It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, November 15, 2024
A step toward safer X-rays with new detector technology
American Chemical Society
image:
A new X-ray detector produces a high-quality radiograph that shows a metal needle (top right) and the interior of a USB drive (bottom right) using lower doses of electromagnetic radiation than previous detectors.
Credit: Adapted from ACS Central Science 2024, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.4c01296
X-rays are a common component of diagnostic testing and industrial monitoring, used for everything from monitoring your teeth to scanning your suitcase at the airport. But the high-energy rays also produce ionizing radiation, which can be dangerous after prolonged or excessive exposures. Now, researchers publishing in ACS Central Sciencehave taken a step toward safer X-rays by creating a highly sensitive and foldable detector that produces good quality images with smaller dosages of the rays.
“This advancement reduces detection limits and paves the way for safer and more energy-efficient medical imaging and industrial monitoring,” says Omar F. Mohammed, the corresponding author on the study. “It demonstrates that cascade-engineered devices enhance the capabilities of single crystals in X-ray detection.”
Just like visible light and radio waves, X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation. Their high-energy state allows them to pass through most objects — including the soft tissues of our bodies. To produce an X-ray image, called a radiograph, the rays either pass through the body and appear as shadowy shapes on the image, or get stuck in denser tissues like bones, leaving behind a brighter, white area. The amount of radiation a patient is exposed to during a single scan is not dangerous, and one would have to undergo thousands of scans to start to notice compounding effects. However, these repeated exposures to high-energy rays can damage electronic equipment or pose a risk to someone like an X-ray technician. So, the fewer rays used during a scan, the better, right?
Unfortunately, fewer rays mean a lower-quality radiograph. But by increasing the sensitivity of the detector, a low-dose, high-quality X-ray could theoretically be produced. So, Omar Mohammed and colleagues at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology engineered a device that facilitates these safer X-ray conditions.
To increase X-ray detector sensitivity, the researchers aimed to minimize the dark current — the residual background noise — generated by the device. To do so, they created detectors using specialized methylammonium lead bromide perovskite crystals, and then they connected the crystals in an electrical configuration known as a cascade.
The cascade configuration nearly halved the dark current, which improved the X-ray detection limit by five times compared with previous detectors made from the same crystals but without the cascade. Radiographs made with the new detector revealed fine details, such as a metal needle piercing a raspberry and the interior components of a USB cable. The team states that this technology is a promising method for developing foldable, safer and sensitive commercial X-ray devices, which would serve to minimize radiation exposure during medical procedures and capture subtle details in industrial monitoring.
The authors acknowledge funding from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, e-books and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
Revolutionizing X-Ray Imaging: A Leap Toward Ultra-Low Dose Detection with a Cascade-Engineered Approach
Article Publication Date
13-Nov-2024
Does AI improve doctors’ diagnoses? Study puts it to the test
University of Virginia Health System
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“As AI becomes more embedded in healthcare, it's essential to understand how we can leverage these tools to improve patient care and the physician experience,” said UVA Health's Andrew S. Parsons, MD, MPH. “This study suggests there is much work to be done in terms of optimizing our partnership with AI in the clinical environment.”
With hospitals already deploying artificial intelligence to improve patient care, a new study has found that using Chat GPT Plus does not significantly improve the accuracy of doctors’ diagnoses when compared with the use of usual resources.
That said, Chat GPT alone outperformed both groups, suggesting that it still holds promise for improving patient care. Physicians, however, will need more training and experience with the emerging technology to capitalize on its potential, the researchers conclude.
For now, Chat GPT remains best used to augment, rather than replace, human physicians, the researchers say.
“Our study shows that AI alone can be an effective and powerful tool for diagnosis,” said Parsons, who oversees the teaching of clinical skills to medical students at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and co-leads the Clinical Reasoning Research Collaborative. “We were surprised to find that adding a human physician to the mix actually reduced diagnostic accuracy though improved efficiency. These results likely mean that we need formal training in how best to use AI.”
Chat GPT for Disease Diagnosis
Chatbots called “large language models” that produce human-like responses are growing in popularity, and they have shown impressive ability to take patient histories, communicate empathetically and even solve complex medical cases. But, for now, they still require the involvement of a human doctor.
