activities that based on individual need. The result of the study indicated that students’ self-learning effectiveness in both performance and linguistic skills were significantly improved. In addition, they reported satisfaction with the multimedia-integrated instruction. Thus, the multimedia—integrated instruction increase learners’ motivation and also offer a solution to learners’ problems in the development of ESP courses.</em><em></em></p>

“I Study Accounting Because I Have To”: An Exploratory Study of Hospitality Students’ Attitudes Toward Accounting Education

ABSTRACTThis article investigates an important misconception about studying accounting among undergraduate hospitality students. Despite the importance of accounting knowledge demanded by the hospitality industry, there is empirical evidence highlighting the poor performance of hospitality students in accounting-based units. These reasons can be attitude related, such as repetitive boring content, or capability related, such as poor numeric skills. To address this research gap, this study adopted the theory of planned behavior as the theoretical framework to elicit hospitality students’ perceptions of studying accounting for a nonaccounting degree. A total of 62 hospitality students participated in the interviews. Results suggest that although students’ attitudes fluctuated throughout their accounting study, positive attitudes were more common than negative attitudes. Perceived difficulties such as the complexity and challenges of complex accounting information can be reduced if the unit is perceived to be interesting and fun and the learning environment involves supportive faculty and classmates.

Making career decisions in a changing graduate labour market: A Hospitality perspective

The study seeks to understand how prospective hospitality graduates tackle the career decision-making task. In-depth interviews were conducted with 28 undergraduate hospitality students in the UK. The findings highlight the challenging nature of career decisions within the context of a changing graduate labour market. The adoption of a qualitative method, coupled with career decision-making theory has resulted in a study that gives a voice to the key participants in the education-to-work transition, the students themselves. These insights will enable higher education, policy makers and employers to assist students in their quest for employment.

Winning the Job Placement Competition: Industry’s Message and Academia’s Response

Hospitality undergraduates enter today’s workforce plagued by the fear of procuring a job in their chosen hospitality career. Hospitality management graduates’ unemployment rate hovers around an estimated 6.0%. A multitude of studies have been done to examine and explore attractive knowledge, skills, and abilities and attributes needed from quality graduates, but a paucity of studies have been used to understand marketing and presenting tactics for future hospitality graduates. This study seeks to explore strategies and actions that are currently being utilized or that could be designed and implemented to improve hospitality students’ position in their competitive job market. When these favorable strategies and/or gaps are identified, attempts can be made to execute them in future academic programs, which can ultimately enhance hospitality management students’ job placement success. Academic programs can use this information to combat teaching issues that challenge the process of educating 21st-century millennial students.

Perceived desirability, feasibility, and social norms as antecedents on hospitality students' entrepreneurial intention in Malaysia: does gender make a difference?

The purpose of this study is to test a research model that investigates the effects of perceived desirability, social norms, and perceived feasibility as antecedents on entrepreneurial intention in a Malaysian context. Data for this empirical investigation were gathered from a sample of full-time undergraduate hospitality management programme students. Respondents self-administered the questionnaires. A total number of 427 questionnaires were obtained in the research location. Results based on hierarchical regression analysis reveal that perceived desirability, social norm, and perceived feasibility are significant predictors on entrepreneurial intention. Results also demonstrate that female students are more willing on their entrepreneurial intentions when compared to male counterparts. The current study provides further contribution to tourism and hospitality management literature and provides useful guidelines to practitioners as well.

The Study on Constructing a Curriculum Model of Hotel English for Undergraduate Hospitality Management in Taiwan

To meet the development of the international tourism market, international tourist hotels have gradually replaced tourist hotels in Taiwan. Owing to the industrial trend, foreign language proficiency, which is essentially communicative skill training required for undergraduate students/learners and industrial practitioners, has been significantly emphasized and noticed among educational institutions and hospitality industries. This study namely aimed at constructing a English curriculum model for hospitality field which infused from English for Specific Purposes. The modified Delphi technique was adopted to determine the relevant course contents of ESP curriculum model for hospitality derived from the consensus of both educators and practitioners. The results revealed that two dimensions of ESP curriculum model for hospitality field constructed as well as nine courses contained in this study respectively. Also, it appears that Taiwan’s hospitality educators and practitioners should assist students/learners to strengthen English proficiency.

The Creativity Level of Taiwan Hospitality Undergraduate Students

It is believed that the ability to think creatively has been recognized as an important competency for success in business and many other fields. The purpose of this study is to explore the hospitality students’ creative level and to understand how student characteristics that affect creativity. The results showed the variables of gender, difference universities, location of universities, and type of high school graduated were associated with hospitality students’ overall creative performance.

Taiwanese Students’ Knowledge of Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction in Hospitality and Tourism: Developing and Testing an Assessment Instrument

This study develops an instrument for assessing the energy conservation and carbon reduction (ECCR) knowledge of undergraduate hospitality and tourism students in Taiwan. Based on an extensive literature review, we identified a knowledge framework incorporating 10 dimensions of ECCR knowledge related to hospitality and tourism. Using academic judgment and Bloom’s 2-way specification table process, we developed a multiple-choice item pool to finalize the assessment items. Through a questionnaire survey administered to 1,200 undergraduate hospitality and tourism students, 37 ECCR knowledge items were determined with appropriate levels of item reliability, difficulty, and discrimination. This validated instrument can help hospitality and tourism educators identify where and how to improve the ECCR knowledge of students for environmental sustainability. Specific implications and recommendations of this study are also provided.

