Local skills are essential for a nation's pulse, and Malaysia's government recognizes that education is a critical platform for developing human capital with high competitiveness and employability skills. Similar to other industries, the hospitality industry faces sudden and unexpected changes that have led to the existence and creation of new technologies and skills due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this, there remains insufficient research systematically reviewing existing literature on employability skills necessary for success in this field. Hence the present article conducted a systematic literature review to determine which set of achievements is required for the future resilience of hospitality graduates in the post-covid-19 era. The present study integrated multiple research designs and the review was based on the publication standard, namely PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). This study selected articles using three leading databases, namely Web of Science, Scopus, and ScienceDirect. Three major themes emerged from the analysis, which covered three broad thematic areas: knowledge, skill, and attitude. The results of this study make it possible to bridge the gap in information available about traditional knowledge and additional employability skills that are required in the current environment to provide future researchers with value-added knowledge.
Abas, M. C. & Imam, O. A. (2016). Graduates’ Competence on Employability Skills and Job Performance. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE), Vol.5, No.2, pp. 119-125.
Adeyinka-Ojo, S., Lee, S., Abdullah, S. K. & Teo, J. (2020). Hospitality and tourism education in an emerging digital economy. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes. Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 113-125.
Andrades, L. & Dimanche, F. (2019). Destination competitiveness in Russia: tourism professionals' skills and competences. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31 (2), pp. 910-930.
Bilotta, E., Bertacchini, F., Gabriele, L., Giglio, S., Pantano, P. S. & Romita, T. (2021). Industry 4.0 technologies in tourism education: Nurturing students to think with technology. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 29 (2021) 100275.
Bonfanti, A., Vigolo, V., Yfantidou, G. (2021). The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on customer experience design: The hotel managers’ perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management 94 (2021) 102871.
Chen, T., Shen, C. & Gosling, M. (2021). To stay or not to stay? The causal effect of interns’ career intention on enhanced employability and retention in the hospitality and tourism industry. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 28 (2021) 100305.
Chalupa, S. & Chadt, K. (2021). The Perception of Soft Skills and Their Training at Hotel Front – Office in Connection to CoVid-19 Pandemics. TEM Journal10 (2), pp. 517?521.
Commey, V., Kokt, D. & Hattingh, J. (2020). Innovative human resources management: key competencies expected from hospitality graduates in Ghana. Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Entrepreneurship (JoSTE), Vol 1, No 4, 2020, 279-291.
Datta, A., & Singh, R. (2018). Determining the dimensions of organizational climate perceived by the hotel employees. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 36, 40–48.
Dhawan, S. (2020). Online learning: A panacea in the time of COVID-19 crisis. Journal of educational technology systems, 49(1), 5-22.
Fajaryati,N., Budiyono, Akhyar, M., and Wiranto (2020). The Employability Skills Needed to Face the Demands of Work in the Future: Systematic Literature Reviews. Open Engineering, vol. 10, no. 1, 2020, pp. 595-603.
Firharmawan, H. & Andika, A. (2019). Needs and Problems in English for Hospitality Industries: A Case Study of the Hotel Employees at Meotel Hotel Kebumen. Journal of English Language Learning (JELL), vol.3 No.2, 61- 67.
Gibbs, L. & Slevitch, L. (2018). Integrating Technical and Emotional Competences in Hospitality Education. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, DOI: 10.1080/10963758.2018.1485500.
Gibbs, L. & Slevitch, L. (2019). Beyond the Classroom: Student Employability and Intention to Stay in the Hospitality Industry. Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism, 19(4), pp. 267-284.
Haque, A., Fernando, M. and Caputi, P. (2021), “Responsible leadership and employee outcomes: a systematic literature review, integration and propositions”, Asia-Pacific Journal.
Hayashi,R., Jayasundara, H. D. S. A., Garcia, M., & Hirokawa, A. B. T.,(2021). COVID-19 Impact on Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Sri Lanka. ADB Brief Publication.
Higgins, J.P.T., Green, S., 2011. Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Retrieved from. https://handbook-5-1.cochrane.org/.
