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Hotel General Managers’ Perceptions ofBusiness Ethics Education: Implicationsfor Hospitality Educators, Professionals,and StudentsRonnie Yeh aa Department of Family and Consumer Sciences , California StateUniversity , Long Beach, Long Beach, California, USAPublished online: 02 Dec 2011.
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Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 11:72–86, 2012Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1533-2845 print / 1533-2853 onlineDOI: 10.1080/15332845.2012.621056
Hotel General Managers’ Perceptionsof Business Ethics Education: Implicationsfor Hospitality Educators, Professionals,
and Students
RONNIE YEHDepartment of Family and Consumer Sciences, California State University,
Long Beach, Long Beach, California, USA
Ethics is a growing concern in American society; consequently,business ethics is also becoming a concern in the hospitality in-dustry. This article investigated the perceptions and preparationsof hotel general managers toward teaching business ethics in theirhotels and ethics education in college hospitality programs andwithin the hotel industry. For hotel professionals, business ethics isnormally discussed or taught during employee training sessions.The target population of this study was hotel general managersin the United States. The research implied that most hotel compa-nies have not incorporated and implemented ethics education intotheir training programs; however, hotel general managers did re-alize that business ethics is an essential part of business success.Therefore, general managers indicated that it is imperative for hos-pitality organizations and programs to offer ethics education andtraining for their hospitality employees and college students.
KEYWORDS Ethics education and training, ethics behavior,hospitality business ethics
INTRODUCTION
This article investigated the perceptions and preparations of hotel generalmanagers teaching business ethics and ethics education in contemporary hos-pitality programs and within the lodging industry. A study by Dopson and
Address correspondence to Ronnie Yeh, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Hospitality and Food-service Management, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, California State Univer-sity, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA 90840. E-mail: [email protected]
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Implications for Hospitality Educators, Professionals, and Students 73
Nelson (2003) revealed that ethics was ranked the highest among 37 programcontent areas for graduates of U.S. hospitality programs. Hotel executives,hotel human resource specialists, and alumni of sponsoring schools rankedthe results. The results suggested that ethics is important to incorporate andimplement into the hospitality industry and into hospitality programs. Eth-ical behavior is a growing concern by many organizations and sectors ofAmerican society (Vallen & Casado, 2000). Business ethics is important bothin the academic and business arena within the hospitality industry (Damitio& Schmidgall, 1993; Dunfee & Donaldson, 1999). Although business ethicscourses are now an accepted part of business school curriculum, a limitedeffort has been made to measure the perceptions and needs of these coursesfrom educators and industry professionals in hospitality (Jaszay, 2002;Murphy & Boatright, 1994). Unfortunately, limited information is availableregarding teaching business ethics in hospitality programs.
Another impact on hospitality education is globalization and diversity.When a business expands overseas, organizations confront varying ethicalissues. One example of this is the concept of bribery. Bribery to local gov-ernment officials is common and necessary for doing business in many Asiancountries (Reynolds, 2000; Yu, 1999). This bribery becomes a dilemma fora United States hospitality manager. Because of the growth of global busi-nesses, the study of business ethics in multinational companies is importantfor scholars and organizational managers in all countries (Bain, 1997).
The purpose of this study was to ascertain the perceptions of hotelgeneral managers towards the teaching of business ethics both in theirhotels and by hospitality schools. A harmonious and healthy society isheavily dependent upon people’s ethical philosophy and ethical practices(Dunfee & Donaldson, 1999). Ethical management ensures better ethicalbusiness.
Objectives of the Study
This research study investigated the perceptions and preparations of hotelgeneral managers regarding business ethics and ethics education in contem-porary hospitality programs as well as within the hospitality industry. Thisstudy attempted to provide some findings as to how hotel general managersperceive the knowledge and needs of hospitality students and employeesrelative to business ethics.
The research objectives that guided this study were:
What preparation have hotel professionals received to help them addressethical challenges in their businesses?
What are the attitudes of hotel general managers toward ethics educationpreparation for students in hospitality?
