Hospitality faculty: are we meeting the demands of industry?

ABSTRACT This study investigated the perceptions of hospitality industry professionals and faculty on the relevancy of hospitality management curriculum. The problem investigated the importance of hospitality management content areas meeting the needs of current and anticipated demands for the skills and knowledge of workers in the hospitality industry. The researcher sampled 568 ICHRIE members and 2,366 hospitality industry professionals. A total of 264 participants' responses were analyzed. A survey was developed to measure two underlying themes. It was found that only six of the 33 hospitality management content areas and three of the 18 ACPHA content areas were statistically significantly different. Faculty overall had a higher positive impression of most of the concepts than industry and so faculty should review their curriculum with input from industry.