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The hospitality industry is rapidly evolving; aspects like technology, digitisation, artificial intelligence, eco-friendly, best practices, green hotels and sustainability are significantly impacting change. It is evident that the hospitality industry is trying its best to embrace change but do hospitality graduates have sufficient exposure to the importance of embracing these changes? Further, are academics updating their curriculum in line with industry requirements? This also prompts the question: How often do industry and academia come together to discuss the future? Is it the sole responsibility of academic institutions to consider the changes needed or should industry take a lead and guide academia? This theme issue explores these questions and concerns and considers the way forward.

This viewpoint article explains why the theme issue question is important and outlines the approach taken with reference to the hospitality industry and hospitality education. The authors explore our theme issue question with particular reference to developments in Asia.

The hospitality industry impacts the environment in numerous ways and it is important for the industry to learn and train employees for a sustainable future and it is equally important to understand the challenges faced by the industry in adopting sustainable practices. The deployment of artificial intelligence, robotics and automation is increasingly impacting global standards and operating procedures and clearly technology has a key role to play in sustainable development. The authors also consider ways in which hospitality education could be better synced with industry and how it could evolve in response to future requirements.

This theme issue on hospitality education and sustainability was conceived with the aim of addressing concerns like the challenges faced by academics in upgrading the curriculum/programme structure so that it is better aligned with industry norms. It further examines sustainable practices adopted by hotels in Asia as compared to their counterparts in other parts of the world and it explores the gaps between hospitality industry operations and the programme delivery of hospitality institutions.

Project management is an essential skill in the hospitality organization that is only becoming more important (Tereso et al., 2019). Bridging the gap between academia and industry is achievable by experiential learning or providing students with curriculum that gives them hands-on access to real-world industry research projects that attempt to solve real-world industry issues (Steed and Schwer, 2003). The purpose of this paper is to understand the scope of project management curriculum in universities’ hospitality programs, to understand the scope of project management skill requirements in hospitality firms and to narrow the disconnect between project management in academia and in hospitality firms.

The study used a mixed method approach. On the side of academia, a quantitative collection method was used to gage which universities offered a project management course, how many universities offer these courses and how many project management courses each university had. On the side of industry, a survey was administered to industry professionals in senior management positions. It was a quantitative survey designed to gage the importance of having project management as part of university curriculum. The aim was to show what was expected to be a disconnect between the two sides – academia and industry. A total of 57 responses were collected. Out of them 49 were usable. The Human Subjects consisted solely of two populations: individuals who worked in the hospitality industry. This accounted for 12 of the responses; individuals who worked in academia – more specifically in higher education at schools that offer Hospitality Management curriculum. This accounted for 37 of the responses. The subjects were identified and recruited through the professional networking site LinkedIn (for subjects that were industry professionals) and through both LinkedIn and American Hotel Lodging and Educational Institute databases for the subjects in academia. There were no direct potential benefits to the subject. The potential societal benefits of the study were the advancement of knowledge within the disciplines of both Hospitality Management and Project Management. The authors used the University of Memphis’ Qualtrics system and changed settings to anonymize responses so IP addresses would not be collected. The Qualtrics’ default is to collect IP addresses and GPS coordinates of those who responded. By setting the survey to anonymized responses the investigators were not able to collect this identifiable information. This information was included in the confidentiality, methods/procedures and in any other necessary sections/documents noting that the investigators would set Qualtrics to anonymize responses.

