Abstract

The hospitality industry emphasizes practical experience. In order to assist students in entering their future careers, the curriculum design of hospitality education usually include industry internship credits. The purpose of this study was to understand the student interns’ parents in relation to internship programs of hospitality higher education in Taiwan. The research design combines document content analysis and focus group discussion. According to the results of analysis, the parental influence factors on internship programs included parental support to the internship program, parents’ opinions during internships, parents’ value judgment to internships, and parents’ intervention in internships. The results compared with related studies and offered suggestion to all stakeholders in the internship program.