Over qualified and under experienced

TLDR

This study investigates hospitality managers’ expectations of graduate skills versus student perceptions, proposes strategies to bridge expectation gaps, and introduces a generic skills framework as an alternative to prior competency models. The authors surveyed 850 Australian hospitality managers and 211 undergraduate students using a generic skills framework to collect data on skill expectations. Managers rated interpersonal, problem‑solving, and self‑management skills as most important, while students’ perceptions aligned; disagreement centered on conceptual and analytical skills, with managers discounting them, highlighting the study’s relevance for curriculum design. The study’s findings are limited by a predominantly Australian manager sample, suggesting the need for cross‑cultural replication.

Abstract

Purpose This paper sets out to report on research that investigated hospitality managers' expectations of graduate skills and compared those expectations with student perceptions of what hospitality managers value. Design/methodology/approach The research adopted a generic skills framework and data were collected through a sample survey of 850 Australian hospitality managers and 211 undergraduate hospitality management students. Findings Managers rated skills associated with interpersonal, problem solving, and self‐management skill domains as most important while students appeared to have realistic perceptions of the skills that managers value when recruiting hospitality graduates. The most substantial areas of disagreement came in those skills associated with the conceptual and analytical domain. Industry managers tended to discount the skills in this domain relative to students. Research limitations/implications The sample of managers used in this study were predominantly of Australian nationality and, in an increasingly global hospitality labor market, there may be some benefit in repeating this study with managers from different cultural backgrounds. Practical implications A number of strategies are proposed in the paper for bridging the expectation gaps and ensuring better learning outcomes for students and industry stakeholders. Originality/value In adopting the generic skills framework this research presents an alternative to previous studies that have used a management competencies framework. As such, it is of more immediate value to those responsible for designing undergraduate hospitality management curriculum who need to ensure that programs meet academic standards as well as industry and student expectations regarding the skill sets needed in the workplace.