Towards a Personology of a Hospitality Professional

This article provides new insights on what makes hospitality professionals by proposing a new framework: the personology of a hospitality professional. This framework is based on an in-depth analysis of the literature on self-efficacy, career inheritance and career commitment. Understanding the key characteristics of people who choose hospitality as their profession is of great importance to an industry that provides one in ten jobs worldwide, and in the United Kingdom alone employs 4.49 million people. The need for quality employees who consider hospitality a long-term career is of paramount importance. Stakeholders often perceive the hospitality industry as a hardworking and low-paying one. If employers wish to retain existing talent and also attract new talent, they need to have a better understanding of their employees' key characteristics. The proposed personology will enable hospitality stakeholders to identify key indicators that aid in a deeper understanding of what constitutes a hospitality professional. This can facilitate the interview process and yield better recruitment and selection outcomes whilst contributing to the scarcity of knowledge on what being a hospitality professional entails.