An Assessment of the English Language Needs of the Second-Year Undergraduate Hospitality Students of Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Thailand

An Assessment of the English Language Needs of the Second-Year Undergraduate Hospitality Students of Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Thailand

Hospitality students’ perceptions of digital tools for learning and sustainable development

This paper interprets students’ perceptions of how they utilise technology for their learning and the link to sustainability and employability. A focus group approach is adopted with final year undergraduate hospitality students at three academic institutions in the UK, Switzerland and UAE. Diverse perceptions of the relationship between learning activities, eLearning tools, sustainability and employability are revealed. Comparisons are examined to better understand students’ perceptions of eLearning tools for sustainability. This paper highlights students’ awareness of the role of technology in sustainability and employability and calls on educators to promote a more integrated and multi-disciplinary approach to curriculum design.

Effects of Perceived Social Loafing, Social Interdependence, and Group Affective Tone on Students’ Group Learning Performance

This study investigates how students perceived social loafing and social interdependence influence group learning performance through group affective tone in undergraduate hospitality and tourism curricula. A questionnaire survey was administered to collect data from college students majoring hospitality and tourism management at four Taiwanese universities. Of 660 distributed questionnaires, 634 questionnaires were returned, accounted for a 96 % response rate. To justify the aggregated individual data to the group level, this study used the within-group inter-rater agreement (r wg) to assess and determine 123 valid learning groups for data analysis. The analytical results show that group affective tone significantly mediates the effect of social loafing and social interdependence on group productivity, but not on group final grades. Specific implications and suggestions are also discussed.

Developing and evaluating a hospitality skill module for enhancing performance of undergraduate hospitality students

This study develops and evaluates a 12-week hospitality skill module (HSM) for undergraduate hospitality programs in Taiwan to enhance student hospitality performance. A quasi-experimental design, with a sample of 101 students, was used to examine the effect of HSM intervention. The results show that students receiving the HSM intervention significantly enhance their hospitality performance and learning motivation. Student feedback also confirms that the HSM can increase their learning interest and experience. This study provides a useful template and implications for curriculum designers and instructors infusing core values and applications of commercial hospitality in an undergraduate hospitality curriculum.

English Proficiency of Non-Native Speakers as a Predictor of First-Year Performance in Undergraduate Hospitality Management Courses

The predictive value of the English level on entry of non-native international hospitality management undergraduates recruited into a Swiss hospitality course that is taught in English is examined in relation to the students' 1st-year undergraduate leadership program (LP) achievement and their cumulative grade point average (CGPA). Using secondary data relating to 349 students, we tested 3 hypotheses. Level of English on entry to the institution was found to be a statistically significant predictor of LP achievement at the 1st attempt and was positively associated with CGPA. Students who achieved the LP at the 1st attempt had statistically significantly higher CGPAs than their counterparts. The importance of achieving at least 1 grade above the minimum requisite entry English level is emphasized.

Student Reflections on Good & Bad Teaching Among Undergraduate Hospitality & Tourism Management Students

Student Reflections on Good & Bad Teaching Among Undergraduate Hospitality & Tourism Management Students This study aimed to describe student perceptions of good and bad teaching among hospitality and tourism students taking a large introductory class at a large Midwestern University. The study findings suggest that hospitality students describe good teaching as being delivered by those professors who care about the students, have a sense of humor, organized, know what they are talking about, and communicate what they know in a way that is understood by students and connected to the real world. Bad teaching was described by students as those who not only have a negative demeanor toward students but also deliver a lecture that is not fundamentally sound in addition to being boring, disorganized, and in a monotone manner. The results of this study should serve as best practices for those interested in enhancing the quality of instruction by doing those things students consider to be good teaching practices.

Passive Leadership Is Unlikely Among Hospitality Managers With High-Level Youth Sports Participation

Undergraduate hospitality students enter the workforce expected to embody proactive leadership styles needed to manage high turnover or advanced technology systems. This study examined the impact of low and high youth sports participation on effective leadership styles. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) 5X short-form instrument was utilized to examine leadership styles among a group of undergraduate students consisting of a random sample of 170 students from 2 midwestern institutions. A chi-square test found a significant difference between low and high youth sports participation in regard to effective leadership styles. A logistic regression analysis determined that undergraduate hospitality students with high youth sport experiences were less likely to exhibit passive leadership.

Academic perceptions of quality and quality assurance in undergraduate hospitality, tourism and leisure programmes: A comparison of UK and Taiwanese programmes

This study explores and compares academic perspectives of quality assurance and its procedures to evaluate undergraduate hospitality, tourism and leisure programmes (HTLPs) in both the UK and Taiwanese higher education systems. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted to identify academic key concerns and issues about HTLP quality. Additionally, a questionnaire survey was used to assess academic perceptions regarding the quality of HTLP provision in the aspects of strategic planning, curriculum and instruction, faculty, student achievement, resources, and administrative management. The results indicated that overall HTLP quality was perceived as satisfactory in both countries. The specific areas of ‘curriculum and instruction’ and ‘resources’ were commonly perceived as good quality, while relatively poor sub-dimensions such as ‘alumni feedback’ and ‘teacher performance’ were identified as areas requiring special attention for improving programme quality. The implications of this study provide useful insights into quality improvement and enhancement in HTLPs.