Hospitality Ethics: Perspectives from Hotel Practitioners and Intern Students

Ethical concerns in the hospitality industry have become challenging and critical. This study investigated perceptions of ethical issues in practitioners and students to identify gaps in the perceptions. A self-administered questionnaire and 1,009 surveys were completed for data analysis. The findings of this study indicated that participants generally agreed on ethical issues. Ethical issues under "personal behavior" and "customer equity" must be emphasized repeatedly. Gaps in perceptions of ethical issues between practitioners and students were found. Agreement on ethical items under the "manager leadership" factor was lower in practitioners, whereas ethical items under "personal behavior" and "customer equity" were lower in students. Implications for the academia would be emphasizing ethical issues such as ways to handle bribes or tips and providing timely and correct information to customers. For industrial practitioners, focusing on workload allocation and verbal communication is suggested.