Parsons and his colleagues were eager to determine how the high-tech tool can be used most effectively, so they launched a randomized, controlled trial at three leading-edge hospitals – UVA Health, Stanford and Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The participating docs made diagnoses for “clinical vignettes” based on real-life patient-care cases. These case studies included details about patients’ histories, physical exams and lab test results. The researchers then scored the results and examined how quickly the two groups made their diagnoses.
The median diagnostic accuracy for the docs using Chat GPT Plus was 76.3%, while the results for the physicians using conventional approaches was 73.7%. The Chat GPT group members reached their diagnoses slightly more quickly overall – 519 seconds compared with 565 seconds.
The researchers were surprised at how well Chat GPT Plus alone performed, with a median diagnostic accuracy of more than 92%. They say this may reflect the prompts used in the study, suggesting that physicians likely will benefit from training on how to use prompts effectively. Alternately, they say, healthcare organizations could purchase predefined prompts to implement in clinical workflow and documentation.
The researchers also caution that Chat GPT Plus likely would fare less well in real life, where many other aspects of clinical reasoning come into play – especially in determining downstream effects of diagnoses and treatment decisions. They’re urging additional studies to assess large language models’ abilities in those areas and are conducting a similar study on management decision-making.
“As AI becomes more embedded in healthcare, it's essential to understand how we can leverage these tools to improve patient care and the physician experience,” Parsons said. “This study suggests there is much work to be done in terms of optimizing our partnership with AI in the clinical environment.”
Following up on this groundbreaking work, the four study sites have also launched a bi-coastal AI evaluation network called ARiSE (AI Research and Science Evaluation) to further evaluate GenAI outputs in healthcare. Find out more information at the ARiSE website.
Findings Published
The researchers have published their results in the scientific journal JAMA Network Open. The research team consisted of Ethan Goh, Robert Gallo, Jason Hom, Eric Strong, Yingjie Weng, Hannah Kerman, Joséphine A. Cool, Zahir Kanjee, Parsons, Neera Ahuja, Eric Horvitz, Daniel Yang, Arnold Milstein, Andrew P.J. Olson, Adam Rodman and Jonathan H. Chen. Funding for this research was provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. A full list of disclosures and funding sources is included in the paper.
To keep up with the latest medical research news from UVA, subscribe to the Making of Medicine blog at http://makingofmedicine.virginia.edu.
Sign language plays key role in d/Deaf children’s education, study shows
University of Exeter
Ensuring d/Deaf children become bilingual in sign language and English should be a key priority for policymakers and teachers because this plays an important role in their education, a new study says.
Curriculum and instruction in deaf education should provide opportunities for children to actively use sign language in schools.
BSL should be used as part of children’s spoken and written language development, particularly considering its significance for reading development. The study shows how skills transfer from sign language to support a wide range of spoken and written language abilities.
There are many debates on how to best educate d/Deaf students for success in schools. Growing numbers of d/Deaf children are now educated in mainstream schools, where they will not get the same exposure to BSL.
The systematic review, of 70 studies, allowed researchers to identify close relationships between many “competencies” of sign language and spoken and written language. The sign language competences analysed in that review included phonological awareness, fingerspelling, lexico-semantic knowledge, grammatical knowledge, sign language comprehension, sign language production, and general proficiency. The spoken and written language competences included phonological awareness, word reading, lexico-semantic knowledge, grammatical knowledge, reading comprehension, spoken and written language production, and general proficiency.
The systematic review, by Dongbo Zhang and Hannah Anglin-Jaffe from the University of Exeter and Junhui Yang from the University of Central Lancashire, is published in Review of Education, a journal of the British Educational Research Association. The 70 studies were conducted in 14 countries, but about 60 per cent were conducted in the United States. They involved 14 sign languages and 8 spoken languages.
Researchers coded 202 cross-linguistic correlations – relationships between sign language competences and competences in spoken and written language.
The correlations were positive and statistically significant for all cross-linguistic relationships. The strength of the correlations, however, varied. For example, the highest correlation was between fingerspelling and word reading. The lowest correlation was between sign language phonological awareness and reading comprehension.
For the correlation between sign language and reading comprehension, the effect was stronger in children in bilingual programmes and schools.
Professor Zhang said: “We already know children’s home language plays a key role in helping them to read and learn. We have found the skills d/Deaf children have when using BSL help them in the same way. This means an English-only approach to learning may not be best for them.
“It’s important to nurture their bilingualism, and the place of sign language in the curriculum should be emphasised by policymakers.”
