Chan Yi Lin & Sumitha Anantharajah
Abstract:
With the intergenerational changes that are taking place, the hospitality industry has to continuously look into better employee retention plans in order to keep up with the ever evolving industry and high turnovers. Internships is the most commonly used method to expose students to the industry as well as allowing them to explore career pathways. This study was conducted at a well-known hospitality school in Asia to examine students’ perspectives of the industry before internships. The findings can also aid stakeholders in developing effective internships that can help retain talents and to minimize its loss even before students graduate. Primary data collected from 142 hospitality students prior to their internships using a questionnaire was subjected to descriptive statistical and Pearson correlation analysis. The findings indicate that well-managed internship experiences have a significant impact on future career retentions.
Keywords: Perception, internship experience, future career, hospitality.