Factors Contribute to Work Stress Among Culinary Interns

Abstract

Within the realm of culinary field, culinary internship allows students to get out from the formal classroom environment into a professional kitchen, along with all of the fast-paced and hard work demands it entails. Nevertheless, there are real situations where many of the culinary graduates are often very hesitant to stay in the industry after graduated. Therefore, this study explores the influence of interpersonal relationship, workload pressure and work environment towards job stress level among culinary internship students. A descriptive research design using a quantitative approach was used. A questionnaire-based survey was disseminated to 120 culinary students from several culinary institutions within Klang Valley area who already finished or still undergo their internship program. The findings disclosed that interpersonal relationship, workload pressure and work environment significantly contributed to work stress among culinary internship students. Therefore, learning how to cope with pressure in a professional environment is critical to build in initial career to keep ahead in challenging environments. The culinary institutions should collaboratively work with the industry and monitor the work placement of the students on a regular basis to ensure they obtain quality internship experiences that can lead to positive impact on the culinary career intentions after graduation.