Making mentoring meaningful: hospitality and tourism students’ perceptions of mentoring

ABSTRACT

Mentoring has received considerable attention in higher education and industry, but little is known about perceptions of mentoring within disciplines, including that of hospitality and tourism. This study investigated undergraduate students’ perceptions of mentoring to learn more about the factors that might need to be considered when implementing a formal discipline-related mentoring program. Differences in perceptions of mentoring were found between male and female students and first-generation and non-first-generation college students. Overall, students appeared to lack knowledge of mentoring. Implications for hospitality and tourism educators with regard to mentoring are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Mentoring
• students
• educators
• mentors

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.