The purpose of this study was to describe and understand the role, the operations, and potential role of student-run commercial food operation in four-year hospitality education programs. Schools have a variety of curricular approaches to the study of food and beverage management and operations. The study examined six programs with food and beverage labs in the form of student-operated restaurants. Interviews were conducted with faculty from those programs, courses, and labs. Specifically, the questions focused on learning outcomes that students experience in the SOR, crucial components to enhance experiential learning, how they fit into the curriculum and the extent of involvement of faculty in the operation. The researchers performed a content analysis on the interviews resulting in the emergence of key themes and observations which held across all six subject programs. Other programs can thus benefit from understanding what these six programs had in common and considered important to achieving student experiential learning.

ABSTRACTThis study examined the relationship between hotel managerial employeesu0027 job satisfaction, their individual locus of control (LOC), and their perceptions of the organizational structure in which they work. Additionally, this study explored the relationship between LOC, organizational structure, and certain demographic variables. Finally, this study found there was a positive relationship between LOC and satisfaction, and it developed practical recommendations regarding what types of candidates hotels should hire, and how employees should be managed after they have been hired.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the potential impact of the cultural dimension of power distance on hotel managers' approach to business strategy development.Design/methodology/approachA survey was administered to hotel top managers in four countries, namely, the USA, Thailand, Malaysia, and Turkey. The questionnaire measured several aspects of strategy‐making process that are subject to differences in culture. Four research questions were answered using analysis of variance.FindingsThe results were less supportive to the proposed relationships in each of the research questions, which predicted that managers from varied power distance cultures would exhibit varied degrees of participative style, openness to strategic change, formality of strategic control, and people‐focused orientation when setting strategic goals.Research limitations/implicationsGeneralizability of the findings is limited due to the non‐response bias that could not be assessed in the present study, and the reliance on self‐report data.Practical implicationsHotel managers engaging in international alliances, affiliations, joint ventures, and other forms of collaboration with other managers in other countries should be less concerned about their counterparts' differences in strategic behavior and philosophy.Originality/valueThis study began to fill in the gap in the literature identified by previous researchers by providing empirical support for propositions about the relationship between culture and strategic management. The study provided insights into the process, as well as directions for the progression of the research stream dealing with the behavioral aspects of the strategic management of hotel organizations.

The purpose of this research is to assess the effect of pre-employment drug-testing policies on aspects of employee work performance in the full-service restaurant industry. Specifically, this study attempts to compare aspects of employee work performance in full-service restaurants with pre-employment drug-testing policies against the aforementioned aspects of work performance in full-service restaurants without pre-employment drug-testing polices. For the purpose of this study, work performance factors include absenteeism, turnover (voluntary and termination), and documented work-related injury/accidents. Results indicated no difference between employee absenteeism, turnover, or accidents among establishments with and without pre-employment drug-testing policies.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the following expatriate issues as related to the hospitality industry, from the perspective of practitioners: the most important management skills hotel expatriates should possess, whether these skills vary by the country of origin of the expatriate and parent company, and the most effective cross‐cultural training activities provided by hotel companies.Design/methodology/approach – Data for this exploratory study was obtained from a sample of 66 respondents from lodging organizations with membership in the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH & RA). Data was collected by means of self‐administered, web‐based surveys.Findings – Participants in this study indicate that expatriate management skills vary in importance for hotel expatriates. The results of the analysis of variance demonstrate that the importance placed on the different expatriate management skills varies based on country of origin of both the expatriate and the parent compan...

The purpose of this study is to determine the discrepancies, if any, in the competencies being taught in the classroom for hospitality tourism students versus what lodging and food and beverage professionals believe are the most important competencies to be taught. Personal interviews were conducted with both educators of, and industry professionals working in, lodging management, and the food and beverage industry. The results, incorporated into a competency domain model, indicate that there are small gaps between professionals and educators in both industries. This discovery suggests that lines of communication are not fully open between educators and professionals.

