PERCEIVED USEFULNESS, PERCEIVED EASE OF USE, AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS USING FRONT OFFICE TASKS SIMULATOR: A PRELIMINARY STUDY IN COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Quah Wei Boon, Roseline Anak Kok, Azreena Aziz
Community College of Sungai Petani, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Simulation tool in hospitality education is suggested to fill the deficiency by exposing students in tangible business situations. In this study, Front Office Tasks Simulator has been used as an innovative teaching tool for hospitality students particularly in Front Office subject. Thus, this study investigated to see how students perceived Front Office Tasks Simulator (FOTS) in terms of perceived ease of use, usefulness, and attitude toward the use of FOTS during simulation activities and examines whether these factors were correlated. The participants were 22 students from Community College of Sungai Petani who took Front Office course in third semester of 2018 academic year. Questionnaires had been circulated in order to collect data. The results reveal that overall mean scores of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness were at high level, and students had a positive attitude toward the use of FOTS for doing the practical activities. It was also found students learning performance was positively correlated with perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use FOTS. The perceived ease of use had positive relationship with perceived usefulness of FOTS and attitude towards using FOTS doing activities. Moreover, attitude was related to perceived usefulness while no relationship was found between attitude towards using and students learning performance. The concluding remarks suggested the possibility to integrate Front Office Tasks Simulator (FOTS) for other institutions that offer the same course and further research should be carry out to examine those factors whether the results are equivalent.

KEYWORDS

Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Attitude towards Using, Learning Performance, Front Office Tasks Simulator