H1 was supported. The findings showed that most colleges and universities did not require project management classes for degree completion. Preliminary research showed that of 68 of the top hospitality programs in the world that were researched, only 7.5 percent required taking project management centric courses in order to graduate (College Choice, 2019; The Best Schools, 2019; Top Universities, 2018). In total, 43.2 percent of respondents answered “yes” when asked if their school offers courses in project management based on this definition of project management: “A project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore the defined scope and resources. And a project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal. A project team often includes people who do not usually work together – sometimes from different organizations and across multiple geographies. Project management, then, is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirement” (Project Management Institute) (See Table A1). Of 43.2 percent that answered yes, 64.3 percent said that the courses were required for graduation (See Table AII). Meaning, only 27.8 percent of schools surveyed offered and required completing project management courses for graduation. It should be noted that this number may be lower as bias may have played a factor. It is evident that hospitality programs understand the importance of project management because 85.7 percent of the colleges and universities surveyed are teaching project management concepts in courses that are not project management centric, like Meeting and Event Planning (See Table AIII). H2 was supported. Only 9.1 percent of respondents believed that project management skills are not at all important to line level employees. Most, 54.6 percent, believed that project management skills are important to some extent for line level employees. In total, 9.1 percent believed that project management skills are not at all important for supervisory level employees; 27.3 percent believed they are needed to some extent and 36.4 percent believed they are needed to a moderate extent. As for management level employees, it was found that 63.6 percent believed project management skills were needed to a great extent. For director level employees, 63.6 percent believed project management skills are necessary. Finally, 72.7 percent of respondents believed project management skills are necessary for both VP level employees and executive leadership (See Table AIV). It should be noted that one person did not believe themselves qualified to answer questions regarding project management within their organization. More than half of respondents said that project management skills are used to a great extent within their organization. H3 was not supported. Both hospitality schools and hospitality companies agreed that project management skills have some level of importance in academia and in industry – most believed the skills were very important at both junctions (See Tables AV and AVI). However, in the preliminary research the authors found that 55 percent of the top 111 hospitality companies had project management positions, meaning that there was a potential need for project management courses in colleges and universities (Ranker, 2019). As stated earlier, only 7.5 percent of the top 68 colleges and universities required project management courses to be completed upon graduation. So, the discrepancy lies within the vastly different percentages between project management positions within companies and project management courses within schools.

The data provided strong evidence that supported the idea that project management is not required in hospitality programs upon completion. This opens new avenues to research the reasons behind schools not offering project management courses or making it a requirement for degree completion. On the other hand, project management skills are considered to be needed by hospitality managers. This provides valuable information for future studies that look to close the gap between academia and industry. The results indicated that project management is important for hospitality companies and schools, but the lack of project management education in colleges and universities is evident. The results of this study provided good news to students that aim to work in hospitality companies, since they can improve their project management skills and encourage their programs to stay updated with the industry needs so that they can succeed in their professional lives. Though this was an exploratory study of the project management discipline within the hospitality industry – with a limited sample size – the data clearly justified that there is room for additional data collection and research in this area of study.

The results show that there is a disconnect between project management curriculum in schools and project management skill demand in the hospitality industry. The research should encourage schools to invest appropriate resources into required project management curriculum. The hospitality industry is vast in the types of businesses that fall under it. Project management is one skill set that can be useful across most of the different businesses in the hospitality industry. From a practical standpoint, providing students with a solid background in the project management discipline provides them an advantage in the highly competitive hospitality industry. It accomplishes this by providing the students with in-demand knowledge and competencies that are both universally accepted and highly regarded by hospitality management companies as a skill set that is widely used in the industry.

There were limitations to this study. Some pieces may be improved in future research. The Qualtrics survey could have been reduced in number and order of questions for a better interaction and results. The use of the Qualtrics database might be helpful to reach a bigger population. Potential steps could be taken to reduce bias that may play a factor in the responses. For example, some respondents may have claimed that their schools offer project management curriculum when in fact they do not, or they do not know to what extent.

Project management is an essential skill in the hospitality organization that is only becoming more important (Tereso et al., 2019). Bridging the gap between academia and industry is achievable through experiential learning or providing students with curriculum that gives them hands-on access to real-world industry research projects that attempt to solve real-world industry issues (Steed and Schwer, 2003). Most graduate level curriculum at universities was found to hone skills like written and oral communications, problem solving and decision making, organization, time management and cost control (Steed and Schwer, 2003). It has been suggested that universities add project management curriculum and experiential learning to their programs for a more streamlined transition from academia to industry (Steed and Schwer, 2003). Existing research on this subject is a bit dated, so the objectives were: to understand the scope of project management curriculum in universities’ hospitality programs; to understand the scope of project management skill requirements in hospitality firms; to narrow the disconnect between project management in academia and in hospitality firms.

The aim of this research is to establish students’ perceptions of the international hospitality industry and, specifically, to establish the likelihood of the student seeking employment in the industry after graduating, the region/country where the student intends seeking employment, the functional area/sector which is most attractive to the student and the position which the student expects to hold five and ten years after graduating. The research is based on a questionnaire administered at two universities offering hospitality management degrees, one in the UK, the other in The Netherlands. The main findings are that students have a distinct preference for certain hotel departments, hotel chains and sectors of the industry. Most expect to be general manager/corporate manager ten years after graduating. As the degree progresses, the students’ perception of the industry deteriorates. The paper concludes by examining issues relating to the image of the industry and the development of hospitality curricula.