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What are the attitudes of hotel general managers toward ethical decision-making in practice in hospitality?
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Business Ethics
In the last two decades, many scholars have devoted their efforts to thepractice of ethics in education (Dunfee & Donaldson, 1999; Snyder, 2000).Deeds and activities in the business environment have influenced hospitalityeducation and hospitality curriculum. Amy Gutman
asks universities first to adopt a climate of ethical debate and then to cre-ate courses across the curriculum on practical ethics for all students. Thegoal, she argued, should be to teach students to realize how ethical prin-ciples can be applied to solving practical problems (Snyder, 2000, p. 530).
In academics, business ethics is considered a new entrant, although ithas already succeeded in establishing its own research paradigms. A majorityof influential research has been conducted in the past three decades. Theinitial efforts applied in business ethics are either classical ethical theoriesto problems of business ethics or expanded concepts already familiar tobusiness academics (Dunfee & Donaldson, 1999).
Preparing hospitality students to logically and ethically solve dilem-mas, educators are equipping future managers with confidence and self-esteem to make the “right” decision when confronted with a dilemma (Jaszay,2002; Vallen & Casado, 2000). Cook, Hunsaker, and Coffey (1997) defined“decision-making” criteria as reflecting “ethical” criteria. More important, theybelieved that decision-making criteria should conform to laws, human rights,and social responsibilities. Organizations must establish a commonly agreedupon policy as well as a corporate code of ethics to guide decisions. Al-though individuals might follow corporate rules and policies, it does notmean individuals are always ethical. When individuals are confronted withdecision-making dilemmas that conflict between their own personal interestsand corporate profits, proper training will help them make better decisions.
Hospitality Business Ethics Curriculum
Students must be trained in business ethics before they work in the indus-try (Jaszay, 2002; Vallen & Casado, 2000). A positive ethical working attitudeand environment can enhance hospitality graduates’ job performance on cus-tomer service and satisfaction. In addition, the integration of ethics into thehospitality curriculum has been advocated by educators (Vallen & Casado,
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Implications for Hospitality Educators, Professionals, and Students 75
2000). Developing an awareness and sensitivity to personal integrity must beone of the goals of all hospitality programs and hospitality companies.
Interestingly, teaching ethics education is controversial because someargued that there is a lack of empirical work in business ethics curriculum(Jaszay, 2002). Thurow (1987) and Bunke (1988) argued that it is too lateto teach business ethics to college students. Murphy and Boatright (1994)contended that there is insufficient validated theory and principle relativeto where an ethics course should be placed in the curriculum or how itshould be taught. Within the community that supports ethics education, thecontroversy is over how to offer it. Jaszay (2002) stated that most educatorsagree that it is more effective to incorporate a thoroughly planned ethicscomponent into each required course than to teach a separate ethics course.
Methods of Teaching Business Ethics
In terms of instructional technique, several studies have found that discussingbusiness ethics scenarios (case studies) was the most effective method toboost students’ abilities to identify ethical situations and to develop skillsin ethical judgment (Burton, Johnson, & Wilson, 1991; Murphy & Boatright,1994; Vallen & Casado, 2000; Jaszay, 2002; Weber, 1990). Additionally, Vallenand Casado (2000) and Dopson and Nelson (2003) suggested that ethicalchallenges appear on a regular basis in the hospitality industry; therefore,hospitality ethics education is imperative for educators and professionals toimplement. Vallen and Casado (2000) suggested that ethics education willprovide certain intellectual skills for students. They need to be aware ofmoral issues and to act ethically in the workplace. Kohlberg articulated thatthere were three developmental levels of moral theory and philosophy. Fromlower to higher order of moral development, these three levels are egoism,group-oriented values, and fairness-as-virtue. Kohlberg believed that ethicscan be taught in accordance with these three developmental stages (Folger,1998; Kohlberg, 1981).
