You are on page 1of 14

Student career prospect and industry commitment: The roles of

industry attitude, perceived social status, and salary expectations


Yim King Penny Wan
*
, IpKin Anthony Wong
1
, Weng Hang Kong
2
Institute for Tourism Studies, Colina de Mong-Ha, Macao
h i g h l i g h t s
Perceived work nature has no signicant relationship with career prospects.
Work nature is a signicant factor contributing to the perceived social status.
Social status has an effect on the students perceptions of the career prospects.
Perceived career prospects determines students commitment to the industry.
Moderating effects of salary on industry commitment is not signicant.
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 28 June 2012
Accepted 7 May 2013
Keywords:
Career prospects
Employment intention
Salary expectations
Student
Tourism
Hospitality
a b s t r a c t
This study examines the effects of students perceptions of the nature and social status of work in the
tourism and hospitality industries, and of their salary expectations, on their attitudes toward career
prospects and employment intention. Results based on a sample of tourism and hospitality students in a
major Asia Pacic travel destination indicated that the perceived nature of the work had no signicant
relationship with career prospects; however, nature of the work was a signicant factor contributing to
the perceived social status of the industry. In addition, social status had an effect on the students per-
ceptions of the career prospects, and perceived career prospects was a signicant determinant to stu-
dents commitment to the industry. The author further explores the moderating effect of salary
expectation and discusses theoretical and practical implications of the results. Findings of this study
provide a fuller understanding of industry commitment and its antecedents.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The tourism and hospitality industries worldwide have been
confronted with the problem of attracting and retaining quality
employees, which has led to a shortage of skilled employees to staff
the ever-growing number of hospitality businesses (Baum, 2006;
Richardson, 2010). There are many factors contributing to the
problem, and negative disposition toward the industries is one of
them. The industries have a poor reputation due mainly to the
low nancial compensation, unsociable working hours, menial
work, and limited opportunities for career progression. Low job
satisfaction and high turnover rate are often the result (Roney &
ztin, 2007). To attract and retain employees, it is essential to un-
derstand their attitudes toward and perceptions of the industries
(Richardson, 2009, 2008).
Having understood students attitudes toward the industries
also provides hospitality and tourismrms with better insights into
how to cultivate an enthusiastic workforce, which is considered
vital to any rms to gain in competitiveness (Kusluvan & Kusluvan,
2000; Richardson, 2010). The tourism and hospitality industries
require frequent and intense face-to-face interactions or encoun-
ters between the service providers and customers. Customers often
judge the quality of service of a hospitality rmbased on the service
encounter. Employees who have positive attitudes toward the in-
dustries and their jobs are more likely to deliver better service and
performance, resulting in greater customer satisfaction and loyalty
(Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2006). Furthermore, students need to
have more reasonable expectations of the industries and their
future jobs and careers because this helps enhance their job satis-
faction and lower the turnover rate in hospitality and tourismrms
(Aycan & Fikret-Pasa, 2003; Wan & Kong, 2012). Knowing the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 853 85982175; fax: 853 28838320.
E-mail addresses: pennywan@ift.edu.mo (Y.K. Penny Wan), anthonywong@
ift.edu.mo (I.A. Wong), frances@ift.edu.mo (W.H. Kong).
1
Tel.: 853 8506 1360 (ofce); fax: 853 8506 1283.
2
Tel.: 853 85983082; fax: 853 85061283.
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Tourism Management
j ournal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ t ourman
0261-5177/$ e see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2013.05.004
Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14
values and expectations of students allows hospitality and tourism
programs and faculty to guide them into right employment set-
tings and this will ensure personeorganizational t (Aycan &
Fikret-Pasa, 2003, p. 142). In sum, having a good understanding of
students perceptions of the industries and the factors that shape
their perceptions is crucial for the industries, individual rms,
students and hospitality programs and faculty members.
A majority of the career literature in hospitality focuses on
exploring students general attitudes toward the industries, their
career prospects, and their intention to enter the industries upon
graduation (Aksu & Kksal, 2005; Barron & Maxwell, 1993; Jenkins,
2001; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2008; Roney &
ztin, 2007). Others focus on how different variables such as
gender, work experience, year of study, and inuences of friends
and family members could affect students perceptions of and at-
titudes toward the industries and their career intention and
commitment (Barron & Maxwell, 1993; Chuang & Jenkins, 2010;
Jenkins, 2001; OLeary & Deegan, 2005; Roney & ztin, 2007; Wan
& Kong, 2012, 2011; Wong & Liu, 2010). There are studies that
investigate the effects of work value on students career expecta-
tions, goals and choices (Chen & Choi, 2008; Chen, Chu, & Wu,
2000; Pizam & Lewis, 1979; Wong & Liu, 2010). Yet, little research
has been conducted to understand the effect and consequence of
students industry intention and commitment (Jenkins, 2001). A
nomological network that explores the direct, indirect, and
moderating effects of different variables on students industry
intention and commitment is lacking. Previous studies in other
elds have separately discussed the relationships between the
perceived nature of work and social status (Kusluvan & Kusluvan,
2000), between perceived social status and career prospects
(Sandiford & Seymour, 2010), between perceived career prospects
and employment intention (Sennett, 1998), and nally between
salary expectation and students career aspirations and choice
(Richardson, 2009; Ricrardson & Butler, 2012). It is imperative to
understand how different factors come into play to shape students
career prospects and commitment to these industries.
The objective of this study therefore is to explore the direct,
indirect, and moderating effects of different variables on students
industry intention and commitment. More specically, it in-
vestigates the factors shaping students perceptions toward the
hospitality and tourism industries and their career intention (i.e.,
industry commitment) by comprehensively examining the roles
played by students perceptions of the nature of work in the in-
dustries, perceived social status, and salary expectations. We
believe that the ndings will be able to contribute to the literature
by providing a more thorough understanding of how different
factors come into play to shape students career prospects and
commitment to the tourismand hospitality industries. Tourismand
hospitality educators could acquire more information to guide
students into appropriate employment settings and ensure a good
personeorganization t (Aycan & Fikret-Pasa, 2003).
2. Literature review
2.1. Job nature and social status
Social status is a unit of the social system. An individual obtains
it within a group (Vecchio, 1992). Social status is also related to the
kind of relation that a society makes with an employee, an em-
ployees personality and occupation, job complexity and re-
sponsibility, and the attitude of people in society regarding the
employees status (Parcel & Mueller, 1983; Spaeth, 1977; Vecchio,
1992; Walsh, 1982). Social status could be acquired through the
characteristics that an employee is born with (such as family name,
race and wealth) and by what he/she can obtain and achieve (in
terms of education, occupation, job title and nature of work)
(Rostamy, Hosseini, Azar, Khaef-Elahi, & Hassanzadeh, 2008). Based
on Kusluvan and Kusluvans (2000) denition, social status can be
evaluated by whether an individual has pride in his/her career, if
family members are proud of the job that he/she is taking, and if the
job is perceived as a respected and an important occupation in the
society.
Several reports have recorded the relationship between the
nature of a job and social status. There are studies that show the
importance of job status congruence; a match between what
workers prefer (e.g., autonomy or work interest) and what orga-
nizations offer (e.g., status) to employees job satisfaction, organi-
zational commitment and retention (Creed & Saporta, 2004;
Holtom, Lee, & Tidd, 2002; Rostamy et al., 2008). Weaver (2009)
conducted face-to-face interviews with the recent graduates of a
universitys tourism management program in New Zealand and
found that graduates regard the nature and content of the work as
key attributes of a good hospitality job; interesting and challenging
jobs can even overshadow the perceived weaknesses of the in-
dustry image and status. A similar nding is reported in the study
by Lai, Chan, and Lam (2012: p. 6). It concluded that casino dealers
who perceive their occupations to have high status might shift their
attention toward the positive aspects of their jobs. The study of
Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000) reported the perceptions of under-
graduate tourism students toward working in the tourism industry
inTurkey. Their ndings indicated a signicant correlation between
students perceptions of the nature of work in the tourism industry
and of its perceived social status. Singh and Kaur (2009) examined
the factors affecting job satisfaction and their impact on the overall
job satisfaction level of Universal bank employees in India. They
found that having a good supervisor contributed signicantly to
employees overall satisfaction. In particularly, employees
expressed that good projects that were assigned by their supervi-
sors enhanced their image, prestige and status in the organization.