Dr Anglin-Jaffe said: “We know there used to be a lot more support for bilingualism for d/Deaf children than there is now. This is evidence of the academic, emotional and linguistic benefits of sign language.
“It’s important for deaf children to be exposed to BSL and see their peers, teachers and parents using it. This may not be happening in mainstream schools.”
Dr Yang said: “Sign language is an asset for d/Deaf students. Sign bilingualism means there are a lot of linguistic resources that benefit their academic learning. These resources also promote translanguaging and have broader significance for d/Deaf people.”
Yang, herself being Deaf, uses multiple sign languages and spoken languages. She teaches Sign Linguistics, Sign and Society and BSL courses
Sign language in d/deaf students' spoken/written language development: A research synthesis and meta-analysis of cross-linguistic correlation coefficients
Article Publication Date
12-Nov-2024
Obesity-fighting drugs may reduce alcohol consumption in individuals with alcohol use disorder
University of Eastern Finland
A new joint study by the University of Eastern Finland and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden found that the GLP-1 agonists semaglutide and liraglutide, which are used for treating diabetes and obesity, were associated with fewer hospitalisations among individuals with alcohol use disorder, AUD. Fewer hospitalisations were observed for alcohol related causes, substance use related causes, and for physical illnesses. However, no association was observed for hospitalisations due to attempted suicide.
Effective treatments for alcohol dependence exist; however, they remain underused and are not effective, or suitable, for all patients with alcohol or substance use disorder. Previous preliminary studies in animals and humans have shown that GLP-1 agonists may significantly reduce the consumption of alcohol and other substances.
The present study examined Swedish registry data on more than 200,000 individuals who had been diagnosed with alcohol use disorder in 2006–2021. Their drug treatments and hospitalisations were followed up until the end of 2023 using the PRE2DUP method developed by the research team and a within-individual design. During the follow-up, 4,321 of the study participants were using semaglutide, and 2,509 were using liraglutide.
The use of GLP-1-agonists was associated with a significantly reduced risk of hospitalisation due to alcohol use disorder. Semaglutide was associated with a 36% lower risk, and liraglutide with a 28% lower risk of hospitalisation. Both drugs were also associated with a significantly reduced risk of hospitalisation due to any substance use disorder: semaglutide with a 32% lower risk, and liraglutide with a 22% lower risk.
The risk of hospitalisation when using GLP-1-agonists was lower than when using naltrexone, which was the most effective drug among drugs already approved for alcohol use disorder. Naltrexone was associated with a 14% lower risk of hospitalisation due to alcohol and substance use related causes.
The use of semaglutide, liraglutide and AUD drugs were all associated with fewer hospitalisations due to physical illness: semaglutide with 22% fewer, liraglutide with 21% fewer, and AUD drugs with 15% fewer hospitalisations. No statistically significant association was observed between the use of GLP-1-agonists and hospitalisations due to attempted suicide.
“The research idea stems from patient observations reporting less alcohol consumption since initiating a semaglutide drug. Similar observations have also been highlighted by scientists in international conferences, so we decided to examine this in more detail,” says Docent of Forensic Psychiatry Markku Lähteenvuo of the University of Eastern Finland and the Niuvanniemi Hospital.
“Our study suggests that besides obesity and diabetes, GLP-1-agonists may also help in the treatment of alcohol and substance use disorders; however, these findings need to be further validated in randomised controlled trials,” Lähteenvuo notes.
Credit: Binghamton University, State University of New York
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- In an office full of new coworkers, someone suggests going out for pizza. One person is extra hungry and gobbles up a slice too fast, burning the roof of his mouth in the process.
Has something like this ever happened to you? It’s an embarrassing moment at first, but later on, it becomes a story you joke about at the office – and possibly, it could mean much more.
Forming memories around shared experiences, whether something fun like grabbing a pizza or as emotionally straining as an employee strike, has a way of binding people together. But, as Binghamton University, State University of New York Assistant Professor Matthew Lyle helped uncover in a new study, it could also motivate those performing different roles within the same company to socialize more and strengthen their working relationships.
The study’s results could help managers understand the importance of encouraging shared memories in cross-occupational coordination at their workplace. In other words: it’s a good idea for employees to form shared memories with their colleagues.
“One major takeaway from this research is that, for larger projects involving people in different occupations or experience levels within the same company, you’ll need some kind of shared experience that enables them not only to work more effectively together but also be more comfortable sharing their ideas,” said Lyle, an expert in organizational strategy. “It could also be like a double-edged sword in a way because, if the event is strong enough to bring people together, it could also disrupt established groups.”
