Developing future tourism and hospitality leaders: Critical reflection on leader development in Vietnam

Abstract

There is a growing demand and need for leader development among managers across Vietnam's tourism and hospitality sectors. The upsurge is triggered by the transitional nature of the economy, and the Covid-19 disruptions, causing workforce changes and skills shortages. However, leadership development programs in the Vietnamese context are challenged by the mix of changing cultural and generational values, indicating the need for critical and culturally based practices to support the growth and development of future leaders. This study contributes to leadership development and tourism and hospitality education literature by reporting on the findings of a study that uses critical reflection as a method to analyse and reconstruct the co-facilitated experience of a leadership development program delivered to women in the tourism and hospitality sectors in Vietnam. The study intends to demonstrate how facilitators' critical reflection on their western- and eastern-informed practices can lead to more meaningful understandings of leader development approaches in the context of the Vietnamese transitional economy and inform future practice.