A Study of Internship Programme Effects on HTM StudentsCareer Intentions to Join Hospitality Industry in China

【Abstract】The increase world tourism is generating numerous employment opportunities in the hospitality industry in China. However， the top challenge lies in the attraction and retention of skilled and qualified employees to join this industry and the mainland China has encountered with a serious mismatch between supply and demand for personnel. Due to the problem of a great proportion of Chinese Hospitality and Tourism Management （HTM） programme students are not intention to work for this industry after conducting internship programme. Therefore it is important and purposive for this paper to provide a value conceptual model that predicting the effects of internship programme on HTM students career intentions to enter the hospitality industry， which is filling the literature gap of hospitality management research in China.

【Key words】Career Intention; Hospitality Industry; Internship Programme

【作者簡介】张慧（1985-），女，汉族，宁夏银川人，北方民族大学管理学院，讲师，博士，研究方向：旅游管理实践教学与就业决策研究。

1. Introduction

The increase world tourism is generating numerous employment opportunities in the hospitality industry in China. To illustrate， the statistics from the China National Tourism Administration （2015）， in 2014 there were 565 universities with Hospitality and Tourism Management （HTM） programme， which recruited 53，386 bachelor and 45，353 vocational students. However， not only does this number fail to meet the stated demand for hotel management professionals and staff， but a proportion of the graduates for whom the HTM programme were set up decide not to work in this industry （Brown et al.， 2014; Felicen et al.， 2014）. Moreover， according to some prior studies， the tourism and hospitality industry appears not to the top career choice by HTM graduates. It is therefore important for the university and industry collaboration to come up with strategies to employ for attraction and retention of HTM graduates and form a promising industry. Thus， this research investigates the internship programme roles in influencing students career intentions to stay in the hospitality industry in China.

2. HTM Students Career Intentions

Mainland China as the research context is important because of the scarcity of studies conducted within its hospitality and tourism industry. The first reason for Choosing China as the research context， as most of studies regarding internship programme in the field of hotel in the Western context is rich （Abdullah et al.， 2015; Bao & Fang， 2014; Brown et al.， 2014; Chen & Shen， 2012; Kim & Park， 2013; Ko， 2007）. Given the difference in cultural values between Westerners and Chinese， there has been a call for more studies in the Chinese context （Bao & Fang， 2014; Chang & Tse， 2015; Zhang & Gu， 2000）. HTM programme prepare students for career opportunities in a variety of workplaces from luxury hotels， restaurants， travel agencies， theme parks， resorts， convention centers， shopping malls， sports complexes， to tourism companies. Distinctive career titles that HTM graduates can qualify for include hotel manager， restaurant manager， tour operation manager and tour planning manager （ （Bao & Fang， 2014; Brown et al.， 2014; Chen & Shen， 2012）. In Brown et al.s （2014） research， data on UK hotel employment titles 2012-2022 predicted that around 10% of employment would have distinctive titles for lodging managers， with a median salary of US$47，680， and a 20% uptake of food and beverage service managers with a salary of US$48，560.

Chang and Tse （2015） used longitudinal data， distributing questionnaires to HTM graduates in Hong Kong between 2002 and 2010 to investigate their initial career choices in the hotel and tourism industry. Among their sample of 400 graduates， they found that more than 40% would like to find jobs in the hotel and tourism industry. 31% worked in the accommodation sector， 23% in catering， 9% in travel agencies， and 11% in municipal museums or tourism information centres. Other respondents represented entities related to tourism， such as local culture centres and the international airport. However， Bao and Fangs （2014） work reported that no more than 20% of the HTM graduates from good quality universities in China wished to work in the hotel industry， and of these 20% over half would choose to leave the industry within one year， for many reasons such as the nature of hotel jobs stated above， and not having career development opportunities （ Bloome et al.， 2009; Zhao & Zhu，2014）.

