Vocational Education Input for a Sustainable Hospitality Industry

Higher education institutions that provide vocational education (VE) programs have the role of providing vocational training for a lifelong career. Higher education students in hospitality programs in Hong Kong were surveyed (N = 362). Structural equation modelling found that among VE’s competence and affect inputs, students’ affect toward the discipline was the strongest driver of vocational resilience and lifelong career choice, which are presumably the main contributors of the industry’s sustainability. To supply a continual flow of competent and passionate workers who are resilient and willing to take the vocation as a lifelong career so as to sustain a flourishing hospitality industry, higher education providers should place more emphasis on nurturing students’ affective self-concept in addition to the traditional inputs of skills and knowledge in their VE programs.