Introduction
Humans satisfy some of their needs by taking some of their time to visit the best hotels, resorts, and many other recreational facilities away from their homes. Essentially, this forms the principle of operation in the hospitality industry. The industry makes money by ensuring the provision of hospitable services to the numerous people who seek comfort and time to relax away from their daily monotonous lives. Similarly, business individuals need hospitable services while on business trips. Consequently, the hospitality industry covers hotels, resorts, restaurants, bars, and travel and tourism, just to mention but a few.
Williams (2016) examines the size of the hospitality and tourism industries on the global scale. Undoubtedly, the industry makes a significant contribution to the growth of any economy of Canada. Statistical reports indicate that in most countries, it contributes approximately 8% to the job market (World Tourism and Travel Council, 2016). However, this figure is high in countries that are major tourist destinations. For instance, countries such as Mexico, Spain, Germany, and many others, have tourism as a significant foreign exchange earner (World Tourism and Travel Council, 2016, par 5-10). In the American continent, Canada is the third country that boasts of large international tourist visits per year (Cerasoli, Nicklin, & Ford, 2014). The United States and Mexico are in first and second positions respectively. In the year 2015 alone, Canada received approximately 18 million international tourists. Notably, this was a 12% increase from the previous years (World Tourism and Travel Council, 2016, par. 7-11).
Noting the records of Egger and Maurer (2014), it is imperative to rank the hospitality industry among the most vital industries in every economy. Industries that make a significant contribution to the economy receive exceptional treatment from governments. For instance, they ensure proper training and education to equip citizens with the necessary knowledge. Conversely, the economy guarantees the provision of incentives on crucial career lines to make sure that a country possesses adequate qualified personnel. Similarly, Chirkov et al. (2007) note that since the hospitality industry is equally important for the development of any given country, and particularly the Canadian economy, there is an urgent need to determine the rate of enrolment of students in this trade.
Purpose
This research proposal will focus on the motivation for Canadian students to study hospitality as Bachelor’s Degrees or Diplomas. Besides, it will present a quantitative analysis of relevant works on the area and cover topics on how students learnt about the program. It will also determine any plans by students to work in the industry and whether the program will help them achieve their goals, choices, and expectations of the course. The research will further explore the issues that affect study motivations for hospitality, contemporary issues relevant to the field, as well as students’ perspectives on the area in the context of cultural, social, and local hospitality course study policies. Moreover, the project will identify both opportunities and problems in student study motivation, analyze their causes and development, address the key issues noted, offer alternatives, and make appropriate recommendations that will include clear provisions for implementation. As such, these limitations form the basis for this research and help guide the researcher to achieve the objectives of this paper.
Research Hypothesis
The research is quantitative in nature and will focus on measurable parameters in testing the hypothesis. Firstly, the premise of this study is that owing to negative perceptions and lack of motivation in the hospitality related careers, scores of students have opted to avoid this line of study. Alternatively, the null hypothesis asserts that negative perceptions and lack of motivation do not contribute to the rates of interfaculty transfer and course changes in tourism and hospitality related careers within the Niagara University in Canada. Subsequently, the research will quantify three striking aspects, namely, motivation, decision-making, and attitudes of students to test this hypothesis
Literature Review
Theoretical Background
The fundamental nature of motivation has been the topic of raging discussions. In plunging into the area of uncovering student’s motivation for their actions, theorists have often defined motivation in mannerisms complementing their particular viewpoints (Mohammad & Alsaleh, 2013). Herein lies the challenge of identifying words that are differently used citing ideological beliefs and contextualization. As a result, many have attached various modifiers to the word motivation to clarify their whole meaning of the idea.
Exemplifying Egger and Maurer (2014), motivation, for example, is defined as the reason underlying behavior. Thereof, the nature of human (student) motivation is perceived in two ways: intrinsic and extrinsic. Theorists subscribing to the perspective of intrinsic motivation believe individuals act based solely from what they conceive in their minds (Lai, 2011). In light to this, enjoyment, personal pleasures, or interests animate intrinsic motivation. Activities – such as studying – are energized and sustained by the spontaneous satisfaction of inherent insufficient volitional action (Deci & Ryan, 2013). Cerasoli et al. (2014) highlight that intrinsic motivation is manifested in behaviors and mannerisms such as exploration, play, and challenge seeking behaviors that people seek for external rewards.
Alternatively, Reinemer, (2009) posits that native subscribers of the extrinsic theory base their beliefs on the fact that the external environment influences how people act. Appropriately, reinforcement contingencies are used in the governance of extrinsic motivation. The better outcomes resultant from intrinsic motivation make it more desirable as compared to extrinsic motivation. Based on differences existence in the theoretical perspectives of motivation, thereof, the study first aims at drawing boundaries of the meaning attached to the pertinent subject before plunging into conducting a survey on the topic.