3.Internship Programme

Chang， Walsh et al. （2014） stated that internship is a structured and systematic industrial learning experience as well as career-relevant supervised professional work; in HTM programme it can be either mandatory or elective. Kim and Park （2013） agreed that internship is an essential learning practice in the HTM programme structure; it may be paid or unpaid， within an approved hotel organization， corporation or agency， under the direct supervision of the industrial organization and indirect supervision of a faculty member. The student can earn not only academic credit through this internship programme， but also in-depth knowledge of specific organizations. The role of internship has substantially changed over time. Today internship programme is characterized as a highly important component of the HTM curriculum structure， offering students valuable opportunities for putting into practice theories and knowledge from books and the classroom （Felicen et al.， 2014; Tse， 2010）. Internship programme also create a real environment and provide much broader spaces and contexts for students to test their knowledge and abilities， dispositions and social communication skills， operational techniques （Chuang & Dellman-Jenkins， 2010; Richardson 2009）.

Based on the ideas of Blomme et al. （2009）， educators suggest that a successful business internship should define clear objectives between cooperating organizations， provide feedback， give challenging assignments， provide exposure to the industry， and establish a clear understanding of what is to be accomplished not only from the educators point of view but also from the industry employers and supervisors. Most importantly， HTM students involved in internship programme can investigate the working organization as a future career choice （Chen & Shen， 2012; Donina， 2015; Ko， 2007; Tse， 2010）. In addition， Bao and Fang （2014） stated that the internship practice for the HTM students were usually arranged in accordance with the peak season， providing with base-line task at low cost for the hotel industry; this may badly affect students intern learning experience and distort their view of the hotel industry. The intern students were usually arranged for the position such as restaurant waiters/waitresses， housekeeping chambermaids and front desk receptionists. All these positions involve long working hours， less-skilled tasks and repetitive work. In addition， they are usually recognized as “set posts” with little or no opportunity for job rotation， poor remuneration， heavy workload and overtime without payment. Thus， many students complain of bad internship experience and cite these are the major reasons why they are not motivated to join the industry upon graduation.

4. Research Framework

Through the above discussion， the study proposed a conceptual model which establish the basic theoretical framework. The purpose of this model is to investigate the logical sense of relationships between the independent and dependent variables and aims to establish whether the hypotheses for testing those relationships are meaningful or not， a critical part of any research. Within this research context， as Figure 1 shows， three independent variables are input： educators planning， industry involvement， interns experience， and the general internship programme satisfaction to evaluate students career intentions as the major dependent variable.

5. Figure1. Research Framework

Many researchers （Blomme et al.， 2009; Chang et al， 2014; Donina， 2015; Felicen et al.，2015） identified the programme as a valuable solution to building a partnership with the hotel and tourism industry， helping HR departments to retain the talents of graduates needed 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. They have pointed out that three related stakeholders in the internship programme are the university， industry， and the students themselves， all playing important roles in students decisions to stay within the hotel industry after graduation.

Some researchers （Chang & Tse， 2015; Ko， 2007） investigated students perceptions of HTM curriculum structures and internship programme design by university educators， and concluded that a good internship programme can strongly motivate students to remain in the industry. Other researchers （Blomme et al.， 2009; Chang et al.， 2014; Kim & Park， 2013） 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. Meanwhile， other researchers such as Felicen et al.（2014）， Bao and Fang （2014）， Chen and Shen （2012） found the students themselves to be the most relevant stakeholders in internship programme; negative attitudes and dissatisfaction with the programme are the major reasons for not choosing to work in the hotel industry after graduation. They all believed the internship programme satisfaction was obviously one of best learning experiences which influenced students career intentions to join the hospitality industry in future.

6. Conclusion And Future Studies

Despite numerous studies on HTM internship programme satisfaction working in the hospitality industry， few have examined the relationship between three stakeholders and HTM students career intentions， a gap which this study will fill. A conceptual framework for this study was proposed and three stakeholders of internship programme were evaluated from the literature. Further empirical study in this area is in progress along with a follow-up of undergraduate students via survey to determine statistical findings.

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