Training, Satisfaction with Internship Programs, and Confidence about Future Careers among Hospitality Students: A Case Study of Universities in Taiwan

A Conceptual Model of Predicting the Effects of Motivational Factors on the Students’ Career Decisions to join Hospitality Industry in China

“…Some researchers (Blomme et al, 2009;Chang & Tse, 2015;Ko, 2007;Maertz et al, 2014;Pizam et al, 2013) investigated students' perceptions of HTM programme curriculum structures and internship programme design by university educators, and concluded that a good internship programme structure design can strongly motivate their students to remain in the industry. Other researchers (Blomme et al, 2009;Chang et al, 2014;Chuang & Dellmann-Jenkins, 2010;Kim & Park, 2013;Zopiatis & Constanti, 2012) highlighted the industrial practitioners' provision of poor internship programme in terms of inadequate training and career development, insufficient support from supervisors and co-workers, low salary and benefits; such negative experiences convinced most intern students to leave the industry.…”

“…All of the above characteristics are cited as part of intrinsic context factors in which students choose not to enter this industry (Chen & Shen, 2012;Ross, 2005). Consequently, they do not perceive recognition and responsibility from their jobs, and little evidence of promotion or advancement for their future career planning; they are thus unlikely to make a career decision to work in the hospitality industry after graduation (Chang & Tse, 2015;Ko, 2007;Larsson et al, 2007;O'Reilly & Caldwell, 1980;Richardson, 2009). …”

“…Many researchers (Donina, 2015;Kamau & Waudo, 2012;Lam & Ching, 2007;Yiu & Law, 2012;Zopiatis & Constanti, 2012) identified the internship programme as a valuable solution to building a partnership with the hospitality and tourism industry, helping HR departments to retain the talents of graduates they would need in the future. Internship programme, providing workplace training, are employed by the industry as an important strategic technique to identify the talents and potential of future management for the industry (Ko, 2007;Lam & Ching, 2007).…”

The Effect of Information Channel on Information Source Selection: Students' Information Search

“…Existing research covers what students learn from internships (Tse, 2010), how effective internships are in facilitating students' learning and career development (Gruman et al, 2009; B. P. Kim et al, 2010), what aspects of internships affect students' internship satisfaction (Ko, 2007), and what internship partners expect from internship completion (Solnet et al, 2009). Also, previous research reports the gap between students' expectation of internship before and their experiences during or after internship in the area of subjective work environments (e.g., supervisory support, feeling of being a team member, good peer relationship), objective work environment (e.g., remuneration, housing), and job (e.g., interesting and challenging work, good work experience) (Beggs et al, 2008;Cho, 2006;Lam & Ching, 2007).…”

“…Despite the importance of internship in tourism and hospitality education learning (Assante, Huffman, & Harp, 2010;Gruman, Barrows, & Reavley, 2009; B. P. Kim, McCleary, & Kaufman, 2010), there is surprisingly little academic research that studies how students conduct internship information search. Existing studies have mainly examined internship experience (Beggs, Ross, & Goodwin, 2008;Cho, 2006;Lam & Ching, 2007;Solnet, Kralj, Kay, & DeVeau, 2009), career decision making (B. P. Kim et al, 2010;Ko, 2007), and experiential learning (Gruman et al, 2009;S. A. Lee, 2008).…”