The growing prominence of educational travel calls for a more nuanced understanding of the factors shaping students' travel intentions. This study integrates the Theory of Planned Behavior with Reference Group Theory as complementary frameworks to develop a model that elucidates the decision-making processes of Chinese adolescents, specifically middle and high school students, regarding educational travel. Analysis of data from 508 completed questionnaires identified key determinants of students' intentions. First, informational social influence exerts a positive influence on students' travel intentions, perceived behavioral control, and attitudes. Second, normative social influence affects perceived behavioral control but does not significantly predict intentions or attitudes. Third, students' attitudes partially mediate the relationship between informational social influence and behavioral intention. Lastly, perceived behavioral control does not directly influence behavioral intentions. These insights reveal distinct differences from traditional tourism decision-making paradigms, offering both valuable theoretical contributions and practical implications for the enhancement of educational travel initiatives.
Culinary education increasingly demands pedagogies that develop technical competence, sensory acuity, and creative confidence in tandem. This study examines the effectiveness of integrating five-sense experiential learning with scaffolding theory in an 18-week western cooking practicum offered to 80 first-year hospitality management students drawn from heterogeneous admission pathways at a single institution in Taiwan. A mixed-method design combined pretest - posttest surveys with semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and reflective journals. Paired-samples t-tests revealed statistically significant improvements in culinary competencies, perceived learning quality, and learning satisfaction. Students attributed these gains to systematic sensory exploration - sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch - combined with structured, step-by-step instruction, collaborative activities, and the use of distinctive local ingredients. Despite the single-institution sample and reliance on self-report data, the findings suggest that a multi-sensory, scaffolded framework effectively addresses diverse skill levels and offers a replicable model for hospitality and culinary education.
The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in the hospitality and tourism (H&T) industry has accelerated digital transformation and made equipping future H&T professionals with AI literacy essential. This study, situated in Macao's H&T context, focuses on identifying essential AI competencies for university H&T students and exploring effective technology-aided teaching for instructors. Guided by the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, interviews with H&T practitioners, educators, and students reveal the need for skills in data analysis, interdisciplinary knowledge, AI-based H&T applications, creativity, prompt engineering, and critical awareness of ethical, legal, and environmental issues. Findings underscore the importance of integrating AI literacy into pedagogy through scaffolding, project-based learning, inquiry-based instruction, and experiential learning approaches like VR/AR simulation and practicum. They provide actionable insights for aligning H&T education with industry demands, positioning AI literacy at the core of curriculum design for a sustainable and AI-driven future in H&T.
This study explores how generative AI tools, specifically ChatGPT, influence student engagement and learning outcomes in hospitality education through an integrated Interactive-constructive-active-passive (ICAP) and stimulus - organism - response (S-O-R) framework. Using a sample of 400 Taiwanese hospitality and tourism students with prior ChatGPT experience, the study tested a multistage mediation model linking technology-integrated activities to academic performance and behavioral intentions. The results from structural equation modeling supported all the hypothesized indirect effects. Technology-enhanced learning significantly increased interest-type curiosity, which subsequently amplified students' desire for learning, hedonic motivation, and positive attitudes toward AI. These psychological pathways collectively improved academic performance and strengthened the behavioral intention to adopt AI tools in future learning. The findings highlight the role of curiosity-driven engagement in vocational education and suggest that well-designed, interactive AI tasks can transform technology use from a passive tool into an active driver of meaningful learning and future readiness.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly progressed in the hospitality and tourism industry. While various types of AI integration in higher education have been explored in other disciplines, the use of AI-generated teaching in the hospitality and tourism context has remained underexplored. This study explores the impact of instructor type - AI vs. deepfake AI vs. human - on students' learning quality and performance, with emotional and cognitive engagement as mediators. By taking a single-factor experimental design approach, the results of this study highlight the critical role human instructors play in effective learning outcomes through building emotional connections. The findings also reveal the limitations of current AI and deepfake technology in higher education contexts. This study offers both theoretical and practical implications.