Huang, A. Y., Fisher, T., Ding, H. & Guo, Z. (2021). A network analysis of cross-occupational skill transferability for the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 33(12), pp. 4215-4236.
Huang, A. & Baker, M. (2021). Exploring skill-based career transitions for entry-level hospitality and tourism workers. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 48, pp. 368-373.
Ismail, I. M., Ahmad, N. A., Amiruddin, M. H., Ismail, M. E., & Harun, H. (2019). Identifying the Employment Skills Among Malaysian Vocational Students: An Analysis of Gender Differences. Journal of Technical Education and Training, 11(3).
Joshi, V. A. & Gupta, I. (2021). Assessing the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Hospitality and Tourism Education in India and Preparing for the New Normal. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 13(5), pp. 622-635.
Keci?, A. (2019). Is Technology Stealing Our Jobs? The Impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on the Hotel Industry Workforce. Undergraduate thesis Rochester Institute of Technology RIT Croatia, Dubrovnik.
Khan, K. I., Niazi, A., Nasir, A. Hussain, M. & Khan, M. I. (2021). The Effect of COVID-19 on the Hospitality Industry: The Implication for Open Innovation. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 2021, 7, 30.
Kitchenham, B.A., Charters, S.M., 2007. Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering. EBSE Technical Report.
Kumar, A., Singh,P. N., Ansari,S. N. & Pandey, S. (2022). Importance of Soft Skills and Its Improving Factors. World Journal of English Language Vol. 12, No. 3; 2022.
Lee, P. C., Xu, S. & Yang, W. (2021). Is career adaptability a double-edged sword? The impact of work social support and career adaptability on turnover intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 94 (2021) 102875.
Liberati, A., Altman, D.G., Tetzlaff, J., Mulrow, C., Gøtzsche, P.C., Ioannidis, J.P., Clarke, M., Devereaux, P.J., Kleijnen, J. and Moher, D. (2009). “The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: explanation and elaboration”, PLoS Medicine, Vol. 6 No. 7, pp. e1-e3
Lockwood C, Munn Z, Porritt K. Qualitative research synthesis: methodological guidance for systematic reviewers utilizing meta-aggregation. Int J Evid Based Healthc. 2015 Sep;13(3):179-87.
Lu, H. (2021). Enhancing university student employability through practical experiential learning in the sport industry: An industry-academia cooperation case from Taiwan. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 28 (2021) 100301.
Lau, A. (2020). New Technologies Used in COVID-19 for Business Survival: Insights from the Hotel Sector in China. Information Technology & Tourism, 22(4), 497– 504.
Magalhães, C., Araujo, A. & Andres-Marques, M. I. (2022). How Do Hospitality Workers Perceive Their Work Skills before and after the Lockdown Imposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic?. Social Sciences, 11, pp. 588.
Mahazir et al (2019). Identifying the Employment Skills Among Malaysian Vocational Students: An Analysis of Gender Differences. Journal Of Technical Education and Training Vol. 11 No. 3 (2019) 115–120.
Marneros, S., Efstathiades, A. & Papageorgiou, G. (2021). Examining the core competencies for success in the hotel industry: The case of Cyprus. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 28 (2021) 100303.
Miller, J. J., Mayo, Z. & Podlog, L. (2022). A qualitative analysis of undergraduate sport management student skill and awareness development at an international sports event. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 30 (2022) 100345.
Ministry of Education Malaysia (2015). Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education). Putrajaya, Malaysia: Ministry of Education.
Mohammad, A. (2020). Understanding Motivations, Employability Skills, Employment Aspiration and Training of Hospitality Management Undergraduates. Tourism Review International, 24(4), pp. 185-199.
Mohanty, S., Mohanty, A. (2019). A skill- gap study: An analytical approach with a special focus on Tourism Education and the tourism industry in Odisha. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 8(3), pp. 1-14.
Moyo, B. & Özgit, H. (2022). Tourism Graduate Students’ Employability Skills: Results and Implications of a Zimbabwean Study. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 32:3, 268-274.
