The impact of internship experiences on the professional attitudes and behaviors of the students studying gastronomy

Gastronomy and culinary arts and cookery are departments where practical skills are at the forefront. In these departments, where applied courses are intensive in the general curriculum and practical skills have a large part, internship experience takes an important place in terms of reinforcing what students learn at school and meeting the sector. Therefore, the internship experience of students studying gastronomy and cookery plays a critical role in both their academic and professional lives. In this context, the aim of the study was to reveal the impact of internship experience in gastronomy and culinary arts education. First, internship satisfaction was taken into consideration as internship experience. Then, the effects of school support, managerial support, learning opportunities, and workload on internship satisfaction were examined. Furthermore, the effect of internship satisfaction on attitude towards work and professional commitment was evaluated. Finally, the attitudes towards work and professional commitment impact on students' intention to stay in the sector were investigated. The research data were collected through an online questionnaire in April and May 2023. A total of 411 valid questionnaires were obtained by using snowball and convenience sampling methods. SPSS and LISREL programs were used to define the data and test the relationship between variables. As a result of the study, it was determined that school support did not have a significant effect on internship satisfaction. On the other hand, managerial support and learning opportunities had a positive effect on internship satisfaction. On the other hand, workload has a negative effect on internship satisfaction. The study also concluded that internship satisfaction significantly impacts attitude towards work and professional commitment. In addition, the participant's attitude towards work and professional commitment separately positively impacted their intention to stay in the sector. These results show that internship experience is particularly important in gastronomy and culinary education. Based on the findings of the research, implications, and recommendations were made for tourism enterprises, institutions providing gastronomy and cookery education, and researchers who want to conduct studies on similar topics.