Lack of ethics education and ethical practice can lead management tomake unethical decisions. For example, in Denmark, Hjalager (2008) foundthat the restaurant business in general has been using illegal and unethicalbusiness practices to manipulate taxes, hire illegal workers, and import ille-gal supplies. This illegal and unethical restaurant business practice makes itdifficult for public and trade associations to push for the continual improve-ment in the industry. Another example of unethical practices discoveredby King, Dwyer, and Prideaux (2006) found that Chinese travel agenciesoffered tour packages to Australia riddled with uncompetitive shopping ar-rangements such as excessive or secret commissions, false or misleadingrepresentations of travel components or quality of accommodation, poorservice, low quality packages, and employees with low skill levels. As aresult, the negative word-of-mouth recommendations damaged future China
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to Australia tourism. Within this context, how businesses address the area ofethical decision-making is important because ethical practices are crucial forsuccess within the hospitality industry.
METHODOLOGY
Subjects and Sampling Plan
The target population of this study was hotel general managers (GMs) inthe United States, regardless of the room size of their properties as foundin latest version of the Business Traveler Planner. The study used BusinessTraveler Planner because it included most of the U.S. lodging propertiesand was appropriate for this study. The survey was mailed to the generalmanagers because they were the ones who were knowledgeable concerningthe education of their employees. A sample size of n = 1200 was selectedfor this survey. The GMs were randomly selected from Business TravelerPlanner, which had approximately 22,000 listed hotels and motels. Thesample size n = 1200 was based on the following reasons. According tothe response rate of Vallen and Casado (2000), the researcher expected to ahave 9 to 10% response rate for this study. This would be equivalent to 108to 120 responses.
Instrument
The questionnaire was designed based on a review of the literature andcomments from a focus group. The focus group consisted of hotel generalmanagers and hotel department directors, such as sales managers, humanresources managers, room directors, and so on, who were employed indifferent geographical regions defined by population: town—up to 19,999,small city—20,000 to 99,999, medium-sized city—100,000 to 299,999, and bigcity—300,000 or more (www.epodunk.com).
Different geographical regions were necessary for research validity be-cause the questionnaire was administered nationwide. The focus group iden-tified current hospitality ethical business practices that challenge hotel pro-fessionals daily. This instrument was defined as “Assessment of Perceptionsand Needs for Ethics Education in Hospitality.”
The questionnaire was verified and partially developed (second section)by the focus group to increase its content validity. The second section of thequestionnaire presented 12 ethical scenarios that reflected practices associ-ated with the hospitality industry. Hotel department directors developed thissection. The idea of developing 12 ethical scenarios was derived from 12 coreethical principles from the Josephson Institute in Ethics, which offers trainingprograms for ethics educators. Its 12 core ethics principles are accountability,commitment to excellence, concern for others, fairness, honesty, integrity,
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Implications for Hospitality Educators, Professionals, and Students 77
law abiding, leadership, loyalty, promise keeping, reputation, and respect forothers. These 12 principles have helped many businesses develop and definecorporate codes of ethics (Vallen & Casado, 2000). A research article fromVallen and Casado (2000) was provided to the hotel directors (focus group),which contained the theories and definitions of these 12 principles. The re-searcher further asked the hotel directors to read the article and develop 12scenarios based on the principles and their work experiences.
The questionnaire was organized in three sections. Section one listedstatements related to organizational ethical practices and standards, hotelgeneral managers’ knowledge and preparation of ethics education, and theattitudes of hotel general managers toward ethics education preparation forstudents. Section two presented 12 ethical scenarios that reflected practicesassociated with the hospitality industry, which was developed by the hoteldepartment directors. Section three consisted of demographic questions.