Mustikawati, R. I., Nugroho, M. A., Setyorini, D., Yushita, A. N.& Timur, R. P. (2016). Needs Analysis of Soft Skills in Supporting the Career of Accounting Graduates. Jurnal Pendidikan Akuntansi Indonesia, XIV(2), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.21831/jpai.v14i2.12866.
Narisetti, R. (2020). The Next Normal the Recovery will be Digital: Digitizing at Speed and Scale. McKinsey Global Publishing.
Nawawi, W. N. W., Sulaiman, W. N. W., Razali, N. M., Anuar, J. and Ramli, N. (2017). The Generic Skills Required by Malaysian Hotel Industry: A Study of Perception and Needs. J. Appl. Environ. Biol. Sci., 7(2S)15-19, 2017.
Nugraha, H. D., Kencanasari, V., Komari,R. N. & Kasda (2020). Employability Skills in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Innovation of Vocational Technology Education, invotec XVI:1 (2020), 1-10.
Olowoyo. M. M., Ramaila, S. & Mavura, L. (2020). Levels of Readiness and Preparedness of Selected South African TVET Colleges in Meeting the Requirements of the Hospitality Industry. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 19 (11), pp. 53-70.
Pahlevan-Sharif, S., Mura, P. and Wijesinghe, S.N.R. (2019), “A systematic review of systematic reviews in tourism”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Vol. 39, pp. 158-165.
Pillai, S. G., Haldorai, K., Seo, W. S., & Kim, W. G. (2021). Covid-19 and Hospitality 5.0: Redefining Hospitality Operations. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 94, 102869.
Rahimi, N. H.Z., Rasul, M. S., & Yasin, R. M. (2017). Analisis Sistematik Rangka Kerja Pelaksanaan Pembelajaran Keusahawanan menggunakan Teknik Delphi. International Research Journal of Education and Sciences (IRJES), Vol. 1 Special Issue 1 (Malay), 2017.
Rameli, M. R. M., Bunyamin, M. A. H., Siang, T. J., Hassan, Z., Mokhtar, M., Ahmad, J.& Jambari, H. (2018). Item Analysis of the Effects of Study Visit Programme in Cultivating Students’ Soft Skills: A Case Study. International Journal of Engineering and Technology(UAE),7(2), 117–120.
Ratka, A.& Pharm D. (2018). Empathy and the Development of Affective Skills. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 82(10), 1140–1143.
Ruhanen, L., Axelsen, M. & Bowles, L. (2021). Engaging students through authentic learning: Connecting with international tourism partners. Journal of Hospitality Leisure Sport & Tourism Education, 29.
Saari, A., Rasul, M. S., Yasin, R. M., Rauf, R. A. A., Ashari, Z. H. M. & Pranita, D. (2021). Skills Sets for Workforce in the 4th Industrial Revolution: Expectation from Authorities and Industrial Players. Journal of Technical Education and Training Vol. 13 No. 2 (2021) 1-9.
Safavi, H. P. & Bouzari, M. (2019). The association of psychological capital, career adaptability and career competency among hotel frontline employees. Tourism Management Perspectives, 30 (2019) 65–74.
Self, T.T., Gordon, S., Jolly, P.M. (2019). Talent Management: A Delphi Study of Assessing and Developing Genz Hospitality Leaders. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(10), pp. 4126-4149.
Sharma, A., Shin, H., Santa-María, M. J., Nicolaua, J. L. (2021). Hotels' COVID-19 innovation and performance. Annals of Tourism Research 88 (2021) 103180.
Saito, H., Solnet, D., Robinson, R. & Paulsen, N. (2021). Do personal values matter? The effects of personal values on hospitality employees’ service climate perceptions. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 47 (2021) 190–201.
Sato, S., Kang, T., Daigo, E., Matsuoka, H. & Harada, M. (2021). Graduate employability and higher education’s contributions to human resource development in sport business before and after COVID-19. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 28 (2021) 100306.
Schreck, C. M., Weilbach, J.T & Reitsma, G.M., (2020). Improving graduate attributes by implementing an experiential learning teaching approach: A case study in recreation education. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 26 (2020) 100214.
