Intercultural communication challenges and strategies for the Thai undergraduate hotel interns

Abstract

The hospitality industry is one of Thailand’s most important sectors that contributes to the national economy. Human capital has become so vital that a strong foundation and development of undergraduate students in this discipline are needed. Their internship experience is part of the process of learning and integrating their knowledge into practice, especially concerning intercultural communicative encounters. There are, however, few studies related to this particular issue. This research aims to study Thai undergraduate hotel interns’ intercultural communication challenges and strategies while undertaking their internship at an in-house hotel training center located on a university campus. Drawing upon a mixed-method approach based on questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, the results based on calculated mean scores suggest that the interns ranked five intercultural communicative strategies from highest to lowest as follows: (i) critical cultural awareness (x̄ = 3.94), (ii) attitudes (x̄ = 3.81), (iii) knowledge (x̄ = 3.71), (iv) skills to interpret and relate (x̄ = 3.63), and (v) skills to discover and interact (x̄ = 3.62). This study suggests that academic programs should equip Thai undergraduate hotel interns with proficiency in foreign languages and cultures, problem-solving skills, and cross-cultural and interpersonal understanding. This study contributes to awareness and the need to incorporate intercultural communicative competence into the hospitality programs that can produce graduates who are well-equipped and prepared for multilingual and multicultural working environments.