Data Collection Techniques
This survey used postal mail because it was the most confidential and ef-ficient method. No identity questions were used in order to protect theanonymity of the respondents. When respondents completed the question-naire, they also mailed a separate postcard at the same time. The postcardwas coded so the researcher could identify who had returned the ques-tionnaire. If a person did not respond, the researcher was able to followup with that person. A six-point Likert-type scale, Yes/No response options,close-ended questions, and open-ended questions were used to measure thesubjects’ perceptions and needs about ethics education and ethical practiceswithin the hospitality industry and hospitality programs. A six-point Likertscale was used to avoid “neutral” as one of the answer choices. In the study,a six-point Likert scale was comprised of three positive and negative answerchoices for the respondents where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 =somewhat disagree, 4 = somewhat agree, 5 = agree, and 6 = strongly agree.
Data Analyses
The data collected were analyzed using standard statistical procedures, suchas frequency, mean, standard deviation, and factor analysis.
RESULTS
One thousand two hundred questionnaires were mailed to hotel generalmanagers in the United States. One hundred six usable questionnaires were
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TABLE 1 Demographic Profile of Hotel General Managers
Gender Age fa %
Male 20–29 12 11.3Female 30–39 26 24.5Missing 40–49 28 26.4
50–59 31 29.260+ 9 8.5Missing 0 0
Nationality EducationAmerican High school/GED 18 17.0Asian 2 year college 26 24.5European 4 year college 53 50.0Latin American Master’s 8 7.5Other Doctorate 1 0.9Missing Missing 0 0
Experience in the industry Experience in current OrgLess than 5 yrs Less than 5 yrs 39 36.85–10 yrs 5–10 yrs 38 35.811–15 yrs 11–15 yrs 14 13.216–20 yrs 16–20 yrs 9 8.520+ yrs 20+ yrs 6 5.7Missing Missing 0 0
Administrative position Property room numberYes 0–100 41 38.7No 101–200 33 31.1Missing 201–300 17 16.0
301–700 12 11.3Missing 3 2.8Ave. property room No. 158
n = 106. a = frequency.
returned, for an 8.8% raw response rate. There were 56 undeliverable mailinvitations; therefore, the adjusted response rate was 9.3%. Vallen and Casado(2000) conducted a similar study, which surveyed the 500 largest lodgingproperties in the United States. Although the sample size was not large andthe findings of this research cannot be generalized, the sampling did coverall different sizes and types of hotels in all locations in the United States.
Table 1 provides a demographic profile of the survey respondents. Sixtyseven percent of the general managers were male while 33% were female.The majority of the general managers were between 50–59 years old (29.2%).The majority of the general managers were American (91.5%). Fifty percentof the general managers had four-year college degrees while two-year collegegraduates represented 24.5% of the general managers for second highestpercentage in education. The majority of the general managers had more than20 years of working experience in the hospitality industry (37.7%) followedby 20.8% with 5–10 years in the hospitality industry. Almost 36.8% of thegeneral managers had less than 5 years working experience in their currentorganizations followed closely by 35.8% with 5–10 years. The majority of the
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Implications for Hospitality Educators, Professionals, and Students 79
TABLE 2 Hotel General Managers’ Preparation of Ethics Education
Yes/% No/% Not sure/%
1. Have you taken any courses or attended anyseminars on ethics related topics within the lastyear?
20.8 79.2
2. Do you think any of these ethics courses orseminars have been of benefit to you?
20.8 2.8
3. Does your organization currently offer ethicsrelated courses or workshops for employees?
17.9 81.1
4. Have you taught any ethics related courses orseminars at your business within the last year?
8.5 40.6
5. Do you formally discuss business ethics on aregular basis in your organization?
66.0 34.0
6. Have you dealt with current issues or situationsrelated to ethics in the past year?
16.0 83.0
7. Do you have a code of ethics in yourorganization?
66.0 32.1
8. If no, do your employees or colleagues followtheir professional codes of ethics (i.e.,Accounting, Marketing, or Finance)?
11.3 5.7 19.8
9. Do you think business ethics can be taught? 72.6 11.3 13.2
n = 106.
general managers held an administrative position (90.6%). Finally, the sizeof each property where the general managers worked ranged between 10 to700 rooms, with an average of 158 rooms per property.
