Hospitality Graduate Education: A View from Three Different Stakeholder Perspectives

Although the number of U.S. hospitality graduate programs has increased over the past two decades, few research studies have addressed how hospitality graduate education is perceived by its stakeholders: students, educators, and employers. This study offers a multidimensional framework to assess the status quo of hospitality graduate education. General management skills, curriculum, generalist and specialist approaches, and effective teaching methods were investigated through three perceptional dimensions; hospitality industry professionals, educators, and students. The results confirm several significant gaps and intriguing differences among the stakeholders' perceptions of graduate education in hospitality. Implications of these important findings are discussed.