The Ethical Orientations of Hotel Managers and Hospitality Students: Implications for Industry, Education, and Youthful Careers

Abstract

In this comparative study of hotel managers and hospitality students, differ ences in four value-based areas of ethical orientation are identified and examined relative to influence on decision-making, educational curricula, and youthful careers.

Ethical Orientation and Awareness of Tourism Students

“…The level of ethical education is likely to have an influence on ethical decision making (Whitney, 1989). The last decade has seen an increase in the demands for ethical training amongst tourism students (Tribe, 2002;Jamal, 2004).…”

“…The last decade has seen an increase in the demands for ethical training amongst tourism students (Tribe, 2002;Jamal, 2004). However, there is little evidence that tourism students are receiving ethical education (Cohen, et al 2001;Whitney, 1989), and no research has looked at the relationship between this training and ethical decision making. Singh's (1989) survey of Canadian management schools shows that nearly half of all those Universities surveyed did not offer a formal course in business ethics to their students.…”

“…However, while some studies have examined the ethical orientation of hospitality students (Pizam and Lewis, 1979;Whitney, 1989;Freedman and Bartholomew, 1990;Stevens, 2001), no research has been conducted to date on either the ethical perspectives, or the decision making approaches of tourism students. This paper aims to address this shortcoming by measuring both ethical awareness and orientation of a sample of tourism students in three different countries through the application of the Multidimensional Ethics Scale (MES).…”

“I hope it won’t happen to me!” Hospitality and tourism students’ fear of difficult moral situations as managers

“…moral prudence, strength and integrity, but also how good leaders prevent and evade morally difficult situations, and how they perform when they, as leaders, have to handle unavoidable situations. Previous research confirms that students have images of moral issues in the industry, they clearly differentiate between branches in the industry (Ross, 2003), and that the differences in perceptions of ethical issues between university/college students and practitioners in the industry are of minor explainable character (Lundberg, 1994;McCleary & Vosburgh, 1990;Whitney, 1989). However, our insight into the students' implicit theories is very limited.…”

“…Nation 's Restaurant News, 2003), academic associations (e.g. Allan, 1992), academics who are concerned about education (Casado, Miller, & Vallen, 1994;Hegarty, 1990;Lundberg, 1994;Whitney, 1989;Yeung & Pine, 2003), and academics who question and discuss the ethical foundation of ethics in tourism (e.g. Fleckenstein & Huebsch, 1999;Holden, 2003;Hultsman, 1995;Ryan, 2002).…”