The purpose of this paper is to identify weaknesses in human capital development (HCD) in the hospitality industry in Nigeria and to find implementable solutions.

The author draws on the literature on HCD and the hospitality industry, as well as her experience working with practitioners to enlighten the discussion.

Deficiencies in HCD in the Nigerian hospitality industry are the result of a lack of sound and forward-thinking educational development, lack of a supportive environment for the meaningful employment of graduates of the educational system and social bias against vocational education, as well as inadequate hospitality skills of employees, insufficient empowerment or support from the government and hospitality industry participants.

This paper summarises the key issues in HCD in the hospitality industry in Nigeria and the implementable solutions. The roles of the government, society and the hospitality industry are highlighted to demonstrate that HCD in the industry is a collective responsibility.

HCD has increasingly been a prominent goal of research policy in Nigeria and elsewhere but has not yet engendered much discussion in the hospitality literature.

This study aims to investigate socioeconomic diversity in the hospitality industry by examining the relationship between social class background, family expectations and career outcomes of Generation Z employees. The relationship was further tested by investigating job titles and perceived prestige.

Two studies were developed to test the research questions – first, the social prestige of hospitality jobs compared to other industries with similar skill sets. Second, a between-subjects experimental design was used to examine the moderating effect of job title on the relationship between social class background, family expectations and career decisions.

The findings of the first study confirm the negative perceptions of the hospitality industry. Study 2 demonstrated a negative relationship between social class background and intentions to choose hospitality through family expectations among Generation Z. The negative effect was attenuated when a manager position was offered. However, college students majoring in hospitality reported positive intentions to accept a job in the hospitality industry for both frontline and managerial positions.

The findings emphasize the importance of extending organizational diversity beyond traditional demographics like race, gender and age by examining socioeconomic factors that influence career decisions among Generation Z employees. By considering social class background as a dimension of organizational diversity, the hospitality industry can cultivate a more inclusive culture and enhance recruitment and attraction efforts.

Examining the relationship between social class background and career decisions through the lens of social cognitive career theory provides insight into the social cognitive process of career development among Generation Z. The unique contribution of this study extends beyond observable dimensions of diversity to challenge the socioeconomic composition of the hospitality industry.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the talent challenges faced by hospitality organisations. This paper aims to propose a new concept – industry talent branding – which, is argued, offers industry stakeholders the opportunity to reduce such issues through working more collaboratively and strategically to magnify the pool in which individual organisations compete for talent.

This paper proposes a conceptual framework of industry talent branding, based on brand equity theory, signalling theory and the employer branding literature.

Industry talent branding opens a potentially new stream of research on how talent attraction and retention issues may be addressed. The authors propose that there is merit in moving beyond the organisational-level phenomenon of employer branding to industry talent branding through articulating a broader collaborative and strategic agenda to increase and widen the talent pool available to organisations.

The proposed framework offers the hospitality industry and its encompassing stakeholders a means to adopt a more proactive, collective and strategic approach to address long-standing talent challenges.

This paper combines brand equity and signalling theories to develop the concept of industry talent branding, defined as a strategically curated, yet realistic impression of the employee value proposition (i.e. the benefits and rewards received by employees in return for their work performance) available within the industry, that by design will sustainably attract new employees into the industry and retain existing talent.

This study aims to critically review the emerging technological developments and digitalization efforts in the hospitality and tourism (HT) industry and discuss the implications of digitalization on various stakeholders (e.g. consumers, employees, companies and operators) with reference to value creation.

This paper is a conceptual, critical reflection paper. Thus, the study reflects the authors’ assessment and reflection of the current digitalization efforts in the HT industry with a particular interest in value creation.

The study suggests that digitalization is still in its infancy state in terms of adoption and value creation in the HT industry. Yet, there are various opportunities for all stakeholders to benefit from existing and emerging digitalization applications.

This study can be used by industry professionals and scholarly researchers as a reflection of past and current digitalization efforts in the HT industry. Moreover, the study offers directions regarding the future digitalization movement in the HT industry and how such a movement might create important value propositions for various stakeholders.

