This study set out to discover attributes that are unique to hospitality organizations and the characteristics of a person who would be successful in an environment that exhibited this culture. The study developed the Hospitality Culture Fit Scale (HCFS), a scale that can be utilized by the hospitality industry and educational programs. The second part of the study utilized the scale on three groups to determine the cultural awareness gaps of both groups by how well it predicts success (fit) in the hospitality industry. These research questions guided the study: (1) How does the cultural fit of college graduates differ when comparing their educational background? (2) To what extent do hospitality programs prepare graduates to fit within the hospitality industry?

In order to identify the characteristics of hospitality culture, an extensive review of the literature and a panel of industry experts were consulted. This list of cultural identifiers established the constructs for the HCFS, which were reduced into a smaller set of components through the use of principal component analysis. The final dimensions for the scale included: customer relationships, empowerment, respect, motivation, job satisfaction, principles, propitiousness, leadership, risk taker, and accuracy.

Once the HCFS was developed, it was used to answer the two research questions. The fit scores of graduating college seniors from hospitality programs were compared to graduating college seniors from business programs and students enrolled within other disciplines. Multivariate analysis of variance was conducted on the three groups to determine the differences among the mean scores on the HCFS scale. The hospitality and business students differed significantly from the other students on the factors, “Customer Relationships” and “Leadership,” but not from each other. The hospitality students differed from both groups on the factors, “Motivation” and “Propitiousness.”

In order to determine the specific variables where there was a difference in the mean scores of industry professionals and the hospitality students, an independent t-test was conducted. In many cases, the student's displayed a higher mean score which may be contributed to the fact that the characteristics represent the “ideal” company to work for rather than the reality of the industry.