Shaffril, H. A. M., Ahmad, N., Samsuddin, S. F., Samah, A. A., & Hamdan, M. E. (2020). Systematic literature review on adaptation towards climate change impacts among indigenous people in the Asia Pacific regions. Journal of cleaner production, 258, 120595.
Sia, J. K. & Adamu, A. A. (2021). Facing the unknown: pandemic and higher education in Malaysia. Asian Education and Development Studies, 10(2) 263-275.
Silva, G., Correia, A. & Oliveira, M. (2020). Great expectations: The graduate view of skills in hospitality. Handbook of Research on Human Capital and People Management in the Tourism Industry, pp. 92-109.
Singh, A. & Jaykumar, P. (2019). On the road to consensus: key soft skills required for youth employment in the service sector. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 11(1), pp. 10-24.
Smart, A., Ma, E., Qu, Li Ding, L. (2021). COVID-19 impacts, coping strategies, and management reflection: A lodging industry case. International Journal of Hospitality Management 94 (2021) 102859.
Stefanini, C. J., Rejowski, M. & Ferro, R. C. (2021). Tourism and hospitality in Brazil: A model for studies of education competencies. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 29 (2021) 100299.
Subia, G. S. Treasure Chess: Worthy Contributions of the Game in the Lives of Student Champions. The Normal Lights, (2020), 14(1),100-121.
Suhairom, N., Musta’amal, A. H., Amin, N. F. M., Kamin, Y. & Wahid, N. H. A. (2019). Quality culinary workforce competencies for sustainable career development among culinary professionals. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 81 (2019) 205–220.
Suryanti, H. H. S. & Supeni, S. (2019). A Problem Based Learning (PBL) Model in Developing Students' Soft Skills Aspect. International Journal of Higher Education Vol. 8, No. 8; 2019.
Susaeta, L., Babinger, F. & Munoz, N. (2020). Influence of limiting beliefs in soft employability skills: An analysis for the hospitality sector. Tourism, 68(2), pp. 207-220.
Sussman, L. L. (2021). Exploring Non-Technical Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA) that May Expand the Expectations of the Cyber Workforce. Cybersecurity Skills Journal: Practice and Research, University of Southern Maine.
Tahir, L. M., Samah, N. A., & Omar, W., Mohammad, S., Latif, A. A., Yusof, S. M., Amin, N. F. M., Hamid, M. Z. A., Arsat, M., Musta’amal, A. H. (2018).
Tober, M, 2011. PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, or Google Scholar —Which is the best search engine for effective literature research in laser medicine?
Tankovic, A. C., Valentina, K. & Kapes, J. (2021). Importance of soft skills and communication skills in tourism: viewpoint from tourists and future tourism employees. Tourism in South East Europe, 6, pp. 167-185.
UNESCO (2021). Skills Development in the Time of COVID-19: Taking Stock of the Initial Responses in Technical and Vocational Education and Training. International Labour Office – Geneva: ILO, 2021.
Wikhamn, W. (2019). Innovation, sustainable HRM and customer satisfaction. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 76 (2019) 102–110.
Williamson, J., Wardle, K. & Hasmi, H. (2020). Developing WIL curriculum which enhances hospitality students capabilities. Higher Education Skills And Work-Based Learning, 11 (3), pp. 635-648.
World Bank (2021). Malaysia Overview. Retrieved from: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/overview on 24 July 2021.
World Health Organization (2022). WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. Retrieved at
https://covid19.who.int/
Xu, J., Tavitiyaman, P., Kim, H. J., Lo, S. K. J. (2022). Hospitality and Tourism Higher Education in the Post-COVID Era: Is It Time to Change?. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education 34(4), pp. 278-290.
Yusof, M. F. M., Wong, A., Ahmad, G., Aziz, R. C. & Hussain, K. (2020). Enhancing hospitality and tourism graduate employability through the 2u2i program. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 12 (2), pp. 137-144.
Zakari, N. A., Majid, M. Z. A., & Sahid, S. (2022). Systematic Literature Reviews of Marketability and Employability of Graduates. International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management and Sciences, 11(1), 157–177.