Analysis of Literature on Student Motivation
A common theme existent among the theoretical perspective of student motivation include students and their study behaviors (Rahman, 2010). In light to this, authors of these studies strikingly define personal motivation as the amounts of energies individuals is willing to put forth toward an activity. Such definition is broad and can be applied to many contexts. Extrinsic motivation, for example, is used to describe the student’s engagements in activities such as studying to avoid undesirable consequences or obtain desired rewards (good jobs). Deci and Ryan (2013) explain that intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, describes the engagement of students in activities (such as opportunity exploration outside their areas of study and studying) due to enthusiasm, spontaneity, excitement, concentrations, or joy.
For many decades past, scholars have emphasized the importance of hospitality education. Notably, formal education is crucial to providing competent and skilled human resource. Schaller (2013) defines career goals as the intent and willingness to engage in particular activities and produce outcomes. The expectation of outcome encompasses anticipated materialistic outcomes (such as salaries expected), expected social outcomes (such as the anticipated job positions), and the anticipated self-evaluative outcomes (personal expectations) (Schaller, 2013). Career goals are divided into two: choice content and performance goals. That said, individuals are motivated by performance goals to become successful in their areas of choice; while choice content goals, such as the intent to pursue a particular career path, motivate individuals to pursue vocational and educational options (Lu & Adler, 2009).
Ushida (2014) lists a broad range of career opportunities that are presented by hospitality courses. They include event planning and meeting, resorts and hotels, spa and wellness management, cruises, and airlines and other forms of transportation. The hospitality industry operates in a highly competitive setting and requires that students who aspire to be part of it develop a strong set of customer service skills and solid business-oriented mindsets. According to Egger and Maurer (2014), the competitive environment that the industry operates in now demands that the traditional hands-on expertise and experience be replaced by a subtle combination of higher education and expertise for successful careers. Training that focuses on business skills in hospitality has the advantage of skill transferability to other careers rather than the ones related to degrees. Graduates from this highly service-oriented career are more likely to have the upper hand in global markets.
The World Tourism and Travel Council (2016) estimates that the hospitality and tourism industry accounts for 8% of the jobs in the world; hospitality has the highest potential for growth compared to other service industries. With the annual tourism travel accounting for more than 840 million tourists annually, tourism has an impact on the social and economic aspects of life as it improves the quality of life and creation of sustainable jobs (par 3-8). The hospitality and tourism industry as a rapidly growing and large industry presents those ambitious students who enjoy working with people a vast array of opportunities.
According to Reinemer, (2009) an important emergent fact is that the evaluation of motivational factors for students to study hospitality is useful in aligning expectations, strategies, and policies for students. Whereas students may find studying hospitality and tourism exciting, stakeholders, researchers, and universities are becoming more inquisitive on areas related to student motivation to study and the primary reasons for undertaking the course (Rahman, 2010). The importance of this to the Canadian Tourism sector is that it enhances the country’s universities and other tertiary institutions to offer proper labor markets with human resources who are well trained and qualified.
Extrinsic motivational factors such as teachers, for example, who consistently prove to be allies of students regardless of their sexual preferences, race, socioeconomic status, or gender tend to create an environment that naturally increases participation and thereof intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2013). Taking responsibility for youth education is key to molding them into people who will have a positive impact on the greater community (Reinemer, 2009). Infusing youths with desires to learn forms part of the answer to creating critical thinkers who are lifetime learners. Additionally, positively motivated students contribute toward the greater cause of shifting the society to one where higher value is put on education accessible to all people (Lai, 2011; Deci & Ryan, 2013).
Notable shortcomings of studies in the area of student motivation to study tourism include the exploration of the general career expectations of college and university students, thereby failing to examine specific key indices of motivated behavior such as salaries, particular areas of interest, and expected job positions (Salih, & Zeynep, 2000). Empirical research on the motivations, expectations, and goals of hospitality and tourism students in the Canadian text is scarce. Few relevant studies have addressed the perception that hospitality students have towards the industry (Ruan, Zhang & Leung, 2016). In light of this, there is an empirical need to improve the attitudes of undergraduates within the Canadian setting by laying emphasis on career progress in line with the basic knowledge acquired in universities and colleges.
Methods
Research Sample
The study will select a significant number of college students from Niagara College, Canada. A total number of 100 respondents from different regions in Canada will be identified for this study. Out of the 100, 50% will be female, while 50% will be male. Similarly, the sample will select students from different years.
Information Gathering Instruments
The primary research tool for this study will be questionnaires that will have open-ended and close-ended queries. The various parameters will be ascertained by close-ended questionnaires, while open-ended questionnaires will determine bibliographic information. A Gantt chart will be used to represent the timeline for the research.
Ethical Considerations
No harm. Considering the design of the study to be a survey, the research is expected to have neither physical nor psychological harm to the participants. We will develop our questions with this in mind. We will also seek the approval of Dr. Clark. Our study stands to benefit the economic standing of the college. The college will garner a better understanding of their target market. Participants selected to participate in the survey will give informed consents in addition to having the right to withdraw at points they do not wish to proceed. Utmost care will be taken to ensure information gathered remains confidential.
