Faculty Support and School Support for Mentoring on Hospitality Students’ College Life Satisfaction

While extensive research exists on college students’ overall life satisfaction, there is limited study on how faculty support and mentoring support within hospitality programs specifically impact student experiences. This study addresses this gap by utilizing the social capital framework. The main purpose of this study is to investigate both the direct and indirect effects of perceived faculty and program support on hospitality students’ sense of social connectedness and their overall college life satisfaction. An online survey was administered to undergraduate students from eight hospitality programs across the U.S. A total of 289 valid responses were used to test hypothesized relationships. Structural equation modeling using AMOS 29 demonstrated that higher social connectedness within hospitality programs significantly improves students’ life satisfaction and serves as an important mediator in the proposed model.