Lyle and fellow researchers framed their study around the case of a 170-day strike in 2012 at a South Korean public broadcaster, which they anonymized as “TelvCorp” for the study. Over the years, the broadcaster employed multiple occupations and garnered prestigious awards, won primarily by reporters.
The strike happened after reporters viewed action by South Korea’s then-recently-elected conservative government in 2008 as a threat, believing their CEO had been replaced by a pro-administration figure to gain more favorable coverage. The new CEO, a former TelvCorp employee, was accused by staff of promoting executives and managers to monitor news programs and remove content perceived as critical of the government. Reporters decided to strike.
Lyle’s study noted that TelvCorp’s non-reporters were initially hesitant to participate fully due to their memories of reporters having been self-serving and ego-driven during past strikes. However, the CEO’s decision to fire union leaders, which those across occupational boundaries discussed and commonly remembered as a “call to arms,” catalyzed intense collaboration. These different groups had become what researchers call a “mnemonic community,” or group that remembers together, that endured long after the strike ended.
Unfortunately, the news was not all positive. Lyle and fellow researchers found a divide had emerged between those who went on strike and those who didn’t.
“When the strike was over, the situation became more complicated because things were unlikely to go back to the way they were at that workplace,” he said. “Now, there’s a new group after the strike, with some people saying they could no longer see colleagues who chose an opposite side in the strike as good people.”
How this research helps improve office teamwork
While Lyle and his fellow researchers reached these conclusions by studying a single organization, he believes there are lessons to be pulled from their analysis that might broadly aid organizations.
For instance, Lyle said a strong, perhaps unorthodox experience is more likely to encourage collaborative work. For example, in describing a hypothetical company retreat, Lyle mentioned how remembering “when Jenny fell off the rope swing, or when Jim face-planted trying to do that” could form a core memory that makes members more willing to work together.
While Lyle admitted those types of memories may sound juvenile or unnecessary, they form the basis of shared memories that help when people sit down at work to decide how to tackle a problem together. The gobbling of the hot pizza, then, could become a memory with lasting implications.
“When you’re in the in-group, you’re more likely to help each other out and have each other’s backs,” Lyle said. “We know we can create those things artificially, but why not create them around some shared experience that makes a memory, that makes people want to work together?”
‘We Can Win this Fight Together’: Memory and Cross-Occupational Coordination
How retailers change ordering strategy when a supplier starts its own direct channel
American Marketing Association
Researchers from Erasmus University and KU Leuven published a new Journal of Marketing study that examines how retailers respond when suppliers establish direct channels to reach end-consumers and how suppliers can take steps to avoid a backlash.
Recently, Sony began selling PlayStation products through its PlayStation Direct online store in the UK, which includes many products available at major retail stores such as Currys and Argos. This is an example of encroachment, when suppliers like Sony, Nike, and Lego establish their own direct channels to reach end-consumers. Such direct channels offer suppliers visibility and control over the customer experience, but they potentially come at the cost of upsetting downstream retail partners who may perceive the direct channel as competition.
This raises an important question for suppliers: Will retailers change their ordering strategies at the encroaching supplier, and if so, how?
Should retailers respond adversely and disengage from the retailer-supplier relationship, typically leading to decreased orders and higher wholesale prices (i.e., an exit response)? Or should they respond cooperatively and engage in constructive discussions with the supplier to seek improved terms of trade, typically leading to lower wholesale prices and increased orders (i.e., a voice response)?
This new study analyzes the ordering strategy responses of nearly 2,000 retailers that were confronted with a supplier’s launch of their own webshop in the toy industry. The research team finds that, on average, retailers choose an exit response to a supplier direct channel introduction.
Van Crombrugge states, “our findings show that, on average, retailers disengage from the retailer–supplier relationship. The average retailer decreases the number of distinct SKUs ordered, which is met by the wholesaler increasing prices, possibly reflecting the worsened terms of trade.” Specifically, retailers decrease the number of distinct SKUs ordered by 15 (or 18.75%) in the period after the direct channel entry. Possibly due to these fewer orders, they also pay a higher average wholesale price of €.79 (or 20.84%). The increased wholesale price, however, does not compensate for the loss in quantity ordered. The total order value for the average retailer at the supplier decreases by €399.50 (or 11.69%) in the first six months after the direct channel entry.