This study investigated both the historical development and future trends of restaurant cuisine in America. Italian cuisine is used as the basis of a prediction model. The study identifies the historical factors in menu trends in Italian–American cuisine; the factors that will influence culinary trends in the future, and whether the results can be applied to the development of a prediction model that will predict how restaurant cuisine in America may develop. This study used both qualitative (focus groups) and quantitative (online survey) methods. The growing popularity of Italian cuisine in the United States will continue to shape the evolution of America's restaurant cuisine.

As more hotel companies progressively internationalize their operations, the composition of their top management teams becomes more diversified. This necessitates the understanding of whether variations in strategic behavior and philosophy among these executives exist, which can be partially explained by differences in their national cultures. This article investigated the potential influence of masculinity on strategic behaviors by comparing hotel executives from three countries, the U.S., Thailand and Turkey. The findings indicated that executives associated with masculine cultures tended to use less involvement of others and less rationality in strategy development than their counterparts from feminine cultures. No differences were found regarding emphasis on content of strategic goals and openness to strategic change. Managerial implications and directions for future research are presented.

This study investigated the potential influence of the cultural dimension of individualism-collectivism on the approaches toward business strategy development. A total of 207 responses from hotel top executives from the United States, Malaysia, Thailand, and Turkey were analyzed quantitatively. The results demonstrated that differences between executives from cultures with varied degrees of emphasis on individualism were significant regarding openness to strategic change, strategy evaluation time horizons, involvement of others in the strategy development efforts, and criteria for strategy performance evaluation. The findings concerning the focus of strategic objectives and formality of strategic control were mixed. Implications of the findings for the international hotel companies are discussed, and limitations of the present study and venues for future research are provided.

The aim of this article was to investigate the potential influence of the cultural dimension of time orientation on the strategic behavior of hotel managers. A survey questionnaire was mailed to top-level hotel managers in the U.S. (short-term orientation) and Thailand (long-term orientation). A usable sample of 120 was used in the analysis. The results indicated that this cultural dimension provided a relatively proper base for explaining the differences between managers from these two countries. Compared to their American counterparts, Thai managers were found to place a stronger emphasis on longer term strategic plans, have a stronger tendency toward involving others when developing their business strategy, and a stronger reliance on long-term evaluation of strategy. No significant differences were found between the managers concerning openness to strategic change and commitment to strategic decisions. Directions for future research and implications for the hotel industry are presented.

The primary purpose of this research is to report on the current profile and development of hospitality programs of four-year universities in South Korea. Approximately 28 percent of four-year universities in South Korea have a hospitality program (i.e., hotel, restaurant, and/or tourism management). Information provided in this paper includes names and characteristics of institutions, website addresses of institutions, and faculty profiles. From this report, hospitality educators and practitioners will gain an understanding of South Korea's hospitality education and find access to detailed program information. International educators and Korean educators can utilize this information to help determine the adequacy of programs for potential collaboration, exchange partners, or recruiting. Industry practitioners may also use the information to recruit students as potential interns or employees as hospitality businesses expand globally and their customers become more multicultural.

An often-asked question in the hospitality industry is whether graduates of hospitality education programs possess the competencies that the hospitality industry believes students should possess. The purpose of this study is to determine the discrepancies, if any, in the competencies being taught in the classroom for hospitality tourism students versus what lodging and food and beverage professionals believe are the most important competencies to be taught. Semi-structured, personal in-depth interviews were conducted with Research proceedings of the 13 Annual Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality and Tourism, 2008, Orlando, Florida. both educators of, and industry professionals working in, lodging management, and the food and beverage industry. The results of this study, incorporated into a competency domain model, indicate that there are small gaps between professionals and educators in both industries, as well as differences between the two industries. This discovery suggests that lines of communication are not open between educators and professionals. Faculty internships, industry forums, and interaction with graduating students are suggested means to opening communication.