Other studies show that if the nature of a job is interesting, em-
ployees are likely to enjoy their jobs better and have a sense of
pride about what they do, hence enhancing their perceptions of
social status (Chuang, Yin, & Dellmann-Jenkins, 2009; Hancer &
George, 2003). Based on the above discussion, it can be reason-
ably assumed that the perceived nature of the work can be a good
determinant of students perceived social status of the tourism and
hospitality industries.
2.2. Job nature and career prospects
The perceived nature of the work is also related to career
prospects. Career prospects often depend on ones perceptions of
the job and the industry (Richardson, 2008), which is often evalu-
ated based on several factors such as rewards, advancement, pro-
motion and chance of good careers (Duignan & Iaquinto, 2005). In
the tourism and hospitality contexts, Kusluvan and Kusluvan
(2000) denes career prospects as consisting of the attributes
related to ones perceptions of the promotion opportunities given
in the industry, the money that one could earn when comparing
other jobs within the same sector (i.e., hospitality) and other sec-
tors, whether the advantages of working in the industry outweigh
the disadvantages, and whether studying at university is a correct
investment in career development.
A number of studies have reported a correlation between the
nature of the work and perceived career prospects (Connell &
Burgess, 2006; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2008;
Stahl, Miller, &Tung, 2002; Wan & Kong, 2012). OLeary and Deegan
(2005) examine the tourism graduates perceptions of their career
progress in Ireland and nd that several attributes of work in the
tourism industry, such as long hours and unsociable work, lack of
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 2
personal interest in the job, and unchallenging jobs have inhibited
graduates career progression and development. The theory of
psychological contracts could help explain this phenomenon. Psy-
chological contracts refers to the set of expectations held by the
individual employee which species what the individual and the
organization expect to give to and receive from each other in the
course of their working relationship (Maguire, 2002, p. 167).
Graduates often nd it difcult to develop positive psychological
contracts, in that they cannot convince themselves to engage in a
job that requires long working hours which is also uninteresting for
the sake of career advancement (Kelley-Patterson & George, 2001,
p. 316).
Stahl et al. (2002) surveyed 494 German expatriate managers on
assignment to 59 countries, and nd that there is correlation be-
tween the perceived impact of an international assignment on
career development and advancement. The majority of expatriates
view their international assignment as an opportunity for personal
and professional development and career advancement. Thus, a
challenging and interesting job has effects on their perceived career
prospects. Connell and Burgess (2006) examined career prospects
in Australia and reported that offering promising interesting as-
signments and more learning opportunities on jobs were main
tactics of rms to overcome part-time employees feeling of job
insecurity and give them a perception of better career prospects.
Therefore we can conclude that the nature of the work is directly
related to the perceived career prospects. Employees who have a
negative perception of the nature of the work would develop a
negative perception toward the career prospects, and vice versa.
2.3. Social status and perceived career prospects
The perceived social status of an industry is related to the
perceived career prospects. Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000) have
reported a signicant correlation between students perceived
status in the tourism industry and the perceived career prospects.
They nd that students who have positive perceptions of the job
status of an industry have perceived positively the career prospects
of the industry. The nature of tourism and hospitality jobs, with
their low pay and unsociable working hours, seasonality, low skill
requirements, and poor physical working environment often lead
to a poor image of the tourism industry (Roney & ztin, 2007).
The relationship between job status and career prospects is also
supported by Sandiford and Seymours (2010) study. They inter-
viewbar workers in the UK and nd that respondents perceive that
working at a bar has a higher status than other jobs because it
provides better career prospects in terms of better work content,
more chances to work for the positions that they like and better
income. Zhao and Zhou (2008) examine career development and
choices in Taiwan and also report that job status plays an important
role in shaping ones perceived future prospects of career
advancement (i.e., promotion) and ones decision on job commit-
ment or turnover. An individual who is aware of the social and
organizational importance and necessity of ones work usually
makes a greater effort to fulll the job requirements and increase
work productivity because of his/her positive perception of the
career prospects (Tittel, 1976).
Other studies have also acknowledged that perceived external
prestige and social status leads to employees affective commit-
ment, citizenship behavior, and more importantly their pleasant
affective state in the workplace (Carmeli, 2005; Herrbach &
Mignonac, 2004). Such prestige and social status portrays a posi-
tive image to the employee with reference to the organization or
industry they are currently engaged in. In fact, the literature also
acknowledges the association between organizations that practice
corporate social responsibility (CSR) and image boosting. CSR refers
to the status and activities of an organization with respect to its
perceived societal obligations (Brown & Dacin, 1997). It involves an
integration of environmental, social, economic and ethical consid-
erations into business strategies and practices (Jones, Hillier, &
Comfort, 2009). Some of the good practices in the area include
donating funds to help the poor and adopting measures to reduce
environmental pollution (Jones et al., 2009). Companies that
execute CSR activities could end up having a better corporate image
in the society, with their employees holding a better self-image in
the society and becoming more loyal (Collier & Esteban, 2007;
Turker, 2009).
2.4. Career prospects and industry commitment
The perception of good career prospects often leads to higher
industry commitment. Unfortunately, many students have a nega-
tive perception of the career prospects of the tourism and hospi-
tality industries, which leads to their low intention to join these
industries (Wan & Kong, 2012). Jenkins study (2001) reveals that
less than half of the hospitality students in Leeuwarden (44
percent) and Hudderseld (45 percent) express that they would
seek employment in the hospitality industry after graduation. The
absence of motivating factors such as high pay and promotion
opportunities are some of the major reasons.
Richardson (2008) study concludes that pay, promotion op-
portunities and the relationship between students and their man-
agers are the key areas that the industry must work on to ensure
students have positive perceptions while they work during their
degree, in order to encourage higher intention to commit to the
tourism industry. Sennett (1998) also argues that career prospect
attributes such as present-day work arrangements promote a
short-term, opportunistic outlook among employees, which may
undermine loyalty, trust, and long-term commitment.
The relationship between the perceived career prospects and
industry commitment can also be explained by the prospect theory
(Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). According to this theory, decision-
making of an employee in uncertain environments is largely
determined by whether decision-makers frame decision choices as
gains (and hence seek riskier courses of action) or losses (and hence
avoid risky courses of action). Frame of reference, therefore, forms
the internal standard against which individuals evaluate options or
current status. For example, an individual may evaluate his/her job
based on his/her own reference points concerning what he/she
considers to be appropriate levels of salary, autonomy, or career
prospects. Thus, if an individual places high value on career pros-
pects offered by the industry that he/she engages in, he/she will be
more likely to showhigher intention to commit to the industry that
provides better career prospects. It can be assumed that career
prospects can be proposed as a determinant of students intention
to commit to the hospitality and tourism industries.
2.5. The moderating effects of salary expectations
Previous research also reveals that outcome expectations affect
career choices and goals (Betz & Voyten, 1997; Chuang et al., 2009;
Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). Outcome expectations could include
both the intrinsic (e.g., praise and recognition) and extrinsic (e.g.,
salary and bonus) rewards (Lent et al., 1994). They are what the
career choices and goals are based on (Chuang et al., 2009). If
students perceive that the industry offers rewards and incentives
that they desire, they may be more likely to pursue a job in that
industry and demonstrate stronger career intentions and commit-
ment to it (Chuang et al., 2009).
The relationship between outcome expectations and career
choices can also be explained by the notion of work values. The
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 3
work values scale generally embodies two value domains: intrinsic
and extrinsic. Intrinsic values are those inherent in the work ac-
tivity (e.g., achievement, creativity, altruism), while extrinsic values
are the rewards from work such as income or prestige (e.g., way of
life, security), and social or environmental value (e.g., surroundings,
associates, supervisory relations) (Chen et al., 2000). Researches
show that work values have a relationship with vocational choice
(Super, 1973) and with work motivation, job satisfaction and
organizational commitment (Elizur & Koslowsky, 2001; Mellahi,
2001). Work values are the underlying preferences and beliefs
that should be satised in peoples career choices (Mok, Pine, &
Pizam, 1998). In the theory of occupational psychology, work
values are a key component that drives individuals to seek a certain
kind of job or work environment (Ben-Shem& Avi-Itzhak, 1991). An
individual tends to choose an occupation that is congruent with
his/her work values. These ndings are also in line with the work in
organizational behavior studies (Ashforth & Mael, 1989) in that
congruency between organization and employee reduces work
conict, enhances job satisfaction, and hence facilitates employee
commitment.