Given the increasing incorporation of artificial intelligence tools in hospitality education and industry, the role of AI in student experiential learning becomes more important than ever. However, limited research has explored the effective integration of AI into student learning. Adopting experiential learning theory, this research identifies the types of learning outcomes students demonstrate and their perceptions of conventional teacher-directed, AI-based, and human-AI collaborative teaching approaches in hospitality education. Using qualitative approach, our findings show distinctive learning outcomes for each approach: teacher-directed learning enhances critical thinking and real-world application, AI-based learning improves data literacy and efficiency, and human-AI collaboration strengthens reflective learning and the integration of objective and subjective insights. Moreover, students' perceptions highlight the importance of sequence-based teaching approaches to balance human creativity with AI-driven analysis. Our findings provide significant insights on how AI can be effectively integrated to enhance experiential learning for future hospitality leaders.
Internships are widely recognized as a foundation for students' employability for tourism and hospitality programs. However, most research emphasizes student perspectives, with limited attention to employers' evaluations. This study addresses this gap by examining employers' perceptions of interns' performance, specifically focusing on soft skills. Data were collected from 5,653 employers who assessed students enrolled in an internship course at a stand-alone College of Hospitality Management at a large university in the United States between the years of 2016 and 2024. The model, empirically tested with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, assessed the influence of seven soft skills (communication, analytical ability, information application, emotional intelligence, organization, teamwork, leadership) upon employers' evaluations of work habits, and their subsequent impact on overall internship performance. Organization/planning, information application, and teamwork emerged as the strongest predictors. Results contribute to theoretical knowledge in experiential learning, advancement in the hospitality education curriculum, and internship programs design.
Labor shortages in hospitality present opportunities to employ capable individuals with physical disabilities. An empirical study of 144 practitioners perceived that individuals with physical disabilities can work in the hospitality sector, although employment opportunities depend on their job competencies. To meet the expectations of employers, students with disabilities should pursue a college education or vocational training to enhance their skills and qualifications. This preparation enhances employability and supports inclusive workforce development in the industry, promoting diversity and addressing labor gaps while empowering students with disabilities to make meaningful contributions to the hospitality sector. The results of this study also enable education and service professionals who work closely with students with physical disabilities to be aware of the industry's expectations.
This study examines Ghanaian undergraduate tourism and hospitality (T&H) students' perception of employability, focusing on the impact of support systems and career management strategies. Specifically, it examines whether self-efficacy and ambition help explain the relationship between career-related social support (PCRSS), career self-managed behavior (CSMB), and employability outcomes. A quantitative approach was used, involving survey data from 593 third- and final-year students across four public tertiary institutions in Ghana. The direct and indirect relationships among the key constructs were measured using PLS-SEM. The study found that PCRSS and CSMB did not directly affect employability; instead, their effects were indirect. Psychological traits significantly influence employability, suggesting that students' confidence and motivation to pursue their goals are crucial for achieving career support and career behaviors. The study explores psychological factors influencing employability in a developing country's T&H sector, enhancing Social Cognitive Career Theory by emphasizing the link between self-efficacy and ambition.
AI-powered ChatGPT has significantly influenced the learning process among college students, including those in hospitality and tourism programs. While it offers substantial benefits for students, its misuse and unethical practices in academic settings present considerable challenges and concerns. This study examines the role of responsible ChatGPT use in influencing academic buoyancy and academic grit and, in turn, enhancing academic well-being among hospitality and tourism college students. The SmartPLS program was used to test hypothesized relationships based on data from 273 undergraduate students enrolled in seven hospitality and tourism college programs. The findings highlight an important direct and indirect role of responsible ChatGPT use in promoting academic well-being. These insights provide valuable implications for hospitality administrators and faculty members, emphasizing the need for clear and practical guidelines on the ethical and effective use of ChatGPT in academic environments.