How are you handling your data to ensure results are kept private? We will design survey questions to protect participant identity. No participant names will be recorded; each participant is to receive a randomized number; ages will be categorized; we will enquire only essential information regarding the study. The survey will be conducted on an individual basis – the data will be collected directly by us. The surveys will be kept in a suitcase, which will be on our site at all time at the college. The data will be stored in the safe at our house. After putting all the information’s into SPSS, all the papers will be shredded.
Beneficence. The college stands to gain most from the study; the college administration will garner a better understanding of their target market. Each student – participants and non-participants – will receive a pen. Future students will have a better understanding of the hospitality industry. We will have a short video explaining the study.
Respect. We will inform the participants appropriately before making consent. We will not give money as a motivation. We will obtain the parents’ permission if there are any minors in our study.
Justice. Randomized identification of study participants will be conducted. Each potential participant is to be equally expounded on the particulars of the survey. We will make sure that everyone will get the same treatment as others.
Competence. We are certificated in “Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans Course on Research Ethics.” We will review some of the similar studies. We will go back and refer to our research.
Honesty. We will explain the study clearly to our participant without any modifications to the research purpose. We will not buy online participants to do our study. The entire work will be ours. No information will be fraudulently obtained or manipulated to fit into the research. Every researcher will be attendant while inputting the data into SPSS. Inappropriate information input will be avoided through peer reviews.
Pilot Testing Results
Project design testing. Pilot testing will help identify questions that might not make sense for participants or problems with the questionnaire that might result in biased views. Once we have finished designing our survey questions, 10-25 students from the target population will be identified for questionnaire pretest. Once the testers are done with the survey, we will review notes from each session. We will be clear on the major issues identified and appropriately address them.
Project implementation testing. A full pilot test will be conducted before the actual survey. For this, a larger representative sample – say 50 students from the target population – will be identified. The steps of the project, from start to finish will be carried out. We will start by training ourselves on data collection, and then proceed to distribute and collect survey data as exactly as it would happen in practice. The data will be entered into the database we plan to use before testing the analytical tools we plan to use. Piloting will help us identify practical problems with project implementation rather than the design of the survey. Some of the challenges that we anticipate include problems with logistics in distributing and collecting the survey, fewer people to conduct the survey and errors in data entry. These can be fixed before the actual study.
Data Analysis Procedures
The analysis methods to employ in this research will all be scientific. In the determination of different parameters, the study analysis will apply differential statistics. The analysis will include the calculation, variances, and correlation figures. This will help to prove whether these parameters significantly or insignificantly affect the number of students taking the hospitality course within the Niagara College in Canada.
References
Cerasoli, C. P., Nicklin, J. M., & Ford, M. T. (2014). Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentives jointly predict performance: a 40-year meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 140(4), 980-990.
Chirkov, V., Vansteenkiste, M., Tao, R., & Lynch, M. (2007). The role of self-determined motivation and goals for study abroad in the adaptation of international students. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 31(2), 199-222.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2013). Intrinsic Motivation and Self-determination in Human Behavior. Boston, MA: Springer US.
Egger, R., & Maurer, C., (2014). ISCONTOUR 2014- Tourism Research Perceptiveness Proceedings of the International Student Conference in Tourism Research. Norderstedt, Books on Demand. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports, and Tourism Education (Pre-2012), 7(2), 45-58.
Lai, E. R. (2011). Motivation: A literature review. Pearson Research’s Report.
Lu, T. Y., & Adler, H. (2009). Career Goals and Expectations of Hospitality and Tourism Students in China. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 9(1-2), 63-80.
Mohammad, B. A. A., & Alsaleh, H. T. (2013). The motivation of Students to Study Tourism Hospitality Programs. International Journal of Asian Science, 3(7), 1637-1647.
Rahman, I. (2010). Students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of hospitality curricula and their preparedness. University of Massachusetts: Amherst.
Reinemer, Y. C. (2009). Motivating students to Engage: A critique of Literature. Doctoral dissertation: The Evergreen State College.
Ruan, J., Zhang, J., & Leung, C. (2016). Chinese language education in the United States. Cham: Springer Science + Business Media. eBook: Document: English.
Salih, K., & Zeynep, K. (2000). Perceptions and attitudes of undergraduate tourism students towards working in the tourism industry in Turkey. Tourism Management, 21(3), 251-269.
Schaller, R. (2013). Create your art career. Practical tools, visualizations, and self-assessment exercise for empowerment and success. New York: Allworth Press. Print.
Ushida, E. (2005). The role of students’ attitudes and motivation in second language learning in online courses. CALICO Journal, 23(1), 49-78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24156232
Williams, L. L. (2016). Is a career in hospitality and tourism in your future? International Student guides to the United States of America. Retrieved from http://www.internationalstudentguidetotheusa.com/article/is-a- career-in- hospitality-and-tourism- in-your- future.htm
World Tourism and Travel Council (2016). Travel & Tourism: Economic impact 2016 world. Retrieved from http://www.wttc.org//media/files/reports/economic%20impact%20research /regions%202016/world2016.pdf
