Undergraduate hospitality students’ perceptions of careers in the industry: The Ghanaian context

Abstract

The study examined undergraduate students’ perceptions about careers in the hospitality industry in Ghana. Students were sampled from traditional and technical public universities through a stratified random sampling technique. With a sample size of 1 341, exploratory factor analysis, t-test and one-way analysis of variance were employed to analyse the data. The findings show that career attractiveness, prestige and mobility and the nature of hospitality careers were the main constructs of students’ perceptions about careers in the hospitality industry. Also, undergraduate students were generally indifferent about careers in the industry. Specifically, students perceived careers in the industry to offer opportunities to meet new people, but this was also stressful. Implications for educators and industry practitioners are presented.

Keywords: careers, Ghana, hospitality industry, industry experience, perceptions, undergraduate students