餐飲管理的經理人必須具備抽象思考的能力以設定經營方針，同時又需要立即執行方案與解決問題的力，以處理包括了生產、銷售、克服管理、及一般產業的。美國的研究指出餐飲業的經理人主要屬於能運用抽象思考與主動驗證的「聚歛型Converger」學習型態為主。美國的餐飲教育成功的培育了餐飲業所需要的經理人才，臺灣的餐飲教育有蓬勃的發展，然而，因為教育系統的差異，臺灣和美國餐旅科系學生的入學方式不同，是否對兩地學生人格特質與學習型態的分布造成差異，則有探討的必要。因此，本研究的運用科博氏學習型態(Kolb’ Learning Style)與類似MBTI (Personality Type)的人格特質量表比較臺灣和美國餐飲科系學生的學習型態和人格特質的異同。四百九十七位臺灣普通大學、與294位美國西南部一所旗艦大學主修餐旅科系的學生，各自填寫了一份包含了科博氏學習型態、人格特質量表、以及個人基本資料的雙語問卷量表。結果顯示，42.7%臺灣普通大學(高教體系)餐旅系學生屬於運用「以記憶、思考、及抽象觀察的同化型(Assimilator)」學習型態學習，這比率顯著的(z=9.44, p< .000)高於運用這種學習型態美國餐飲學生(32.3%)。同時，只有5.6%臺灣學生屬於運用「直覺、付諸行動的擴散型(Accommodator)」的學習型態，顯著的(z=9.44, p< .000)比美國學生(15.6%) 低。

The purpose of this cross-cultural study was to compare learning style and personality type profiles of hospitality undergraduate students in Taiwan and the United States (U.S.). Four hundred and ninety-seven (497) Taiwanese hospitality students from 2 general universities in May 2002 and 294 American hospitality students from a southwest university in the fall semester of 2002 completed a questionnaire that included demographic information, Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI), and Personal Style Inventory (PSI). Frequencies were tabulated to report the distribution of personality types and learning styles of participants in Taiwan and the U.S. in relation to the demographic information. Results showed that the learning styles of the participants from these two countries showed slight differences with the Taiwanese participants having more assimilators (42.7% vs. 32.3%; z = 9.44, p < .000) and fewer accommodators (5.6% vs. 15.3%; z = -2.81, p < .005) than their U.S. counterparts.