For instance, Mok and Finley (1986) surveyed 373 Hong Kong
food service workers and reported that over 53 percent of them
ranked pay as the most important aspect of their job. In another
study, Mok et al. (1998) reported that Chinese hotel managers
perceived maintaining good working relationships with superiors
and peers and having good monetary rewards as two of the most
important work values. Both of these studies point out that higher
pay was a key driver for the respondents in job searching. Higher
salary is able to increase their industry commitment because of the
perceived career prospects provided.
Based on the literature mentioned above, it can be reasonably
assumed that the expected salary of an individual provides him/her
an internal guideline or drive for career choice and goal. An indi-
vidual who has high salary expectationwill look for a job that offers
higher social status and better career prospects and commit to it, in
order to be congruent with his/her work values. Salary expectation,
therefore, acts as a moderator between social status and career
prospects and between career prospects and industry commitment.
Based on the forgoing literature review, six hypotheses are
formed:
Hypothesis 1: Perceived nature of work in the tourism and
hospitality industries is related to perceived social status.
Hypothesis 2: Perceived nature of work in the tourism/hospi-
tality industry is related to career prospects.
Hypothesis 3: Perceived social status is related to career
prospects.
Hypothesis 4: Career prospects is positively related to
commitment to the tourism and hospitality industries.
Hypothesis 5: The relationship between perceived social status
and career prospects is moderated by salary expectation in that
the relationship should be stronger for high salary expectation.
Hypothesis 6: The relationship between career prospects and
industry commitment is moderated by salary expectation in that
the relationship should be stronger for high salary expectation.
Fig. 1 presents the framework for this study.
3. Method
3.1. Sample
Prior to data collection, the questionnaire was pilot tested. Based
on inputs from the respondents, minor changes in wording were
made. Data for the main study were collected by means of a self-
administered survey at two major universities in Macau, China. A
self-administered survey was adopted in the study in order to avoid
interviewer bias and thus provide more valid responses. The data
collection procedure was carried out in two steps. First, we
randomly selected a tourism or hospitality program from each
participating university. To better represent the student population,
we selected an approximately equal number of freshman (year 1),
sophomore (year 2), junior (year 3), and senior (year 4) students
from each program. Second, we invited students from each of the
selected program to complete the questionnaire. A total of 236
students participated in the survey and 205 of them completed the
survey, which corresponds to a response rate of 86.8%.
Of the respondents, 60% were tourism majors and 40% were
hospitality majors; 63% were females while 37% were males. In
regard to their working experience, 47% had worked in the industry
for six months or less while 24% had worked in the industry for six
to twelve months; however, the majority of them (78%) were not
currently employed in companies relating to their eld of study.
3.2. Measures
The survey questionnaire contained several scales of interest.
They were assessed by a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly
disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) unless otherwise specied.
Furthermore, the data did not contain any missing values; hence,
Note: dash lines indicate moderating effects.
Perceived Social
Status
Positive status
Negative status
Control Variables
Gender
Year of study
Work experience
Salary
expectation
H1
H2 Perceived Nature of
Work
Job interest
Career
prospects
Industry
commitment
H3
H4
H5
H6

Fig. 1. Research framework.


Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 4
no data imputation was needed. Appendixes A, B, and C present the
descriptive statistics, covariance matrix, and statement of the items
used in the study, respectively.
Perceived nature of the work. Perceived nature of the work as-
sesses students perception about the nature of work in tourism
and hospitality industries in respect to their eld of study. We
adopted 12 items from Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000). We vali-
dated the scale through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using
principal component extraction and promax rotation methods as
well as conrmatory factor analysis (EFA). Results from EFA showa
three-factor solution. However, only the rst factor is able to ach-
ieve the adequate scale consistency (Cronbachs alpha .77) while
the alphas of the other two factors fall belowthe .70 recommended
threshold. Hence, the two other factors are removed from further
analysis. The extracted factor contains four items germane to
perceived job interest with respect to the nature of work in the in-
dustry (see Table 1). The measurement model reveals excellent t,
with comparative t index (CFI) 1.00, root mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA) .00, and standardized root mean square
residual (SRMR) .01.
Perceived social status. This construct assesses the perceived so-
cial status of the tourism and hospitality industries among the
students surveyed. Six items are taken from Kusluvan and Kusluvan
(2000) and Wan and Kong (2011). We validated the 6-item scale
through both EFAand CFAas mentioned above. The results indicated
a two-factor solution with four items converging onto the positive
social status factor and two items converging onto the negative social
status factor (see Table 1). The reliability statistics of both factors are
adequate (alpha > .70). The measurement model shows a good t
with the data: CFA 1.00, RMSEA .03, and SRMR .03.
Career prospects. Career prospects assess students perceptions
of the industries after they graduate from their corresponding
tourism or hospitality program. We adopted 10 items from Wan
and Kong (2011). We validated the scale using both EFA and CFA.
Results from EFA reveal a three-factor solution. Because only one of
the three factors maintained scale reliability above the recommend
threshold, the other two factors were not included in subsequent
analysis. The retained factor contains ve items with alpha .73
(see Table 1). The statistical t of the measurement model is
adequate: CFA .98, RMSEA .08, and SRMR .05.
Salary expectation and industry commitment. Salary expectation
denes the salary students expected for the rst job they obtained
after graduation. The construct was assessed by a six-point single-
item scale ranging from USD 625e1250 to USD > 3125. Industry
commitment measures students intention to work in the corre-
sponding tourism or hospitality industry after they graduated. We
adopted a single item from Richardson (2008) (Do you intend to
work in _______ after graduation?). A 5-point semantic differential
scale ranging from 1 (denitely not) to 5 (denitely) was used to
assess the item.
Control variables. In their research framework, Wan and Kong
(2011) propose that gender, work experience, and year of study
may inuence students industry commitment. As a result, these
three variables were controlled in this study.
Multicollinearity diagnostic. We diagnosed for multicollinearity
based on the variance ination factor (VIF). Our results show that
Table 1
Scale items for perceived nature of the work, social status, and career prospects.
Scale items Pattern
coefcient
g Cronbachs
alpha
Composite
reliability
Perceived nature of work (job interest) 2.39 .77 .78
Jobs in the industry are interesting .77
There are always new things to learn each day .78
Jobs in the _______ industry are challenging .75
Meeting new people by working in the
______ industry is a pleasant experience
.79
CFI 1.00, RMSEA .00, SRMR .01
Total variance explained 59.67%
Perceived social status (positive status) 2.30 .73 .74
My family is proud of my job in _______ .69
_______ is a respected occupation .80
_______ is an important job in our society .73
I have pride in my career in _______ .77
Perceived social status (negative status) 1.70 .79 .82
______ staff are not valuable to the society .90
______ jobs are immoral and dirty .92
CFI 1.00, RMSEA .03, SRMR .03
Total variance explained 66.64%
Career prospects 2.43 .73 .73
Promotion opportunities are satisfactory in
the ________
.50
To study _______ at the university level is a correct
investment in career development
.72
One can make good money by working in
the ________
.84
One can make more money in the _______ than
in other sectors
.77
In general, the advantages of working in the
_______ outweigh the disadvantages
.61
CFI .98, RMSEA .08, SRMR .05
Total variance explained 48.49%
Note: all other pattern coefcients are below .40 and are not reported. g eigenvalue.
CFI comparative t index, RMSEA root mean square error of approximation, SRMR standardized root mean square residual.
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 5
multicollinearity is not a problem in this study, as the VIF was
below 2.0.
4. Findings
Table 2 presents zero-order correlations among the construct of
interest. We investigated the hypotheses proposed in Fig. 1 using
LISREL 8.8. Hypotheses 1e3 propose a relationship between
perceived nature of the work and career prospects through the
partial mediation of perceived social status. We tested the three
hypotheses and the mediating effect of perceived social status in
Models 1e3 by following the procedure of Baron and Kenny (1986).
