[Paper Review] Hospitality Students' Perceptions towards Working in Hotels: a case study of the faculty of tourism and hotels in Alexandria University

Sayed Elhoushy|arXiv (Cornell University)|Jul 22, 2018

Hospitality and Tourism Education11 references4 citations

TL;DR

This study investigates hospitality students' perceptions of hotel careers at Alexandria University's Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, using a survey of 20 career-influencing factors. Despite perceiving the industry as failing to deliver key personal and professional values, 70.6% still intend to work in hospitality, suggesting a perception-practice gap that stakeholders must address through targeted interventions to improve career image and retention.

ABSTRACT

The tourism and hospitality industry worldwide has been confronted with the problem of attracting and retaining quality employees. If today's students are to become the effective practitioners of tomorrow, it is fundamental to understand their perceptions of tourism employment. Therefore, this research aims at investigating the perceptions of hospitality students at the Faculty of Tourism in Alexandria University towards the industry as a career choice. A self-administrated questionnaire was developed to rate the importance of 20 factors in influencing career choice, and the extent to which hospitality as a career offers these factors. From the results, it is clear that students generally do not believe that the hospitality career will offer them the factors they found important. However, most of respondents (70.6%) indicated that they would work in the industry after graduation. Finally, a set of specific remedial actions that hospitality stakeholders could initiate to improve the perceptions of hospitality career are discussed.

Motivation & Objective

• To understand hospitality students’ perceptions of working in hotels as a career choice.
• To identify which personal and professional factors students consider important in career selection.
• To assess the extent to which the hospitality industry meets these perceived expectations.
• To explore the gap between students’ expectations and their actual perceptions of the industry.
• To propose actionable strategies for stakeholders to improve the image and appeal of hospitality careers.

Proposed method

• A self-administered questionnaire was developed to rate the importance of 20 factors influencing career choice.
• Students evaluated how well a hospitality career satisfies each of the 20 factors.
• Data were collected from students at the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Alexandria University.
• Quantitative analysis was used to compare perceived importance of factors against perceived availability in the industry.
• Statistical analysis identified significant discrepancies between expectations and perceived industry offerings.
• The study used descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation to analyze responses and derive recommendations.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 What factors do hospitality students consider most important when choosing a career?
• RQ2 To what extent do students believe the hospitality industry fulfills these important career factors?
• RQ3 What is the level of intention among hospitality students to pursue careers in hotels after graduation?
• RQ4 What specific gaps exist between students’ expectations and the perceived reality of hotel work?
• RQ5 What remedial actions can stakeholders implement to improve perceptions of hospitality careers?

Key findings

• Students generally believe that the hospitality industry does not meet the personal and professional factors they consider important in a career.
• Despite this perception gap, 70.6% of respondents indicated they would still work in the hotel industry after graduation.
• The most valued factors included job security, work-life balance, and opportunities for advancement, which students felt were inadequately provided in hospitality.
• Students expressed concerns about long working hours, low prestige, and limited career progression in the sector.
• The study identifies a significant disconnect between students’ expectations and the perceived reality of hotel careers.
• The findings suggest that stakeholders must take deliberate actions to rebrand and improve the appeal of hospitality careers to attract and retain talent.