Difference in the Perception of Aesthetic Labour of Airlines and High-speed Rail Cabin Occupants between Industry and Academia: Discussion on Cross-Curricular Credit Programs

Abstract

This study took airlines and high-speed rail cabin occupants as subjects to explore their occupational competency profi le under the casual role enactment script. Then, the Analytic Network Process (ANP), which cross-examined the perception of aesthetic labour of those cabin occupants from the academic and industrial perspectives. The results show, fi rst, for the main criteria of the high-speed rail attendants, industry and academia both agreed that professional competencies were more important than aesthetic competencies. With regard to the subcriteria, professional attitude was the most important among the aesthetic competencies, while problem-solving ability was the most important among the professional competencies. Second, for cabin attendants of full-service airlines, industry and academia both held that aesthetic competencies were more important than professional competencies in terms of the main criteria. With respect to the subcriteria, professional attitude was the most important among the aesthetic competencies. The academic community stated that problem-solving ability was the most important professional competency, while industry believed that the importance of teamwork ability prevailed.

Looking good and sounding right: a scale development of aesthetic labor in the hospitality industry

“…Industry and academia believe that aesthetic competency is more important than professional ability for flight attendants. For flight attendants, a professional attitude is the most important aesthetic competency (Yang et al , 2019). Ren (2017) reported that Chinese airlines require a higher standard of AL for women than for men; AL is gendered and context-bound.…”

“…For flight attendants, aesthetic competency is more important than professional ability (Yang et al , 2019). Therefore, a t-test was performed to examine whether the frontline employees of the airline industry had higher AL scores than their counterparts in the hotel industry.…”