Leadership skills with classroom instruction integration in hospitality management higher education

Abstract

Hospitality management educators and industry professionals are being impacted by the demand for leadership skills of managers and supervisors. Teaching leadership is lacking in classroom instruction and to address this concern, faculty, students, and industry professionals should attempt to work together to meet ever-changing industry requirements and expectations. For students to achieve management positions, they should possess the necessary skills needed for the industry. Due to the early stages of leadership education within hospitality management, research to clarify the most prominent leadership style among faculty who successfully implement leadership pedagogy in the classroom will be beneficial for hospitality management educators, who are responsible for instructional change and development. Hospitality management educators completed a 118-item questionnaire measuring leadership style, integration of leadership in classroom instruction, and demographics. Data collected was completed using a focus group and individual interviews to ascertain information to develop and implement an online questionnaire. A total of 217 questionnaires were usable. The majority of respondents identified as transformational leaders (n = 195) and indicated leadership integration in the classroom as highly important. The two most integrated classroom instruction methods were student-led discussions (M = 3.51 ± 1.14) and student-led delegation of group tasks (M = 3.58 ± 1.29). No significant relationship existed between methods of leadership integration and leadership style. Findings from this study contribute to understanding how educational leaders influence leadership skills and competency integration in classroom instruction. Leadership characteristics should be portrayed within higher education to produce quality students who possess the leadership capacity for industry. Recommendations included conducting further studies of hospitality management educators’ leadership styles, further transformational hospitality leadership education classroom instruction changes, and effective leadership training for hospitality management educators and administrators.