The Importance of Retailer Power
Such an adverse reaction is troublesome for the encroaching supplier, yet not all retailers respond the same way. “Our studies provide clear evidence that retailer power is a key driver of ordering strategy responses,” Breugelmans says, “such that larger, powerful retailers are much less likely to exit the retailer–supplier relationship than less powerful retailers. In fact, for the largest retailers, we observe no change in order value.”
Gryseels explains that, “one mechanism underlying this finding is confidence from powerful retailers that the supplier will continue to support their retail operations despite the introduction of the direct channel.” Specialist retailers differ from generalist retailers in their ordering response depending on two countervailing forces.
Specialists experience higher switching costs because these specialized, go-to retailers cannot afford to exclude the brands of important suppliers, which makes it harder to disengage from the relationship.
On the flip side, specialists perceive more channel conflict than generalists because the direct channel threatens their core business, which can evoke stronger emotional inclinations to disengage.
The weights of these two mechanisms determine the specialist retailer’s ultimate decision. Cleeren adds that, “we find the relationship quality between the supplier and retailer to have a substantially lower effect on a retailer’s response than expected. Only when the relationship is particularly strong are we able to find the expected mitigating effect on a retailer’s exit response.”
Lessons for Chief Marketing Officers
These findings offer important insights and caveats to suppliers that consider selling directly to end-consumers.
Introducing direct channels may provide suppliers with opportunities to get closer to their end-customers, but the backlash by retailers makes this step risky because retailers may significantly reduce their orders.
Smaller retailers with less power are more likely to disengage from the relationship after encroachment, driven mainly by their lack of confidence in the supplier.
Suppliers should pay special attention to smaller retailers and design specific incentives and stimuli to increase their confidence and convince them to keep placing orders. This will sacrifice some short-term profits, but it provides retailers with a credible signal that the supplier wants to minimize the potential harm from the direct channel.
The supplier might reduce the competition created by the direct channel through differentiation. The extent to which channels compete depends on their similarity, in terms of product, price, and/or service. This means the supplier can clearly differentiate what it offers through retailers versus through its direct channel (e.g., channel-specific exclusives, online-only personalization services) to limit competition.
The Journal of Marketing develops and disseminates knowledge about real-world marketing questions useful to scholars, educators, managers, policy makers, consumers, and other societal stakeholders around the world. Published by the American Marketing Association since its founding in 1936, JM has played a significant role in shaping the content and boundaries of the marketing discipline. Shrihari (Hari) Sridhar (Joe Foster ’56 Chair in Business Leadership, Professor of Marketing at Mays Business School, Texas A&M University) serves as the current Editor in Chief. https://www.ama.org/jm
About the American Marketing Association (AMA)
As the leading global professional marketing association, the AMA is the essential community for marketers. From students and practitioners to executives and academics, we aim to elevate the profession, deepen knowledge, and make a lasting impact. The AMA is home to five premier scholarly journals including: Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of International Marketing, and Journal of Interactive Marketing. Our industry-leading training events and conferences define future forward practices, while our professional development and PCM® professional certification advance knowledge. With 70 chapters and a presence on 350 college campuses across North America, the AMA fosters a vibrant community of marketers. The association’s philanthropic arm, the AMA’s Foundation, is inspiring a more diverse industry and ensuring marketing research impacts public good.
AMA views marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. You can learn more about AMA’s learning programs and certifications, conferences and events, and scholarly journals at AMA.org.
How Retailers Change Ordering Strategies When Suppliers Go Direct
Research shows managers of firms handling recalls should review media scrutiny before deciding whether to lobby
Strategic Management Society
Lobbying can help companies reduce costs related to product recall, but it can also have a negative impact on the firm’s image. Research published in Strategic Management Journal offers clear data on the phenomenon, suggesting that managers should pay careful attention to the reputational cues from the media to determine when lobbying may be problematic and to refrain from the practice.
Firms can use lobbying to influence the government, which in turn potentially limits their costs during product recall crises. Previous research has shown that when a firm increases its lobbying spending by approximately $417,014, which has been found to lead to one less recall, it can save the firm millions of dollars. Each recall conservatively costs about $12 million. Such lobbying can, however, draw scrutiny from the media if the lobbying gives the impression that companies would rather save costs than focus on safety, which can come across as hypocritical.
