How do hotel and tourism students select internship employers? A segmentation approach

The major objective of this study is to segment the hotel and tourism students into groups based on their perceived importance of the criteria for selecting internship employers, which is grounded in the expectancy theory and job choice framework. Drawing from a self-administered survey of 273 hotel and tourism management college students in Hong Kong, the study used cluster analysis to generate four clusters of students, namely learning enthusiasts, social support seekers, brand seekers, and school followers. Chi-square tests showed that school followers generally do not have internship experience. Implications for educators and internship employers are discussed in the paper.