۱- Introduction

۲- Literature review

۳- Method

۴- Results

۵- Discussion

۶- Conclusions

References

Abstract

The aim of this research was to design a seven-session case method intervention to be used as part of the organizational behavior course to achieve a high level of students’ satisfaction. Ninety-two students took part in the case method intervention. A final questionnaire showed that participants were very satisfied with the case study method and that this teaching method should be applied in other courses of the bachelor of tourism in order to increase tourism students’ satisfaction with their studies. Implications for theory and practice are discussed and directions for future research pointed out.

Introduction

“… In many courses we don’t study anything that is related to Tourism, sometimes the teacher comes to give a talk for a couple of hours and then leaves. My perception is that many of the things that we study here, are too theoretical and won’t be useful when I will get into the labor market. I feel that I learn nothing applied to tourism, this doesn’t happen in all the courses, but do happens in some of them …” Student of the bachelor’s degree in tourism. The testimony above shows a clear example of a student who is losing their motivation because of their perception of a lack of practical application of what they learn. It highlights the need of adapting teaching methodologies to student learning preferences to keep them motivated as instructors are no longer seen as mere content transmitters (Lillo-Bañuls, Perles-Ribes, & Fuentes, 2016). In this sense, several studies (Lashley & Barron, 2006; Lashley, 1999; Barron & Arcodia, 2002) categorize tourism and hospitality students as activist learners (i.e., “people who learn through experience in concrete situations” – Lashley & Barron, 2006: p.555). Therefore, and contrasting theoretical expositive lessons, teaching through the case study method seems to be a good pedagogical solution in order to present students with real-life situations and enhancing both, their learning outcomes as well as their satisfaction with the course (Falkenberg & Woiceshyn, 2008). However, there is a lack of empirical evidence that allows directly relating the case study method with hospitality and tourism students’ satisfaction, and particularly in the course of psychology of groups and organizations (i.e., organizational behavior). Consequently, the main objective of this research is to design and implement a case study method intervention for the course of organizational behavior and measure students’ satisfaction with the method. This paper is organized as follows: following the introduction, the literature review presents the background in which this research is framed (i.e., learning style preferences of hospitality and tourism students and case study method as a teaching tool); the method section explains the instruments used and the research development procedure; results of the intervention are presented in the third section to finish with the discussion of the paper.