The Gap Analysis of Employability Competency in 4 to 5 Star Hotels, Bangkok from the Perspective of Hospitality Industry Stakeholders
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Abstract
The research is a part of for this dissertation, aims to identify gaps between the “Three Primary Stakeholders”, consisting of the hospitality managers, hospitality educators, and hospitality internship students. The research set out to identify gaps by examining the perceived level of importance of the competencies needed in the hospitality industry by the Three Primary Stakeholders; examine the level of performance of the three stakeholder groups as to whether these competencies are being met; and, then identify the gaps between the importance and performance levels of competencies needed in the hospitality industry as perceived by the stakeholders. Finally, as an outcome of the objectives, strategies were proposed to reduce the gaps in order to improve the curriculum to better meet industry needs. A competency model framework for the hotel and lodging industry, developed by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (Ennis, 2008), was adopted and was a key instrument in informing the research.
A quantitative survey using importance/performance analysis were used to identify perceived discrepancies between the hospitality education and industry needs with the overall expectations of students’ performance. The skill rating of each group was compared in order to develop a form of expectation-perception “gap analysis” to evaluate whether the students’ expectations and perceptions differ to the industry’s expectations and perceptions, and how well tertiary education prepares graduates from both industry and educational perspectives.
The researcher found that all three stakeholders had mutual agree that the “Communication” and “Willingness to learn” are the most important competencies which are needed for working in the hospitality industry, while the “Adaptability & Flexibility” and “Customer Service & Cultural Sensitivity” are among the highest performance as perceived by the three stakeholders. A pair sample t test was employed to test to determine whether there are the significant differences between importance and performance of employability competencies perceived by all stakeholders. The highest gaps between the importance and performance is the “Quality Assurance & Quality Control”, “Professionalism and Willingness to Learn”, and “Law & Regulation”. The discussion revealed how to narrow down those gaps. The results of this research contributes to the hospitality industry by identifying competency needs. Educational institutes can provide an industry informed curriculum based on the understanding of gaps of importance-perception analysis. Moreover, other researchers who are interested in this research area can further build this field of knowledge by applying the results to investigate related issues.
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