The role of Stakeholders in Enhancing Service Quality in Hospitality Education: An Application of Stakeholder Theory

Abstract

With fierce competition in this arena, Institute of Hotel Management (IHMs) needs to balance the interests of all its key stakeholders by not only providing quality but also creating value. There is a need for the IHMs to measure the same provided to the key stakeholders so that their varied interests are dealt with and their role towards the institutes are aligned. This paper delineates the significance of the key stakeholders in the field of hospitality education delivered at the IHMs by validating the stakeholder theory from industry and academia. As the study is qualitative in nature, an exploratory design was opted for the research using experiential survey. The recruiters of top hotel brands, Directors, and Principals were interviewed to elicit their views on hospitality education delivered by IHMs. The findings from the expert interviews validate the stakeholder theory and the need for providing not only service quality but also superior value to the key stakeholders. The research is the first of its kind in hospitality education literature to integrate the opinions of industry and academia towards maximising the value of all key stakeholders in the domain.