STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF WORKPLACE ETHICS IN TOURISM & HOTEL MANAGEMENT COLLEGE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53555/embx4z91Keywords:
workplace ethics, ethical decision-making, hospitality students, internships, ethical behaviourAbstract
Ethics are a critical concern in the tourism and hospitality industry, where practitioners are faced daily with ethical dilemmas pertaining to customer handling, managerial decisions, and organizational practices. This paper presents an investigation into workplace ethics among third-year Bachelor of Tourism and Hotel Management students at different University in terms of perceptions, ethical challenges encountered, and decision-making patterns. A total of 120 students who completed the second-year industry internship were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire comprising 31 items-20 that assessed perceptions about workplace ethics, 6 that identified major ethical challenges, and 5 that measured ethical decision-making-rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The instrument showed good internal reliability as assessed by Cronbach's Alpha values above 0.70.These results indicated that the majority of students (60.83%) had positive perceptions, 29.16% neutral, and 10.01% negative perceptions of workplace ethics. Specific ethical challenges mentioned most included unclear workplace ethical guidelines (26.7%), unethical practices in handling guests (23.3%), and pressure from the supervisor to act unethically (18.3%). The established patterns in ethical decision-making showed that 26.7% of the students abide by ethical standards even in situations where pressure to act otherwise is high, and 16.7% reported feeling confused when faced with an actual ethical decision. The Chi-square test of independence demonstrated no significant relationship between gender and workplace ethical perception, χ²(2, N = 120) = 0.69, p = .708, thus there were no differences in ethical viewpoints among male and female students. Overall, results show disparate levels of ethical awareness in the students and that academic preparation, as well as internship experiences, both play an important role in shaping their ethical attitudes. The findings of this study provide useful input for educators and industry practitioners interested in enhancing ethics training and making internship environments more supportive within the hospitality industry.
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