Results from Model 3 show that perceived nature of the work (job
interest) is signicantly related to positive perceived social status
(PPSS; b .70, p <.001), but not related to negative perceived social
status (NPSS; b .07, n.s.). The results partially support Hypoth-
esis 1. Model 3 also reveals a direct and signicant relationship
between perceived social status and career prospects in that PPSS is
positively related to the career prospects (b .73, p < .001) but
NPSS is negatively related to this criterion variable (b .45,
p < .001), in support of Hypothesis 3. Results from Model 1 and 3
further reveal that the effect of perceived nature of the work (job
interest) is fully mediated by PPSS in that the effect diminishes after
controlling for perceived social status. The results fail to support
Hypothesis 2. Hypothesis 4 postulates a direct relationship be-
tween career prospects and industry commitment. We tested this
hypothesis in Model 4. The results show that the relationship is
signicant (b .37, p < .001), in support of Hypothesis 4 (Tables 3
and 4).
Hypothesis 5 proposes that the relationship between perceived
social status and career prospects is moderated by students salary
expectation. Model 5 examined the moderating effect of salary
expectation. The ndings indicate that the PPSS salary expecta-
tion interaction term (b .14, p < .05) and the NPSS salary
expectation interaction term(b .11, p <.10) are both signicant, in
support of Hypothesis 5. Salary expectation is also signicantly
related to career prospects (b .20, p < .01). The results suggest
that while salary expectation improves students perceptions of
their career prospects, the positive effect of PPSS is more pro-
nounced for students with high salary expectation, while the
negative effect of NPSS is less pronounced for students with high
salary expectation. To illustrate the moderating effect graphically,
we followed Aiken and West (1991) and dened the moderator as
high and low salary expectation by plus and minus one standard
deviation from the mean (see Fig. 2a and b).
Hypothesis 6 proposes that the relationship between career
prospects and industry commitment is moderated by students
salary expectation. Model 5 further reveals that the career
prospects salary expectation interaction is signicant (b .18,
p < .01) while the direct effect of salary expectation on industry
commitment is not signicant (b .08, n.s.). The results fail to
support Hypothesis 6. Fig. 3 graphically depicts the negative
interaction term and suggests that the effect of career prospects is
more salient for students with low salary expectation than those
with high salary expectation. This nding may be counterintuitive
as it implies that students who have high career prospects in their
eld of study are more likely to commit to the tourism and hospi-
tality industries; however, this relationship is less salient when
they have a high salary expectation. Likewise, students who have
low career prospects are less likely to commit to the industry per-
taining to their eld of study; however, this relationship is more
salient for those who have a low salary expectation. This nding
may be attributed to the fact that students acknowledge that if they
expect a high salary, they may have to nd jobs in other industries
(e.g., the government, which often offers signicantly better salary
to new employees than the tourism and hospitality industries
(Statistics and Census Service [DSEC], 2012)), as we will further
discuss in the section that follows. In addition, results fromModel 5
show signicant effects of the three control variables emanating
onto industry commitment. The ndings show that the gender ef-
fect is negative (b .15, p < .05), suggesting that female students
are less likely to commit to the industry of their eld of study than
their male counterparts. The negative effect of year of study
(b .12, p < .10) indicates that the more senior students are less
likely to nd jobs in the industries pertaining to their eld of study.
Finally, students who were currently working in the industry per-
taining to their eld of study while this research was conducted
were signicantly more likely to continue to work in that industry
(b .19, p < .01).
We further examined the indirect effect of perceived nature of
the work (job interest) emanating onto the criterion variables. The
results show that it exercises a signicant indirect effect on both
career prospects (b .48, p < .001) and industry commitment
(b .21, p < .001) (see Model 5). The indirect effects of PPSS
(b .26, p < .001) and NPSS (b .24, p < .001) emanating onto
industry commitment are both signicant. In sum, all ve models
reveal adequate t with c
2
/df 2.0, CFI .94, RMSEA .07, and
SRMR .08. The nal model is able to explain a good portion of the
variance of PPSS (R
2
.56), career prospects (R
2
.79), and industry
commitment (R
2
.25), but not NPSS (R
2
.01).
5. Discussion
This study examines the roles played by students perceptions of
the nature of the work, perceived social status, and salary expec-
tation on their attitudes toward the tourism and hospitality in-
dustries and their career intention (i.e., industry commitment). The
results present a nomological network of relationships among
these constructs and show the direct and indirect effects of the
perceived nature of the work and social status, as well as the
Table 3
Parameter estimates of the direct effects.
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Career prospect PPSS NPSS Career prospect
Perceived work nature
(job interest)
.40*** e .70*** .07 .04
Positive perceived social
status (PPSS)
e .56*** e e .73***
Negative perceived social
status (NPSS)
e .59*** e e .45***
R
2
.16 .54 .50 .01 .73
Note: ***p < .001.
Parameter estimates are standardized.
Mode t statistics for Model 3: c
2
/df 1.91, CFI .95, RMSEA .07, SRMR .08.
Table 2
Descriptive statistics, correlations, and scale reliability.
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Perceived work nature
(job interest)
3.75 .61 (.77)
2. Positive perceived
social status
3.61 .62 .51*** (.73)
3. Negative perceived
social status
3.21 1.07 .08 .06 (.79)
4. Salary expectation 2.43 .86 .17* .00 .00 e
5. Career prospect 3.39 .56 .37*** .48*** .33*** .15* (.73)
6. Industry commitment 3.13 1.15 .10 .07 .55*** .02 .30*** e
Note: values on the (diagonal) are Cronbachs alpha.
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 6
moderating effects of salary expectation, on students career pros-
pects and commitment to the hospitality and tourism industries.
Perceived nature of the work is found signicantly related to
positive perceived social status, but not related to negative
perceived social status, thus partially supporting Hypothesis 1.
Tourismand hospitality jobs have poor images (Baum, 2006; Roney
& ztin, 2007). Previous researches showthat assigning interesting
and challenging jobs to employees could boost their perceived
image of the industries (Chuang et al., 2009; Hancer & George,
2003; Weaver, 2009). However, our ndings show that in Macau
high status and image of the tourism and hospitality industries has
little to do with the job nature. It is because jobs in the industries
have long been gaining good reputations in the city because it is an
important occupation in the society (Wan & Kong, 2011, 2012). The
industry has employed about one third of the local workforce and
generates more than 80% of Macaus tax revenue, with the gaming
industry alone contributing 72% in 2009 (Financial Services Bureau,
2010). Accordingly, an interesting job could only further enhance
the industrys social status and image and is less likely to impose
negative impacts on it.
The results, however, do not support our Hypothesis 2. Incon-
sistent with the previous research ndings (Connell & Burgess,
2006; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; OLeary & Deegan, 2005), na-
ture of the work (i.e., an interesting job) in the industries has no
signicant relationship with the perceived career prospects when
perceived social status is controlled. Previous studies have
observed that challenging and interesting jobs and opportunities
for career advancement have positive effects on employees
perceived career prospects in their companies (Connell & Burgess,
Fig. 3. The moderating effect of salary expectation on industry commitment.
Table 4
Parameter estimates of the direct and moderating effects.
Model 4 Model 5
Career prospect Industry commitment Career prospect Industry commitment
Control variables
Gender
a
e .16* e .15*
Year of study
b
e .12
y
e .12
y
Work experience
c
e .19** e .19**
Main effects
Perceived work nature (job interest) (.48)*** (.18)*** (.48)*** (.21)***
Positive perceived social status (PPSS) .63*** (.24)*** .63*** (.26)***
Negative perceived social status (NPSS) .54*** (.20)*** .54*** (.24)***
Career prospect e .37*** e .42***
Moderating effects
Salary expectation (SE) e e .20** .08
PPSS SE e e .14* e
NPSS SE e e .11
y
e
Career prospect SE e e e .18**
R
2
.72 .20 .79 .25
Note:
y
p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.
Parameter estimates are standardized; values in (parentheses) are indirect effect parameter estimates.
Mode t statistics for Model 3: c
2
/df 1.74, CFI .94, RMSEA .06, SRMR .08.
a
Male 1, female 2.
b
Freshman (year 1) 1, sophomore (year 2) 2, junior (year 3) 3, senior (year 4) 4.
c
Not currently working in the industry 0, currently working in the industry 1.