For research objective one, Table 2 presents questions regarding hotelgeneral managers’ knowledge and preparation of ethics education in thehospitality industry. When hotel general managers were asked “Have youtaken any courses or attended any seminars on ethics related topics within thelast year”? approximately 79% responded “NO” to the question. When asked“Does your organization currently offer ethics related courses or workshopsfor employees”? approximately 81% responded “NO” to the question. Whenhotel general managers were asked “Have you dealt with current issues orsituations related to ethics in the past year”? about 83% responded “NO”to the question. In terms of the existence of codes of ethics in lodgingorganizations, 66% of hotel general managers answered that they had a codeof ethics in their organizations while 32% indicated that they did not havea code of ethics in their organizations. Most of the hotel general managers(73%) believed that business ethics can be taught (see Table 2).
For research objective two, Table 3 illustrates the degree to which hotelgeneral managers agreed with all of the six statements (questions 10 through15). These statements are with regard to ethics education preparation forstudents, based on a Likert scale to denote their responses where 1 = stronglydisagree through 6 = strongly agree. Among these six statements, the hotelgeneral managers scored question 12 as most important with regard to ethics
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TABLE 3 Attitudes of Hotel General Managers toward Ethics Education Preparation forStudents
Mean SDa
12. Business ethics is important and must be introduced tostudents before they work in the hospitality industry.
5.09 1.11
10. Ethical issues should be addressed and discussed in allfields/areas of business on a regular basis.
5.05 0.93
13. Business ethics courses help hospitality students with theirfuture careers.
4.82 1.05
11. Educational hospitality programs should focus more oncodes of ethics and start offering more relevant courses toteach students how to resolve ethical dilemmas.
4.71 0.91
14. Students who have studied business ethics make greatercontributions to the hospitality industry.
4.42 1.18
15. Hospitality multinational companies (MNCs) are aware andunderstand local laws and ethical issues while operatingbusinesses in foreign countries.
3.64 1.19
Grand mean 4.62 1.06
n = 106. a = Standard Deviation. Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree through 6 = stronglyagree.
education with a mean score of 5.09. This was the statement “Business ethicsis important and must be introduced to students before they work in thehospitality industry.” Thus, this result also supports previous studies. Inaddition, among these six statements, most of the hotel general managersagreed that question 10 was the second most important with regard to ethicseducation with a mean score of 5.05. This was the statement “Ethical issuesshould be addressed and discussed in all fields/areas of business on a regularbasis.”
For research objective three, Table 4 illustrates the degree that hotelgeneral managers agreed with all of the 12 statements (Grand mean = 4.44).These statements are with regard to business ethics being practiced in thehospitality industry based on a Likert scale where 1 = very ethical through6 = very unethical. Among these 12 scenarios, most of the hotel generalmanagers agreed that scenario five was the most unethical business practicewith a mean score of 5.36. This was the scenario “A hotel manager andan employee used a former colleague as the scapegoat for a mistake theyhad made themselves since no one could tell what had happened.” On theother hand, hotel general managers believed that scenario three was the leastunethical business practice with mean score of 3.09. This was the scenario“A pregnant and single mother who relies on public assisted childcare tomake ends meet has been late to work on numerous occasions because ofthe operating hours of the day care center. Other than chronic tardiness, herwork had been well above average. The manager has written her up eachtime and has now decided to terminate her.”
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rdin
ary
candid
ate
for
aban
quet
capta
inposi
tion.The
mar
kethas
bee
nvo
idofex
per
ience
dca
pta
inle
velca
ndid
ates
.The
posi
tion
isab
solu
tely
criti
calto
the
effe
ctiv
enes
san
def
fici
ency
ofth
isdep
artm
ent.
The
inte
rvie
wer
does
notas
kbutnotic
essh
eis
obvi
ousl
ypre
gnan
t.A
lthough
know
ing
the
law
pro
hib
itsdis
crim
inat
ion,th
ein
terv
iew
erdec
ides
notto
exte
nd
anoffer
since
the
dep
artm
entca
nnot
tole
rate
any
further
dis
ruptio
nin
super
viso
ryco
ntin
uity
and
consi
sten
cy.
