Boundary crossing, internships, and the hospitality & tourism talent pipeline

Abstract

Given the current recruitment and retention landscape in the hospitality and tourism (H&T) industry due in part to unfavorable impressions of work in the industry and the post-pandemic exodus, hospitality and tourism management (HTM) students and interns are in high demand across the services industries in general. To address recruitment gaps while building a long-term talent pipeline, we propose a novel way to understand the knowledge transfer work that occurs for students during an internship. Boundary crossing provides an industry-focused theoretical perspective for designing, supporting, and valuing the cognitive processes that individuals undergo while interning at a H&T organization.