Fig. 2. The moderating effect of salary expectation on career prospect.
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 7
2006; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; OLeary & Deegan, 2005;
Richardson, 2008; Stahl et al., 2002). The theory of psychological
contracts explains that employees have a set of expectations that
specify what they and the organization expect to give to and receive
from each other in the course of their working relationship
(Maguire, 2002). However, in the case of Macau, job nature is found
to have no signicant relationship with the perceived career
prospects. The author believes this has to do with the very prom-
ising career prospects that the tourism and hospitality industries
are offering in Macau. These industries have faced an acute
shortage of labor since the liberalization of casino licensing in
Macau in 2002; hotel and casino operators are willing to offer
higher salary to attract employees. For instance, the median
monthly income of employees working in the gaming and enter-
tainment sector is about US$1712, which is ranked second amongst
all other sectors, just behind the public administration sector
(US$2587) (DSEC, 2012). The number of those who changed their
jobs went up from 25,100 in 2006 to 39,000 in 2008. Recreational,
cultural, gaming and other services are the most popular industries
for the job changers (DSEC, 2009). With the rapid growth in the
numbers of casinos and hotels, employees can easily shift to other
jobs that offer higher salary and better benets and promotion
opportunities. Industry partners are also urged to offer better fringe
benets and promotion opportunities to reduce the high turnover
rate (Chan & Kuok, 2011). Due to the promising career prospects
offered, with jobs almost guaranteed in the very tight labor market,
whether the job itself is interesting or challenging has less effect on
students perceptions of their career prospects of the industries;
they realize they can always change jobs if they nd they are not
happy about the nature of their work. The theory of psychological
contracts could still offer an explanation to this situation in Macau
in the sense that employees have a set of expectations regarding
what they and the tourismand hospitality industries (instead of the
organization) have to give to and receive from each other.
Results of this study support our Hypothesis 3; that is, a direct
and signicant relationship between perceived social status and
career prospects is evidenced. While the nature of the work has no
effect on the perceived career prospects, students who have posi-
tive perceptions of the social status of an industry have perceived
positively its career prospects, echoing the previous research
ndings (Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Sandiford & Seymour, 2010;
Zhao & Zhou, 2008). This result points to the fact that students care
about howothers perceive their jobs and occupations. In particular,
they care about whether family members are proud of the job that
he/she is taking, and if the job is perceived as a respected and
important occupation in the society. The result therefore highlights
the importance of maintaining and upgrading the industries social
status and image to enhance students intention to enter and
commit to the industries.
In addition, our Hypothesis 4 is supported. A signicant rela-
tionship between the perceptions of career prospects and industry
commitment is found. In other words, students who believe that
the industries have offered sound career prospects show higher
employment commitment to the eld. This result is in line with the
ndings of previous studies (Jenkins, 2001; Richardson, 2008;
Roney & ztin, 2007; Wan & Kong, 2012) and further helps to
explainwhy a negative perception of career prospects often leads to
a low intention to join the tourism and hospitality industries. By
using the prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979), the phe-
nomenon can be explained by the fact that students have their own
frame of reference which forms their internal standards when they
evaluate job options. Students in general look for jobs that offer
good career prospects. More promising career prospects would
denitely help increase their intention to enter and commit to the
industries.
Furthermore, the results support Hypothesis 5. The relationship
between perceived social status and career prospects is moderated
by salary expectation, which is consistent with the ndings re-
ported in the study of Rosenbaum (1979) and Zhao and Zhou
(2008). The outcome expectations theory and work values theory
suggest that students have their own outcome expectations and
work values (Betz & Voyten, 1997; Chuang et al., 2009; Lent et al.,
1994). Those who look for higher salary would consider jobs that
provide better career prospects in order to be congruent with their
work values and expectations.
Finally, the results do not support Hypothesis 6 in that the
moderating effect of salary expectation is negative rather than
positive as we postulated. Furthermore, inconsistent with the
ndings of the previous studies (Mok & Finley, 1986; Mok et al.,
1998), the direct effect of salary expectation on industry commit-
ment is also not signicant. The results suggest that salary might
function well to project students a positive image of the career
prospects, which encourages them to be committed to the tourism
and hospitality industry. However, students who look for a high
salary have to nd jobs in other industries, particularly the gov-
ernment sector, which offers much higher salary than that of the
tourismand hospitality industry. Students who are attracted to stay
and commit in the tourism and hospitality industries have their
own outcome expectations and work values (Betz & Voyten, 1997;
Chuang et al., 2009; Lent et al., 1994), which go beyond the extrinsic
rewards (e.g., salary and bonus) and are tied to intrinsic ones (e.g.,
praise, recognition, a sense of job stability and pride working in the
industries). This nding therefore suggests that rather than offering
higher salary to attract talent to stay and commit to the tourismand
hospitality industries, operators might need to use other motiva-
tors and strategies to entice employees, such as by creating a fun
working environment, improving working conditions, providing a
more exible working schedule and supervisors encouragement
and understanding.
Other important ndings of this study include the following.
Female students and senior students are less likely to commit to the
industries of their eld of study than their male and junior coun-
terparts; and students currently working in the industry are
signicantly more likely to continue to work in that industry upon
their graduation. To encourage more graduates to commit to the
eld, industry partners and hospitality educators have to join hands
to deal with the issues seriously.
6. Conclusion
The study contributes to the knowledge of student career
intention and commitment in the area of hospitality and tourism.
Previous career studies in the hospitality setting focused on what
students think about the industry and their career intention and
commitment using a linear equation (Aksu & Kksal, 2005; Barron
& Maxwell, 1993; Jenkins, 2001; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000;
Richardson, 2008; Roney & ztin, 2007; Wan & Kong, 2011, 2012).
This study, however, realizes that career choice is a complex and
multifaceted phenomenon, and multiple factors come into play
that shape students career prospects and commitment to the
tourism and hospitality industries. Thus, a nomological network is
developed to explore the direct, indirect, and moderating effects of
variables such as perceived nature of the work, social status and
salary expectation on students perceptions of career prospects in
the industries and their intention to work in the eld.
The ndings provide deeper understanding of the values and
expectations of young people, and of approaches both to encourage
them to enter and commit to the workforce upon graduation, and
to provide them the right employment settings which ensure a
good personeorganization t. The ndings show that that the
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 8
perceived nature of the work of the industries has no signicant
relationship with career prospects if the industry offers promising
career prospects in a society, such as Macau, due to the booming
tourism and hospitality industries and the acute shortage of labor.
However, nature of the work is a main factor contributing to the
perceived social status of the industry. Social status has signicant
effects on the students perceptions of the career prospects of the
industries. Perceived career prospects are a key determinant to
students industry commitment.
This study also contributes to the hospitality and tourism career
literature by highlighting the importance of maintaining and pro-
moting the social status of the industries in order to attract stu-
dents to enter the eld. In addition, students who look for high
salary are not much attracted by hospitality and tourism jobs
because of their lower pay compared with other sectors. This
nding contributes to human resources practices in highlighting
the importance of investigating what kinds of non-monetary mo-
tivators could replace higher salary to attract those who are moti-
vated by higher pay.
Perhaps a more important contribution to the literature is the
moderating role of salary expectation. First, our ndings show that
the relationship between perceived social status and career pros-
pects is conditioned by salary expectation, in that the effect of pos-
itive social status is more salient while the effect of negative social
status is less pronounced for students with high salary expectation.
Second, our results suggest that salary expectation negatively
moderates the relationship between career prospects and industry
commitment, in that the career prospects effect is less acute for
students who look for high salary. The collated evidence attests that
the relationships among social status, career prospects, and industry
commitment are not as straightforward as prior research indicates.
In fact, prior research is limited in understanding how work expec-
tations, and perhaps other contextual factors, may alter these re-
lationships. Hence, this study sheds new light in the literature by
offering an alternative view of the factors that shape students per-
ceptions of career prospects and their industry commitment.
In summary, this study provides newinsights to the literature in
several ways. First, while prior research examines the antecedents
of organizational commitment, this study focuses on a more
fundamental issue in human resource management: industry
commitment. Our ndings therefore differ from prior research in
that the study shows the antecedents of industry commitment.