The purpose of this research was to assess the job satisfaction perceived by United States secondary hospitality teachers. A structured survey instrument form, Job Satisfaction Survey for Hospitality Teachers (JSSHT), was developed to collect data and a census survey was used. A total of 213 usable mailed surveys from 23 states, representing a 27.5% response rate, were included in the analysis. Nine job satisfaction dimensions were derived from 36 job satisfaction attributes and the result of Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) showed that secondary hospitality teachers with different demographic characteristics had significant differences in their satisfaction levels toward the nine dimensional factors. Three satisfaction determinants, "nature of work," "coworkers," and "supervision" and were identified as strong indicators of secondary hospitality teachers' overall job satisfaction.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to empirically investigate the potential influence of uncertainty avoidance (UA) on hotel top managers’ approach to strategy development. Scales were developed to measure managers’ openness to strategic change, involvement of others, formality of strategic control, type of data used in strategic analysis, and strategic planning time horizon. Responses from 207 managers (50 Americans, 43 Malaysians, 70 Thai, and 44 Turkish) were analyzed using ANOVA. The findings indicated that UA had minimal influences on the managers’ approach, as different managers from cultures with varied degrees of UA demonstrated noticeable similarities among the five variables investigated. Practical implications as well as suggestions for future research were provided.

Part of the seasonal employee retention problem stems from a lack of understanding of diversified seasonal employees. The overall job satisfaction of seasonal workers and the attitudes toward co-workers and the workplace need to be studied to identify factors that would help employers in retaining a full workforce. Job satisfaction, the workers' perceptions, and expectations of social and physical working environments were identified. Seasonal workers perceive different social and moral values, and management might affect seasonal worker job satisfaction. Such differences may help in explaining the relationship between social value and job satisfaction relationship in summer destination resorts.

The purpose of this study was to identify university customers' satisfaction levels regarding foods and services in the food court at Oklahoma State University. A survey of 276 customers was conducted regarding customer satisfaction levels of foods and services. Results indicated that food quality was found to be the most important factor contributing to customers' overall satisfaction. It is suggested that management should pay attention to the freshness, appearance, and nutrition of the food to increase the customers' satisfaction. Moreover, focusing on product differentiation by offering convenience packaged Asian, Mexican, and Italian cuisines may prove to be a potential variable contributing to customers' purchasing patterns.

There were three objectives of this study: (1) to identify and document patterns in operational audits currently being used in hotel housekeeping operations in North America; (2) to analyze and summarize the most important elements of these housekeeping audits; (3) to develop a generic hotel housekeeping audit which could be self-administered by employees and management. Qualitative methodologies including document content analysis, expert panel analysis and instrument field testing were used. The study resulted in a generic, comprehensive housekeeping operational audit. (C) 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

Ethics is a growing concern for American society, particularly in the hospitality industry. It is a topic that is hard to define and hard to grasp. Educators and practitioners alike are struggling with this issue. The results of this study have generated a number of implications for hospitality ethics education. Although not generalizable, the results imply that many hospitality programs have not incorporated and implemented ethics education into their curricula, however faculty members tend to think that they have. These results support the literature review. Furthermore, most hospitality educators, the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education members (I-CHRIE), believe that business ethics can be taught and ethics courses or seminars have been of benefit to them. Most hospitality educators have not taught any ethics related courses or seminars at their academic programs within the last year. Most hospitality educators have not conducted any research projects related to ethics in the past year. In conclusion, there is a need to incorporate and implement ethics education and training for students and employees. Ethics education may enhance students' business ethics knowledge and hospitality employees' ethical conduct to improve the overall quality of the hospitality industry since most hospitality educators believe that business ethics can be taught and ethics courses or seminars are of benefit to them. Hospitality industry and hospitality programs may consider incorporating ethics across the curriculum and using scenarios and case studies to teach ethics.