Essential generic attributes for enhancing the employability of hospitality management graduates

The challenge of developing employable graduates is regarded as one of the most significant challenges facing contemporary higher education in hospitality management. This study aims to address this challenge by proposing a set of generic attributes for enhancing the employability of hospitality management graduates in South Africa. An extensive, qualitative content analysis of 21 generic skills frameworks, 17 hospitality-related research studies and six hospitality management curricula identified attributes that could enhance graduates\u27 employability. The importance of these attributes towards the enhancement of hospitality management graduates\u27 employability in South Africa was evaluated by 39 Delphi panellists over four rounds. This led to the proposal of a generic attribute framework consisting of 90 generic attributes. These attributes were categorised into five generic attribute domains, namely the fundamental (n=8), people (n=21); thinking (n=11); personal (n=41) and other (n=9) domains. As a directive for enhancing the employability of hospitality management graduates, the competence framework can play an important role in curriculum development; it can be used as a set of standards to judge the employability of graduates against; it can assist to engage students in the process of enhancing their employability; and could serve as a clear description to potential employers of the knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes that can be expected from hospitality management graduates. It is recommended that hospitality management academics and employers take note of the important curriculum and employability implications the study can have on the development of hospitality management graduates. The framework can be used as a basis for the enhancement of hospitality management graduates\u27 employability in other parts of the world