Soft skills’ infusion in tourism curricula: scale development and validation

To stay competitive and enhance student employability, universities must continuously monitor the potential soft skills gap between their curriculum and industry demands in tourism and hospitality (T&H). This study aims to develop and validate a scale to measure soft skills integration in T&H programs. Using established scale development procedures, data from two student cohorts underwent exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The resulting two-factor, 30-item scale demonstrated high reliability and validity, identifying two dimensions: conceptual/creative and leadership/interpersonal. This scale can enhance T&H education by assessing how well universities equip students with essential soft skills for the industry.