4.07
1.50
1.A
man
ager
who
super
vise
san
asso
ciat
eth
atis
under
med
ical
care
for
aw
ork
pla
cein
jury
dec
ides
tote
rmin
ate
the
indiv
idual
for
docu
men
ted
poor
job
per
form
ance
.3.
951.
56
9.A
freq
uen
tgu
estw
ho
stay
sat
leas
tonce
aw
eek
with
the
hote
lca
llsfo
ra
room
.The
hote
lis
ove
rbooke
dbutth
egu
estis
told
he
will
hav
ea
room
that
nig
ht,
even
atth
elo
wer
rate
he
has
alw
ays
pai
d.
3.19
1.75
3.A
pre
gnan
tan
dsi
ngl
em
oth
erw
ho
relie
son
public
assi
sted
child
care
tom
ake
ends
mee
thas
bee
nla
teto
work
on
num
erous
occ
asio
ns
bec
ause
ofth
eoper
atin
ghours
ofth
eday
care
cente
r.O
ther
than
chro
nic
tard
ines
s,her
work
has
bee
nw
ellab
ove
aver
age.
The
man
ager
has
written
her
up
each
time
and
has
now
dec
ided
tote
rmin
ate
her
.
3.09
1.37
Gra
nd
mea
n4.
441.
39
n=
106.
a=
Stan
dar
dD
evia
tion.Li
kert-typ
esc
ale
wher
e1
=ve
ryet
hic
alth
rough
6=
very
un
eth
ica
l.
82
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TA
BLE
5H
ote
lG
ener
alM
anag
ers:
Fact
or
Anal
ysis
ofM
anag
ers’
Eth
ical
Busi
nes
sPra
ctic
esw
ithV
arim
ax-R
ota
tions
VA
RIM
AX
-Rota
ted
Load
ings
Var
iable
sno.1
F1F2
F3F4
Com
munal
ity
14.
211E
-02
.220
.74
2−.
252
.665
2.4
87
−.16
7.1
81.3
87.4
483
2.31
7E-0
2−9
.407
E-0
2.8
46
.236
.780
4.7
29
6.36
5E-0
4−.
113
.179
.577
5.8
73
9.81
4E-0
38.
586E
-02
5.86
8E-0
2.7
836
.77
7−1
.509
E-0
21.
565E
-02
.158
.630
7.1
30.2
21−2
.954
E-0
2.8
33
.761
8.6
35
.389
−1.6
71E-0
2−.
185
.590
9−.
204
.80
5.1
38.1
61.7
3510
.62
2.3
25.1
60−.
214
.563
11.2
95.7
20
−3.5
94E-0
24.
845E
-02
.610
12.8
01
-4.8
95E-0
28.
275E
-03
.105
.656
Eig
enva
lue
3.90
61.
557
1.25
51.
078
Per
centa
geofva
rian
ceex
pla
ined
32.5
4612
.977
10.4
588.
985
Cum
ula
tive
%ofva
rian
ceex
pla
ined
32.5
4645
.523
55.9
8164
.966
Kai
ser-
Mey
er-O
lkin
Mea
sure
of
Sam
plin
gA
deq
uac
y(M
SA):
.798
Bar
tlett’s
test
ofsp
her
icity
:ap
pro
xim
ate
Chi-sq
uar
e:33
4.45
5df:
66Si
g.:.
000
Dim
ensi
ons
Var
iable
sRel
iabili
ty(C
ronbac
h’s
Alp
ha)
Fact
or
1:le
ader
ship
hones
tyan
din
tegr
ity2
,4
,5
,6
,8
,1
0,
12
.857
0
Fact
or
2:co
rpora
tere
puta
tion
and
cust
om
ersa
tisfa
ctio
n9,
11.4
226
Fact
or
3:m
anag
er’s
acco
unta
bili
tyan
dco
nce
rnfo
rem
plo
yees
1,3
.447
3
Fact
or
4:la
wab
idin
gan
det
hic
albusi
nes
spra
ctic
e7
N/A
1 Ple
ase
refe
rto
Tab
le4
for
ades
crip
tion
ofth
eva
riab
les.