The researchers — Jinsil Kim of the College of New Jersey, Miranda J. Welbourne Eleazar of the University of Iowa, and Seung-Hyun Lee of the University of Texas at Dallas — wanted to better understand how firms could resolve the tension around lobbying. They hypothesized that the greater the negative publicity of a firm's product safety recalls, the less likely that firm would be to lobby for recall-related issues.
The researchers used auto firms' lobbying responses to news about product recalls and lobbying. They tapped multiple data sources and a sample of 3,747 manufacturer-recall observations related to auto recalls and lobbying in the U.S. between 2008 and 2022. They also conducted 15 interviews with lobbyists and heads of external affairs overseeing firms' lobbying activities.
“As there is more and more attention around this issue, and we've come long past the era when the focus was only on the gains from corporate political action, firms are increasingly considering this tension as well,” Kim says. “We asked what the triggers or signals that firms look out for in their decision regarding CPA (corporate political action) management: whether to go ahead with lobbying or strategically eschew it.”
Upon analysis of the data and interviews, they found that companies are more likely to strategically refrain from lobbying to minimize additional, unwanted media spotlight and its associated negative repercussions when they receive negative media coverage of product recalls, or recall-related lobbying. While lobbying can reduce costs related to product recalls, the repercussions to firm reputation appear to not be worth the savings.
“From our field interviews with corporate lobbyists and head of external affairs, we learned that practitioners are aware — to a certain extent — of the impact of media and pay much attention to what goes on in the media, and make lobbying decisions accordingly,” Kim says. “We view that our paper would reinforce their tendencies to exercise caution. It may be challenging to accurately anticipate the costs and benefits upfront, but we've made a first step by showing that gauging the media temperature is important.”
The Strategic Management Society (SMS) is the leading global member organization fostering and supporting rigorous and practice-engaged strategic management research. SMS enjoys the support of 3,000 members, representing more than 1,100 institutions and companies in more than 70 countries. SMS publishes three leading academic journals in partnership with Wiley: Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Global Strategy Journal. These journals publish top-quality work applicable to researchers and practitioners with complementary access for all SMS Members. The SMS Explorer offers the latest insights and takeaways from the SMS Journals for business practitioners, consultants, and academics.
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The influence of media scrutiny on firms' strategic eschewal of lobbying
How skills from hospitality and tourism can propel careers beyond the industry
Far from the stereotype of low-wage, low-skill positions, hospitality and tourism jobs could be powerful launchpads for broader career success, according to a new study from the University of Surrey
JOBS CURRENTLY FILLED BY TEMPORARY FOREIGN WORKERS IN CANADA
University of Surrey
Far from the stereotype of low-wage, low-skill positions, hospitality and tourism jobs could be powerful launchpads for broader career success, according to a new study from the University of Surrey. Researchers believe that working in these roles cultivates a wealth of transferable skills that can lead to lucrative opportunities in sectors like finance, healthcare, and technology.
In a study published in the Annals of Tourism Research, a team led by Dr Brigitte Stangl identified 116 unique transferable skills that employees gain while working in these sectors, highlighting the industry’s role as a vital training ground for essential skills.
The study found that employees in hospitality and tourism developed this rich number of soft skills, including emotional intelligence, teamwork, and cultural awareness. These competencies are not only applicable within the industry but can also significantly enhance career prospects in various other fields. For example, many former hospitality workers successfully transitioned into high-demand roles in banking, healthcare, and IT, leveraging the skills they honed while serving customers.
Dr Brigitte Stangl, Senior Lecturer in Tourism and lead-author of the study at the University of Surrey said:
“Many people underestimate the value of skills developed in hospitality and tourism jobs. Our findings demonstrate that these roles do not just provide immediate employment; they equip individuals with critical skills such as communication, problem-solving, and adaptability—qualities that are highly sought after in many industries.”
The study highlights that the tourism and hospitality sectors are facing challenges in recruiting and retaining talent, often due to negative stereotypes and perceptions surrounding these jobs. However, by reframing the narrative and emphasising the valuable skills gained through these roles, the industry can attract a more diverse workforce.
“With the tourism and hospitality industry projected to contribute significantly to the global economy in the coming years, this research serves as a wakeup call to re-evaluate how we perceive these professions. The findings encourage both potential employees and employers to recognise the long-term benefits of working in this sector—not just as a job or long-term career within tourism and hospitality, but as a stepping stone to greater opportunities outside the sector.”