Hence, this article offers a complementary view of the existing
commitment theory in that organizational commitment could be a
consequence of industry commitment. The negative effects of
gender and year of study also add to the commitment literature in
that they jointly suggest female and more senior students are less
committed to the tourism and hospitality industries. The ndings
could be attributed to the characteristics of the two industries, as
they often require long hours of work and night shifts. We also add
to the commitment literature by understanding the role of career
prospects and salary expectation. Although the relationship be-
tween career prospects and industry commitment seems fairly
straightforward, it is however contingent on peoples expectation
of the salary in the industry. Our ndings (see Fig. 3) provide a fuller
understanding of the career prospectecommitment relationship in
that students with low career prospects rely signicantly more on
salary to be committed to an industry. Hence career prospects hold
the key to industry commitment, although salary does help when
students have low career prospects.
Second, the full mediation of perceived social status indicates
the importance of social factors in developing favorable career
prospects. Yet, this study differs fromprior studies as it investigates
the contingent effect of salary expectations on the social status-
career prospects relationship (see Fig. 2a and b). By taking the
moderating effect into account, this study shows that expectation
of future income serves as a facilitating factor which enhances the
positive effect of perceived social status on career prospects. It also
serves as a mitigating factor which reduces the negative effect of
perceived social status. We believe that these are important and
new contributions to the literature.
7. Managerial implications
Our research ndings have several practical implications. First,
as the nature of the work could enhance the social status of the
tourism and hospitality industries, which in turn has effects on
perceived career prospects, it is crucial for industry partners to put
efforts in their job design to make the jobs more interesting and
challenging, since this factor is often identied by students as the
key desirable attribute of hospitality and tourism jobs (Kusluvan &
Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2008). In practice, work interest could
be enhanced by giving employees room for using their creativity to
solve problems, and allowing them to work in different areas
within the company to meet new friends and to become familiar
with work others are performing. A good example is that some
hotels provide chances for their new management trainees to
conduct research to propose some future strategies for the com-
panies. The research process requires the trainees to approach the
heads and staff in different functional departments within the
companies for information. In this way, they are allowed to inte-
grate the knowledge they learn from school with the real hotel
settings, which in turn enhances the job interest. More importantly,
through this exercise, the trainees are given the opportunity to
know people in the hotels and to develop good social networks,
paving their way to future success.
Given also that the perception of good career prospects often
leads to higher employment commitment, industry partners and
hospitality educators should try their utmost to provide and project
a fabulous career prospect to students. We have two suggestions.
First, a clear career path has to be provided and explained to the
employees to attract and retain employees. It is common that jobs
are opened but planning for career path is lacking. Also, even when
a clear career path is set, it might not be clearly presented and
explained to employees and potential employees. Employees have a
perception that they can never climb up to the next career ladder
because most of the middle and higher levels of positions are
occupied by non-local people (i.e., those from Hong Kong and
Malaysia). This is part of the reason why the turnover rate in Macau
is high (Chan & Kuok, 2011). Human resources (HRs) staff of the
industry should carefully design a career path for each position.
HRs might not know enough about the career prospects of a posi-
tion in a particular department. They need to actively collect in-
formation from each department and compile it into an organized
document. Heads of each department should from time to time
update the information to the HRs. Firms could also conduct sem-
inars and visits to different universities to introduce their company,
the job opportunities and the career development paths offered by
the company. The career development paths and the skills and
experiences required for promoting to the next paths should be
clearly spelled out and explained to candidates/employees during
job interviews and employee orientations. All these efforts aim to
convey clear messages to the potential employees that the com-
pany cares about their career development and has tried its utmost
to help them to pursue and develop their career in the company. In
the case of a position that provides less or no opportunities for
further progress, rms should also clearly explain to the potential
employees the reason why and alert them to the situation in order
to prevent any misunderstandings and perceived poor company
image in the future.
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 9
Second, Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000) suggest that a promising
career prospect is evaluated based on the salary, but also the pro-
motion opportunities, and other benets such as learning oppor-
tunities and work-life balance that could make students believe
that the advantages of working in the tourism industry outweigh
the disadvantages. It is imperative to conduct research to under-
stand what is considered a promising career to students and em-
ployees and what are their work values and expectations. In
particular, rms from Western cultures (e.g., the US and Australia)
should be aware that the work values and expectations of the
employees in Macau could be different from those in Western
countries. There are reports showing that the hospitality employees
in Macau place more value on salary and the promotion opportu-
nities (Chan & Kuok, 2011; Wan, 2010); whereas in Western
countries, employees place a higher value on a fun working envi-
ronment, enjoyable work and interesting jobs (Weaver, 2009). Also,
the work values are found to be different among different genders
(Elizur & Koslowsky, 2001). Thus, the strategies adopted to attract
and retain different types of employees should be varied.
Furthermore, as the perceived social status has signicant ef-
fects on the perceived career prospects, which in turn has an effect
on students industry commitment, it is essential for the industries
as a whole to join hands to maintain and upgrade the industries
social status. In Macau, although the tourism and hospitality in-
dustries have already gained a good reputation as the foremost
important industry in the city, their social status is not much
enhanced by the nature of the work. Jobs in the sectors are
generally considered as low-paying, stressful and requiring long
working hours and shift work. Casino jobs are even considered as
dirty in the Chinese culture (Lai et al., 2012). There is a general
perception that those who choose to work in the casinos are mainly
there to earn higher salary, and therefore it is not a very respected
occupation. It is believed that the social status of the sector could
further be enhanced if the nature of the work could be improved.
For example, to reduce students/employees perception of a
frequently changing work schedule, managers could consult with
their employees before making the work schedule and try not to
alter it frequently unless necessary. If there is a need to change the
work schedule, communications and explanations to employees
are desirable. Further, research shows that the stress experienced
by hospitality and tourism workers is often associated with poor
management, such as the lack of empowerment, poor leadership,
and poor work design, leading to role ambiguity and role conict
(Karatepe & Uludag, 2008; Ross, 1997). Managers should pay
attention to these aspects to reduce the work stress level of their
employees in order to improve the image of jobs in the tourism and
hospitality sector.
A longer-term solution to enhance the industries social status is
to encourage and speed up the development of casino-integrated
resorts (IRs), which is what the Macau government is doing and
many casino operators are aiming for. As mentioned earlier,
although tourism and jobs in general have high social status in the
Macau society, jobs in casinos are still considered as dirty in the
Chinese culture (Lai et al., 2012). Integrated resorts, however, are
more than a casino. They are a one-stop entertainment center
having over-the-top architecture, the largest and highest grade
hotel accommodation and casinos in the world, Michelin-quality
ne dining, and status as major players in the convention and
meeting business (Eadington & Doyle, 2009). The target market is
not only gamblers but also the leisure market that has little or no
interest in gaming (Eadington & Doyle, 2009). With extensive
amenities, the IR is believed to have the potential to bring higher
revenue than purely gambling. The author believes that the social
status and image of the tourism and hospitality industries could be
further enhanced and results in greater industry commitment if
employees have a sense of pride in working in a higher-end resort
that offers a large variety of hospitality jobs than merely the casino
dealing positions.
The direct effect of salary expectation on industry commitment
is insignicant. Students who look for a high salary are not much
attracted by the hospitality and tourism jobs because of their lower
pay compared with other sectors. This result suggests that more
research is needed to examine what other non-monetary in-
centives could motivate students to enter and stay longer in their
jobs. Industry partners could invite some universities to conduct
longitudinal studies on this issue using both qualitative and
quantitative surveys of students.
Female students and seniors are less likely to commit to the
industries than their male and junior counterparts. To encourage
more graduates to commit to the elds, faculty members might
want to spend more time with the female students to understand
their attitudes and change some of their negative perceptions. They
could also build female students condence by pointing to the
example of successful women leaders in the industries. Also,
greater attention could be paid to barriers that confront females in
their professional life.
