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The purpose of this paper is to assess the entrepreneurial intentions of MBA students in Australia. Linan and Chen’s Entrepreneurial Intentions Questionnaire (EIQ) was used for this purpose which, in part, is based on Azjen’s theory of planned behaviour.

Using a pragmatic approach, a purposive convenience sample of 249 students from an Australian university was used. Permission was granted from the MBA director to visit a number of classes to distribute and collect completed survey forms.

The psychometric properties of the EIQ were confirmed. However, the “subjective norm” predictor variable was not corroborated as an antecedent of “entrepreneurial intent (EI)”.

These findings cannot be truly generalised given the nature of the research design. Furthermore, the intentions of students may be different by the time they graduate.

The weak relationship between subjective norm and intent questions the value of networking with industry groups. University education should focus on developing those characteristics associated with the remaining independent variables. For example, a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship should be developed together with confidence building and self-efficacy linked to “perceived behavioural control”.

The psychometric properties of the EIQ were confirmed but, unlike other studies, the “subjective norm” predictor variable was not corroborated as an antecedent of EI. Therefore, the value of support from family, friends and associated support organizations such as Chambers of Commerce become questionable in terms of EI.

Whilst cultural variables are likely to have an important bearing on the attitudes and behaviour of hotel employees, anecdotally, a pan‐industrial work orientation has also been long advocated as key in the formation of worker attitudes and behaviour. This study sought to identify and establish the extent to which this occupational view of work exists amongst employees in a number of international hotels based in Greece, Australia, St. Lucia and Britain. Using a survey approach with questions derived from earlier related studies, occupational communities were discovered in all hotels. The findings have significant implications for the recruitment and management of existing hotel workers as the occupational perspective challenges cultural notions of employee motivations and subsequent performance.

To assess the attitudes toward service delivery of employees in Australian hotels with a long‐term view of establishing job service “norms” against which candidates may be ultimately evaluated.

Lee‐Ross's Service Predisposition Instrument (SPI) questionnaire was used to elicit information about the attitudes of front‐line hotel workers towards service delivery. This quantitative approach sought to identify the innate presence of service dimensions amongst workers previously found in other studies of service predispositions.

After initial analysis, the dimensionality of the SPI questionnaire was found to be less substantial than when tested in other studies. Indeed, a new dimension of “negative service” emerged. Hotel employees rated all “service dimensions” elicited by the SPI as important. However, competence and the provision of “extras” were ranked notably highly. Affinity was scored the lowest of all dimensions. This suggests that workers recognize the particular importance of technical and intangible skills associated with the service encounter. In tourist hotels, short periods of service delivery allow only limited opportunities for workers to establish affinity with customers.

The SPI and the theory upon which it is based are relatively novel.

The posited innate worker dimensions or attitudes necessary for effective service delivery could provide a new focus for hospitality managers when recruiting staff. Achieving effective “job‐fit” for service employees should deliver higher levels of service quality and ultimately increased organizational productivity.

The theoretical originality of this paper rests on the idea that “proximal” attitudinal models are useful in predicting the behaviour of individuals in the workplace. The SPI is a new and applied construct based on this notion. However, given the moderate support found for the factor structure of the SPI, these results should be treated with caution and further research is recommended.

This study aims to advance and test an argument for the existence of a particular type of organizational culture on board cruise tourism vessels known as an occupational community.

The paper used a questionnaire instrument developed from earlier related studies.

A strong occupational culture was identified for hospitality workers (n=72) amongst a sample of cruise ships. These communities were found to be more acute on longer duration voyages than day trips with individuals being attracted to opportunities for socialization provided by the work situation rather than the occupation itself.

Cruise directors/hospitality managers will need to understand how occupational communities and espoused organizational cultures impact on each other to maintain positive on‐board employee attitudes, effectiveness and efficiency.

The novel occupational view of on‐board hospitality work could provide a much‐needed new understanding of employee attitudes and behaviors in the twenty‐first century.

Summarizes data from 768 respondents from eight organizations collected using the service predisposition instrument (SPI) and describes the properties, content and some uses of the instrument. The SPI consists of question statements based upon a number of model‐specified variables according to a theory of how service industry workers perceive their respective importance during the service encounter. The SPI may be used to identify attitudes of existing workers and in the recruitment and training of new personnel. The instrument provides measures of service elements, cognitive expressions and a personal service outcome.

There are many anecdotes emanating from the hospitality industry which express, albeit vaguely, a vote of limited confidence in contemporary City and Guilds craft courses on offer in catering colleges in the United Kingdom. These anecdotes provided a starting‐point from which to begin a survey (undertaken in both catering colleges and industry) in search of information which would either lend support to these feelings or suggest that they were unfounded. It was concluded that criticism directed specifically at unrealistic conditions existing in colleges especially in food production and service areas was justified and many industrialists felt the need to provide their own training for new employees from colleges.

Evidence suggests that the hotel sector has high levels of labour turnover, especially in seaside resorts. To help explain this, at least in part, management styles and their effect on hotel workers′ perceptions of jobs was investigated. The study was undertaken in five seasonal seaside hotels from April to October 1992. All had between 30‐65 bedrooms. Interviews with managers revealed two supervisory styles; “co‐ordinative” whereby for most of the time managers did not work alongside their staff, and “hands‐on”, whereby for most of the time they did. Information about hotel jobs was elicited from managers and staff using Hackman and Oldham′s (1974) job diagnostic survey. This standard questionnaire views jobs as a composite of several “core job dimensions”, each having a possible score of 1 to 7 depending on its perceived degree of presence within a job. It was hypothesized that “hands‐on” managers would score jobs similarly to their workers and that “co‐ordinative” managers would not. Also, that workers experiencing “hands‐on” supervision would score “core job dimensions” higher than their “co‐ordinative” counterparts. The former notion was supported by the results, the latter found partial support. The results indicate that management styles may be important in motivating workers.

This paper investigates the perceived presence of core job dimensions and motivating potential of the job of chef in 14 UK hospitals using Hackman and Oldham’s job diagnostic survey (1980). The validity of the survey instrument was also assessed using a principal components analysis with orthogonal rotation. Overall, the job diagnostic survey (JDS) was found to be reliable and chefs using large‐scale catering systems tended to be engaged in less challenging work than chefs using traditional cook and serve operations. In addition, the former jobs engendered less motivating potential than those using small‐scale processing and production techniques.

This paper assesses the reliability and rationale of Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics model among public and private sector hospital chefs in Australia. It continues by focusing on critical job elements of chefs and their motivational outcomes. The job of chef in private sector hospitals was found to be more challenging with greater motivating potential than that in the public sector. Reliance of hospitality services managers upon technology appears to have resulted in a deskilled production process and, consequently, a demotivated workforce.

Compares the major objectives of large hotel corporations with those of SMEs. Proposes that yield management systems are more prevalent among the former because of differences between their objectives and culture. Concludes that yield management systems are appropriate for SMEs but suggests that this depends on how they are promoted and operationalized by management.