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84 R. Yeh
Factor analysis was conducted by grouping new factors to determinethe dimensions among the 12 scenarios relative to hotel general managers’perceptions in ethical business practice. The Principle Component Analy-sis (PCA) with VARIMAX rotation was used to determine the underlyingdimensions for representing general managers’ ethical business practice per-ceptions. These are (1) leadership honesty and integrity, (2) corporate rep-utation and customer satisfaction (3) manager’s accountability and concernfor employees, and (4) law abiding and ethical business practice. In order todetermine the underlying dimensions, factors based on the Latent Root Crite-rion (Eigenvalues > 1), Total Variance Explained, Scree Plot, and VARIMAX(orthogonal)-Rotated Component Matrix were conducted. The Scree Test Cri-terion was used to show the latent roots (Eigenvalues) criterion of greaterthan one (1) for the factors. With respect to the managers’ ethical businesspractice perceptions, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) Measure of SamplingAdequacy (MSA) was .798. The KMO was used to determine the appropri-ateness of applying factor analysis; values above .50 for the factor matrix areappropriate. The Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity value (Chi-Square) was 334.455,significant at p = .000 which showed a significant correlation among someof the variables (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998) (see Table 5).
CONCLUSIONS
The findings implied that business ethics education is not widely discussedand implemented in the hospitality industry. The results indicated that thelodging industry has not valued ethical education and training for its em-ployees because little to no training was offered. The results also impliedthat hotel general managers did not perceive that there were many issues re-lated to ethical practices. In addition, the findings showed that hotel generalmanagers perceived that a code of ethics is important and that hospitalityproperties should focus more on business ethics. The study concluded thatif students and employees have more education and training on businessethics, they can deal with ethical dilemmas better.
For questions regarding ethics education preparation for students, thefollowing conclusions were derived from the results. Hotel general managerswould like to encourage and see more ethics education awareness andtraining for hospitality students before they enter the industry.
Honesty, respect for others, fairness, and integrity were perceived asthe four most important qualities for employees when business ethics beingpracticed in the hospitality industry. Factor analysis was conducted by group-ing the following four new factors to determine the dimensions among the12 scenarios relative to hotel general managers’ perceptions of ethical busi-ness practice. The findings suggested that (1) honesty/integrity, (2) corporatereputation and customer satisfaction, (3) accountability/employee concern,
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Implications for Hospitality Educators, Professionals, and Students 85
and (4) law abiding ethical business practices are important practices withinthe hospitality industry. The original 12 “ethics in practice” components werecommonly grouped under these four newly developed factors.
RECOMMENDATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR HOSPITALITYPRACTITONERS AND EDUCATORS
In conclusion, the general managers suggested that it is imperative for hos-pitality organizations and programs to offer ethics education and training fortheir hospitality employees and students.
Based on the findings:Consider incorporating business ethics across the curriculum using sce-
narios and case studies to teach business ethics. For example, the researcherof this study has developed a module in teaching hospitality business ethics.The module helps the students understand the concepts of hospitality busi-ness ethics and prepares them to be an ethical hospitality professional.
Encourage more ethics education and training for the hospitality indus-try. Companies should provide training or seminars on a regular basis fortheir employees, especially the new hires. By doing so, the employees willbe have more tools to make decisions in a more ethical manner.
LIMITATIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH
Future researchers can replicate this study with current members of theInternational Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education. Inaddition, conducting similar research will be helpful by surveying hospital-ity students. This study showed a need for ethics education in hospitalitybecause ethics education is minimal. Moreover, according to the literaturereview and the findings, codes of ethics are crucial for implementing andimproving hospitality employees’ ethical behavior. Research relative to ob-taining, introducing, and implementing codes of ethics to students and em-ployees is beneficial.
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