Some previous studies have found that the more exposure a
student has to the hospitality and tourism industry, the less
commitment he or she demonstrates (Barron & Maxwell, 1993;
Jenkins, 2001). This could partially explain why the senior students
show a lower intention to enter and commit to the industries than
their counterparts, as reported in this study. The phenomenon
could be attributed to having bad experiences in nding an
internship job related to the hospitality industry (Wan & Kong,
2011) and in becoming familiar with and understanding the na-
ture of the work (Jenkins, 2001; Richardson, 2008). It is therefore
imperative for hospitality educators to nd out the reasons for
lower intention, through meeting and interacting with their
students.
Last but not least, students who are currently working in the
industry are signicantly more likely to continue to work in those
industries upon graduation. Thus students could be encouraged to
take part in some part-time work while they are studying. Equally
important is the design and implementation of effective internship
programs. Educators should continue to rene internship programs
that promote students professional growth as well as realistic ex-
pectations of the industry. Industry organizations are also encour-
aged actively to seek partnership with universities to design
internship programs for students that ensure the students have
positive experiences.
8. Limitations and directions for future research
As with other studies, this study is not without limitations. First,
the sample size is small; future studies could expand the sample
size in order to substantiate the reliability of our results. Second,
this study only examines the attitudes and perceptions of the
tourism and hospitality students in Macau. The same research
could be applied to other cities/countries to further add insights
into this research area. Third, this research uses a quantitative
approach. Further research in the same area could be done by un-
dertaking qualitative assessments to provide more in-depth un-
derstanding of students perceptions and attitudes and the
moderating effects of salary expectations. Future research could
also explore students perceptions about the entry position in a
specic industry and sector upon graduation. Fourth, the re-
spondents of this study only focus on the tourism and hospitality
students studying in Macau. Similar studies could be conducted in
other areas and destinations in order to verify the ndings and
obtain a better insight of the topic.
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 10
Finally, as work experience and years of study are two
important factors shaping students commitment in the tourism
and hospitality industries, further research is encouraged to
explore the underlying reasons that could better explain these
ndings. Some of the underlying factors may persist at the social
or institutional level, suggesting a more complex and hierar-
chical nature of social inuences on students perceptions.
Future research will greatly benet from understanding the
plausible factors that exist at multiple levels of the social sys-
tem; researchers could explore the effects of an economy or a
destination on the tourism and hospitality industries and how
the industry characteristics inuence students perceptions be-
haviors, as well as the possible moderating effects of their
education.
Appendix A. Means and standard deviations of scale items
Scale items Mean S.D.
Perceived work nature (job interest)
Work1 3.73 .78
Work2 3.68 .76
Work3 3.77 .79
Work4 3.82 .82
Perceived social status (positive status)
PPSS1 3.34 .86
PPSS2 3.59 .77
PPSS3 3.94 .85
PPSS4 3.59 .83
Perceived social status (negative status)
NPSS1 3.20 1.07
NPSS2 3.21 1.28
Career prospect
Career1 3.38 .80
Career2 3.68 .82
Career3 3.31 .85
Career4 3.07 .88
Career5 3.50 .73
Salary 2.43 .84
Commit 3.13 1.15
Note: Work1eWork4 refer to questions 1, 7, 10, and 12 on Part 4 (nature of work) of the questionnaire (see Appendix C) respectively.
PPSS1ePPSS4 refer to questions 1, 2, 3, 6 on Part 5 (social status) of the questionnaire respectively.
NPSS1 and NPSS2 refer to questions 4 and 5 on Part 5 (social status) of the questionnaire respectively.
Career1eCareer5 refer to questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 on Part 6 (career prospects) of the questionnaire respectively.
Salary refers to question 3.1 of the questionnaire.
Commit refers to question 2.7 of the questionnaire.
Appendix B. Variance and covariance matrix
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
1. Work1 .60
2. Work2 .29 .58
3. Work3 .27 .25 .62
4. Work4 .29 .31 .31 .68
5. PPSS1 .19 .12 .15 .17 .74
6. PPSS2 .16 .18 .17 .24 .28 .59
7. PPSS3 .19 .21 .26 .26 .21 .36 .73
8. PPSS4 .28 .16 .22 .29 .26 .31 .25 .68
9. NPSS1 .01 .02 .10 .02 .04 .22 .07 .03 1.15
10. NPSS2 .08 .00 .15 .07 .06 .21 .01 .12 .91 1.64
11. Career1 .12 .07 .11 .15 .21 .14 .13 .20 .03 .10 .64
12. Career2 .21 .11 .19 .20 .19 .26 .17 .30 .06 .15 .21 .67
13. Career3 .18 .11 .19 .12 .16 .10 .22 .23 .29 .42 .19 .32 .71
14. Career4 .12 .04 .15 .01 .06 .07 .13 .17 .27 .41 .15 .26 .48 .78
15. Career5 .15 .08 .11 .12 .13 .13 .14 .21 .14 .17 .09 .20 .22 .20 .53
16. Salary .07 .11 .07 .11 .08 .03 .03 .03 .02 .03 .01 .05 .12 .15 .02 .75
17. Commit .10 .02 .15 .01 .04 .15 .03 .03 .65 .70 .03 .11 .32 .40 .11 .02 1.32
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 11
Appendix C. Questionnaire
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 12
References
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting in-
teractions. Newbury Park, London: Sage.
Aksu, A. A., & Kksal, C. D. (2005). Perceptions and attitudes of tourism students in
Turkey. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 12(5),
436e447.
Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organization.
Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 20e39.
Aycan, Z., & Fikret-Pasa, S. (2003). Career choices, job selection criteria, and lead-
ership preferences in a transitional nation: the case of Turkey. Journal of Career
Development, 30(2), 129e144.
Baron, B. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderatoremediator variable distinction in
social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical consider-
ations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173e1182.
Barron, P., & Maxwell, G. (1993). Hospitality management students image of the
hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Manage-
ment, 5(5), 5e8.
Baum, T. (2006). Human resource management for tourism, hospitality and leisure: An
international perspective. London: Thomson Learning.
Ben-Shem, I., & Avi-Itzhak, T. E. (1991). On work values and career choice in
freshmen students: the case of helping vs. other professions. Journal of Voca-
tional Behavior, 39(3), 369e379.
Betz, N. E., &Voyten, K. K. (1997). Efcacy and outcome expectations inuence career
exploration and decidedness. Career Development Quarterly, 46(2), 179e189.
Brown, T. J., & Dacin, P. A. (1997). The company and product: corporate associations
and consumer product responses. Journal of Marketing, 16(1), 68e84.
Carmeli, A. (2005). Perceived external prestige, affective commitment, and citi-
zenship behaviors. Organization Studies, 26(3), 443e464.
Chan, S. H., & Kuok, O. M. (2011). A study of human resources recruitment, selection,
and retention issues in the hospitality and tourism industry in Macau. Journal of
Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 10(4), 421e441.
Chen, P., & Choi, Y. (2008). Generational differences in work values: a study of
hospitality management. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 20(6), 595e615.
Chen, J. S., Chu, K. H. L., & Wu, W. C. (2000). Tourism students perceptions of work
values: a case of Taiwanese universities. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management, 12(6), 360e365.
Chuang, N.-K., & Jenkins, M. (2010). Career decision making and intention: a study
of hospitality undergraduate students. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism
Research, 34(4), 512e530.
Chuang, N. K., Yin, D., & Dellmann-Jenkins, M. (2009). Intrinsic and extrinsic factors
impacting casino hotel chefs job satisfaction. International Journal of Contem-
porary Hospitality Management, 21(3), 323e340.
Collier, J., & Esteban, R. (2007). Corporate social responsibility and employee
commitment. Business Ethics: A European Review, 16(1), 19e33.
Connell, J., & Burgess, J. (2006). The inuenced of precarious employment on career
development: the current situation in Australia. Education Training, 48(7),
493e507.
Creed, W. E. D., & Saporta, I. (2004). Unmet expectations: the effect of status
inconsistency on quitting and internal job changing. Research in Social Strati-
cation and Mobility, 20(3), 285e323.
Duignan, R., & Iaquinto, A. (2005). Female managers in Japan: early
indications of career progression. Women In Management Review, 20(3),
191e207.
Eadington, W. R., & Doyle, M. R. (2009). Integrated resort casinos: Implications for
economic growth and social impacts. Reno: University of Nevada.
Elizur, D., & Koslowsky, M. (2001). Values and organizational commitment. Inter-
national Journal of Manpower, 22(7), 593e599.
