Curriculum reform of hotel management education in Korea: A study of required competencies in the hotel industry and the hotel management curriculum influencing career success

This study was conducted to develop an effective plan for reforming the hotel management curriculum of Korean universities. The theoretical framework was formed through a review of the literature of practical education, orientation of hotel management curriculum reform, identification of the needs and required competencies in the hotel industry, the hotel management curricula of universities, and new directions and components of the curriculum.;On the basis of the purpose of the study and the review of the literature, the six Research Questions and Hypotheses were addressed and tested. After two panel discussions, the 800 questionnaires were distributed to randomly selected alumni working for super-deluxe and deluxe hotels in Seoul and super-deluxe hotels in Pusan, Kyungju, and Cheju. This procedure resulted sample size of 422. The questionnaire was composed of the 35 competency variables, 50 curriculum variables, 8 demographic variables, and 2 dependent variables. The hypotheses were tested by such statistical analyses as the factor analysis, canonical correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, and discriminant analysis for identifying significant relationships between the independent and dependent variables; and the T-Test and ANOVA for identifying significant differences between the independent and demographic variables.;All of the six proposed Hypotheses were supported. Major findings were: (1) The Management Analysis Techniques and Adaptation of Environment Changes and Procurement of Knowledge factor dimensions of competency had significant relationships with the Finance/Accounting and the Fundamentals of Management, and Marketing and Human Resources Management factor dimensions of the curriculum. (2) All of the six factor dimensions of competency and two factor dimensions listed above of the curriculum had significant relationships with the dependent variable, Career Success in the Hotel Industry. (3) Marketing and Human Resources Management, and Engineering and Room Division Management accounted for a significant contribution to the dependent variable, and contribution of the curriculum to career development in the hotel industry. (4) There were significant differences in all of the demographic variables by the factor dimensions of the curriculum and competencies.;In the last chapter, important implications and discussions for each finding are made. Recommendations of hotel management curriculum reform for Korean universities are made for seven hotel management curricular groups. Finally, recommendations for future research are offered.