Hospitality higher education has undergone significant changes in the post-pandemic era, reshaping student expectations, motivations, and engagement with their college experiences. This study explored those evolving sentiments among students, focusing on factors impacting their satisfaction with their college and degree program choices. The qualitative methodology utilized focus groups to generate data for a thematic analysis. Key themes emerged, including curriculum relevance, expectations, approachable faculty, sense of belonging, and student agency. The findings offer a contemporary perspective on Astin's theory of student involvement and highlight the practical need to reevaluate institutional policies to better align with the changing expectations of contemporary hospitality management students.
This study explores, characterizes, and outlines a conceptual framework for the construct of tourism students' resilience to the uncertainty caused by COVID-19. The novelty of this research lies in its focus on personal resilience through students' attitudes toward a tourism career during a crisis. This research uses a mixed-methods approach by integrating qualitative insights with quantitative data from the validated COVID Stress Scales. This study reveals a novel four-phase resilience process, according to which a resilient construct emerges when students manage initial emotional disruptors, reframe adversity cognitively, and implement proactive behavioral strategies. This exploratory study contributes to the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and career construction theory by illustrating the ways in which students reinterpret adversity, maintain motivation, and build resilience during a crisis. The research highlights the importance of fostering a resilient construct through skill development, university - industry collaboration, and workplace interventions by recommending actions in the four phases.
This paper examines big data analytics (BDA)'s pivotal role in decision-making effectiveness in health tourism-related education settings. This paper also highlights the mediating effect of attitudes toward health tourism-related education and the moderating function of innovative organizational culture. Data were collected from 527 technology development managers within MENA tourism higher education institutions using ADANCO-PLS v.2.4. Findings showed that attitudes toward health tourism-related education partially mediated the relationship between decision-making effectiveness and two BDA management capabilities (i.e. planning and decision-making). Further, an innovative organizational culture strengthened the effect of BDA planning and decision-making on attitudes toward health tourism-related education. This paper highlights how positive attitudes enhance educational strategies and sustainable planning, contributing to policymakers and tourism educators.
The hospitality industry's growing focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles requires hospitality educators to equip students with essential knowledge and skills. This study examines students' perceptions, familiarity, and learning experiences with ESG education, applying Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a framework to understand their motivation toward ESG learning. Semi-structured interviews with 39 students from three U.S. hospitality programs highlight key gaps, including fragmented ESG instruction and limited focus on social and governance aspects compared to environmental sustainability. Students acknowledge ESG's importance for the industry and their career choice. Many students advocate for more structured, hands-on ESG education. This study offers actionable recommendations for developing ESG curricula, ensuring that hospitality graduates are well-equipped for an ESG-conscious industry.
As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) becomes more influential in higher education, the student body's capacity to use GenAI safely and ethically, particularly where misinformation is easily propagated, such as nutrition, is still under-researched. In the present study, a faculty-designed online nutrition course required students to engage in AI-generated information over two semesters. With an enrollment of 424 students, researchers tracked student perspectives on the tool's usability and trustworthiness. Results suggest most students are initially more trusting of information created by the AI than that of other sources, despite beginning the course with mixed opinions about GenAI's usefulness. As the semester progressed, students became more scrutinizing of AI-generated information, despite a significantly greater number of students also confessing a positive opinion of the tool's place in higher education. With this change, students found the platform easier to use, with a heightened desire to continue using it.
This study examines how artificial intelligence (AI) can foster knowledge building in hospitality and tourism education (HTE) through the Intelligent TPACK (ITPACK) framework, which extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). A dual-stage hybrid PLS-SEM-ANN approach was applied to data from 439 educators to assess the impact of constructs such as content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological readiness on AI adoption. Findings reveal that content knowledge is a key driver of intelligent pedagogical integration, while perceived ease of use and technological readiness influence educators' intention to adopt AI tools. Organizational support strengthens AI-enabled pedagogy, whereas technological anxiety hinders adoption. The study contributes a novel AI-driven framework tailored to HTE, offering actionable strategies for curriculum designers and academic leaders. It advances the understanding of GenAI integration and provides practical insights for improving digital readiness, reducing anxiety, and aligning pedagogy with the needs of the tourism industry.