The study is uniquely positioned as a critical reflection paper on the digitalization effort of the HT industry and offers new practical insights regarding how digitalization could create value for industry stakeholders as it finds more application areas. In this regard, it differs from prior review studies that focused solely on the use of new and emerging technologies in HT operations.

This study aims to provide important insights in advancing the hospitality workforce by exploring the dimensions of calling. By identifying significant calling dimensions among hospitality employees, the study is guided by work as calling theory by also examining the mediating role of employees’ professional identity on intention to leave the industry.

This study used an exploratory mixed-methods approach. Study 1 included an online qualitative survey to explore the significant dimensions of calling among hospitality employees. Study 2 measured the significance of hospitality calling dimensions on intention to leave the industry, mediated by professional identity.

Study 1 identified transcendent summons, passion and purposeful life as significant dimensions of hospitality calling. Study 2 examined calling as a second-order construct with the aforementioned dimensions and proposed calling increases professional identity and decreases intention to leave the industry. However, professional identity did not significantly influence the intention to leave the industry.

This study brings value to the calling literature by exploring the calling dimensions unique to the hospitality workforce. Findings also highlight that subjective professional identity alone cannot lower employees’ intention to leave the industry. Organizational and industry support focusing on transcendent summons, passion and purposeful life are recommended.

While colleges have perceived the importance and growth within the tourism and hospitality industry, students in the industry have mixed feelings about career options that are available to them. The purpose of this paper is to discuss factors that underpin students ' perception of career options in the tourism and hospitality industry and to make recommendations for other developing countries.

A 21-variable structured questionnaire was used to solicit response from 260 Ghanaian tourism and hospitality students. The data was coded and keyed into MINITAB and SPSS statistical processing software. Various multivariate techniques such as Eigen-analysis, correlation analysis and factor analysis were used to analyze the data. Secondary data was also obtained for student records.

The study revealed that, industry-person congeniality, social benefit factors, opportunity for professional development, and job competitiveness, were crucial in determining students ' choice of career options. Other factors include, career opportunities in tourism and hospitality industry were more easily attainable than in many other sectors of the economy; remuneration in the industry is grossly inadequate.

A limitation of the study is the use of HTM students of one university. Therefore, replication of this study in other tourism and hospitality institutions of higher in other developing countries is strongly recommended to harmonize the findings of this study.

Several implications were found including: getting students to be made aware of the career and career development opportunities available in each sector; educational institutions should partner with industry to provide internship and employment opportunities, that would encourage students to have a better perception of the industry; curb the escalating trend of “brain drain” away for the industry, while the industry should reorganize itself to correct the negative perception of low wages and high turnover.

The study was an original primary study that surveyed students at two tertiary level institutions to determine their perception of the career options available to them. The lessons are of value to stakeholders of Ghana ' s tourism and hospitality industry and relevance to those in other developing countries.

The present research aims to examine the scholarly literature on high-performance work practices (HPWPs). Relevant comparisons were made between the hospitality industry, service industry and various other contextual environments in general business that might impact the choice and implementation of HPWPs, and a set of work practices was proposed for the hospitality industry.

A comprehensive review was conducted of scholarly literature related to HPWPs that was published in the past 25 years (1991-2015). A total of 89 scholarly articles were considered in this summary. Based on this review, HPWPs in the hospitality industry were compared and contrasted with other industry sectors.

There is little consensus among researchers concerning specific HPWPs that should be used by every company to improve their organizational- or individual-level performance. Thus, a specific set of 13 HPWPs that take into consideration the unique characteristics of the industry, based on a review of empirical research, was identified for the hospitality industry as a starting point for future research in the hospitality industry.

Following a comparison of HPWPs in the hospitality, services literature and manufacturing-based industry context, the authors extend the body of knowledge and propose a set of HPWPs for future research in the hospitality industry. HPWPs can have positive impacts on both organizational- and individual-level performance. Thirteen specific hospitality HPWPs were identified that are most beneficial, and the circumstances under which they might yield optimal results enhance the scholar’s understanding of HPWPs and provide guidance to human resource professionals to make evidence-based decisions. A better understanding of HPWPs can assist human resource professionals in making policy decisions that optimize the use of human capital in their organizations.