Should I Stay or Should I Go? Linking Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy to Intention to Stay in the Hospitality Industry Based on Internship Experience

Internships are increasingly being used in the hospitality industry, as these can provide students with opportunities to examine their abilities, interests, and career decisions in a workplace context, as well as help cultivate human resources within this sector. This study thus examines students’ career decision-making self-efficacy with regard to internships. Based on social cognitive theory and career decision-making self-efficacy theory, we developed the research constructs with a focus group interview and a review of the existing literature, and then verified their content validity and scale reliability. Using 782 student data from the hospitality management departments, we found the direct influence of career decision-making self-efficacy in relation to internships on the intention to stay in the hospitality industry. Most important of all, we also found the mediating roles of internship satisfaction and career commitment in the relationship between decision-making self-efficacy and intention to stay in the hospitality industry, as well as the moderating roles of intrinsic motivation in the relationships among career decision-making self-efficacy, internship satisfaction, career commitment, and intention to stay in the hospitality industry. The theoretical and practical implications of these results in the context of hospitality will be discussed.