The hospitality industry: an attractive employer? An exploration of students' and industry workers' perceptions of hospitality as a career field

TLDR

The hospitality industry faces high management-level turnover, and unmet expectations are a known predictor of employee exit. The study compares expectations of students, graduates, and workers, investigates how expectation gaps affect their intent to leave, and identifies additional motivations for students and graduates to join the industry. Students and graduates cite additional reasons for choosing hospitality beyond expectation gaps.

Abstract

Abstract As management-level turnover is growing rapidly, one of the major challenges for the hospitality industry is to retain highly-educated and highly-skilled employees. Previous research studies show that unmet expectations may be a predictor for employee turnover. This study examines the differences between the expectations of students, graduates and hospitality workers. It also examines why these differences influence the unmet expectations of these three groups regarding their intention to leave. The study also reveals additional reasons why students and graduates may decide to work in the hospitality industry.