Financial Services Bureau. (2010). Public nance. Retrieved 16.05.12, from http://
www.dsf.gov.mo/Con_Pub/e_ConPub_Fs.htm.
Hancer, M., & George, R. T. (2003). Job satisfaction of restaurant employees: an
empirical investigation using the Minnesota satisfaction questionnaire. Journal
of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 27(1), 85e100.
Herrbach, O., & Mignonac, K. (2004). How ogranisational image affects employee
attitudes. Human Resource Management, 14(4), 76e88.
Holtom, B. C., Lee, T. W., & Tidd, S. T. (2002). The relationship between work status
congruence and work-related attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Applied Psy-
chology, 87(5), 903e915.
Jenkins, A. K. (2001). Making a career of it? Hospitality students future perspective:
an Anglo-Dutch study. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Man-
agement, 13(1), 13e20.
Jones, P., Hillier, D., & Comfort, D. (2009). Corporate social responsibility in the UK
gaming industry. Corporate Governance, 9(2), 189e201.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under
risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263e291.
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 13
Karatepe, O. M., & Uludag, O. (2008). Role stress, burnout and their effects on
frontline hotel employees job performance: evidence from Northern Cyprus.
International Journal of Tourism Research, 10(2), 111e126.
Kelley-Patterson, D., & George, C. (2001). Securing graduate commitment: an
exploration of the comparative expectations of placement students, graduate
recruits and human resource managers within the hospitality, leisure and
tourism industries. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 20(4),
311e323.
Kusluvan, S., & Kusluvan, Z. (2000). Perceptions and attitudes of undergraduate
tourism students towards working in the tourism industry in Turkey. Tourism
Management, 21(3), 251e269.
Lai, J., Chan, K. W., & Lam, L. W. (2012). Dening who you are not: the roles of moral
dirtiness and occupational and organizational disidentication in affecting ca-
sino employees turnover intention. Journal of Business ResearchAvailable at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.12.012.
Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive
theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 45(1), 79e122.
Maguire, H. (2002). Psychological contracts: are they still relevant? Career Devel-
opment International, 7(3), 167e180.
Mellahi, K. (2001). Differences and similarities in future managerial values: a ve
cultures comparative study. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal,
8(1), 45e58.
Mok, C., & Finley, D. (1986). Job satisfaction and its relationship to demographics
and turnover of hotel food-service workers in Hong Kong. International Journal
of Hospitality Management, 5(2), 71e78.
Mok, C., Pine, R., & Pizam, A. (1998). Work values of Chinese hotel managers. Journal
of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 21(3), 1e16.
OLeary, S., & Deegan, J. (2005). Career progression of Irish tourism and hospitality
management graduates. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 17(5), 421e432.
Parcel, T., & Mueller, C. (1983). Occupational differentiation, prestige, and socio-
economic status. Work and Occupations, 10(1), 49e80.
Pizam, A., & Lewis, R. C. (1979). Work values of hospitality students. Journal of
Hospitality Education, 3(2), 5e16.
Richardson, S. (2008). Undergraduate tourism and hospitality students attitudes
toward a career in the industry: a preliminary investigation. Journal of Teaching
in Travel & Tourism, 8(1), 23e46.
Richardson, S. (2009). Undergraduates perceptions of tourism and hospitality and a
career choice. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 28(3), 382e388.
Richardson, S. (2010). Generation Ys perceptions and attitudes towards a career in
tourism and hospitality. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism,
9(2), 179e199.
Ricrardson, S., & Butler, G. (2012). Attitudes of Malaysian tourism and hospitality
students towards a career in the industry. Asia Pacic Journal of Tourism
Research, 17(3), 262e276.
Roney, S. A., & ztin, P. (2007). Career perceptions of undergraduate tourism stu-
dents: a case study in Turkey. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism
Education, 6(1), 4e18.
Rosenbaum, J. E. (1979). Tournament mobility: career patterns in a corporation.
Administrative Science Quarterly, 24(2), 220e224.
Ross, G. F. (1997). Career stress responses among hospitality employees. Annals of
Tourism Research, 24(1), 41e51.
Rostamy, A. A. A., Hosseini, H. K., Khaef-Elahi, A. A., & Hassanzadeh, A. (2008).
Employees social status in Iranian public and governmental organizations:
effect of individual, organizational and social factors. Singapore Management
Review, 30(1), 77e98.
Sandiford, P. J., & Seymour, D. (2010). Exploring public house employees per-
ceptions of their status: a UK case study. The Service Industries Journal, 30(7),
1063e1076.
Sennett, R. (1998). The corrosion of character: The personal consequences of work in
the new capitalism. New York: W.W. Norton.
Singh, J., & Kaur, G. (2009). Determinants of job satisfaction in select Indian uni-
versal banks e an empirical study. Asia Pacic Business Review, V(4), 43e55.
Spaeth, J. (1977). Vertical differentiation among occupations. American Sociological
Review, 44(5), 746e762.
Stahl, G. K., Miller, E. L., & Tung, R. L. (2002). Toward the boundaryless career: a
closer look at the expatriate career concept and the perceived implications of an
international assignment. Journal of World Business, 37(3), 216e227.
Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). (2009). Macao Statistics and Census Service.
Macao Economic Bulletin. Retrieved 12.01.10, from http://www.dsec.gov.mo/
getAttachment/efc1c7c9-16a9-4b67-81fa -e2839b5be13d/E_BET_PUB_2009_
Q1.aspx.
Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). (2012). Macao in gures. Retrieved 12.05.11,
from http://www.dsec.gov.mo/getAttachment/8b2e1f57-202b-4423-9275-a86a
5984c87e/E_MN_PUB_2012_Y.aspx.
Super, D. E. (1973). The work values inventory. In G. G. Zytowski (Ed.), Contemporary
approaches to interest measurement (pp. 189e205). Minneapolis: University of
Minneapolis Press.
Tittel, G. (1976). On the social status and career prospects of youth in agriculture in
the GDR (German Democratic Republic). World Congress of Rural Sociology,
17(June), 1e17.
Turker, D. (2009). How corporate social responsibility inuences organizational
commitment. Journal of Business Ethics, 89(2), 189e204.
Vecchio, R. P. (1992). Organisational behavior (2nd ed.). Ohio, United States: South-
Western Publishing Co.
Walsh, E. (1982). Prestige, work satisfaction, and alienation. Work and Occupations,
9(4), 473e496.
Wan, Y. K. P. (2010). Exploratory assessment of the Macao casino dealers job per-
ceptions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29(1), 62e71.
Wan, Y. K. P., & Kong, W. H. F. (2011). Career perceptions of undergraduate
gaming management students. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 11(4),
367e391.
Wan, Y. K. P., & Kong, W. H. (2012). Career perceptions of heritage management
students: a case study of undergraduates in Macao. Journal of Hospitality &
Tourism Education, 24(1), 5e15.
Weaver, A. (2009). Perceptions of job quality in the tourism industry: the
views of recent graduates of a universitys tourism management pro-
gramme. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,
21(5), 579e593.
Wong, C. K. S., & Liu, J. G. (2010). Will parental inuences affect career choice?
Evidence from hospitality and tourism management students in China. Inter-
national Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 22(1), 82e102.
Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner, M. J., & Gremler, D. D. (2006). Service marketing: Integrating
customer focus across the rm (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Zhao, W., & Zhou, X. (2008). Intraorganizational career advancement and voluntary
turnover in a multinational bank in Taiwan. Career Development International,
13(5), 402e424.
Dr. Yim King Penny Wan is a visiting assistant professor
at the Institute for Tourism Studies, Macau. Her research
interests include tourism planning and development, ca-
sino management and hospitality services.
Dr. IpKin Anthony Wong (PhD, University of Hawaii) is an
assistant professor at the Institute for Tourism Studies,
Macau. His current research interests include tourism and
hospitality marketing, service quality management, inter-
national marketing, CSR, green marketing and tourism,
casino management and gambling behaviors, branding
and destination image, human resource management,
among others.
Dr. Weng Hang Kong is an assistant professor at the
Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), Macau. Her research
interests include cultural heritage tourism, tourism plan-
ning and disabled travelers.
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 14

You might also like