Publicação
Managing retention, careers and quality of working life of qualified HR in tourism and hospitality: the case of Portugal
| Resumo: | The employment relationship in contemporary organisations is undergoing fundamental changes which have complex implications for the attraction, motivation, retention, and performance of highly qualified employees. Despite its reputation of precarious working conditions and high turnover rates, the T&H industry is changing, and higher-level skills are being required. Having become a growing career choice, questions arise regarding the industry’s ability to contribute to long-term growth and retention of T&H professionals. The purpose of this research is to contribute to a deeper understanding of work experiences of highly educated individuals in the hotel sector, and on how these experiences have been shaping retention and career longevity. This study attempts to contribute to offer new insights and nuanced, critical understanding of career dynamics in the T&H industry, grounded on the capitalisation of dedicated T&H tertiary education. A constructivist-interpretivist stance with a critical orientation is taken, seeking to highlight the underlying complexity of analysing the various themes involved in this study. This research adopts a multi-method qualitative (QUAL→qual) research design. The research approach relies on in-depth, first-hand accounts of three groups of purposefully selected participants at different career stages: Employees (graduates currently employed in the industry), Leavers (graduates no longer working in the industry), and Newcomers to the labour market (students majoring in T&H-related degrees). The core component of the study is based on in-depth interviews with a total of 56 informants nationwide, with different job positions in the hotel sector. The three groups offered diferente viewpoints of career experiences and decisions, feelings and perceptions on T&H. A supplementary component, aimed at providing deeper explanations within the context of the core component, involved the consultation of a set of key actors in the T&H industry and experts from different disciplines. By extending existing research on Hospitality careers, turnover intention, and quality of working life, this study makes a relevant contribution to understanding the employee perspective on how Hospitality careers unfold. The study findings encapsulate the multi-faceted and complex nature of career decisions and trajectories. Special emphasis is given to the cognition of quality of working life, a largely untapped topic in the existing T&H literature, informing the way people give meaning to work/career experiences. Findings reveal that an interplay of factors influence the relationship between graduates’ perceptions and evaluation of work experiences and their intentions regarding on joboccupational permanence or change. By discussing the T&H industry ability to remain competitive as a long-term career choice, this study thus seeks to make theoretical and practical contributions which may have wider implications for a higher valuation of T&H jobs and careers. |
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| Autores principais: | Durão, Marília Sofia Ferreira |
| Assunto: | Tourism and hospitality Human resources management Careers Retention Voluntary turnover Quality of working life |
| Ano: | 2021 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | tese de doutoramento |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Aveiro |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | RIA - Repositório Institucional da Universidade de Aveiro |
| Resumo: | The employment relationship in contemporary organisations is undergoing fundamental changes which have complex implications for the attraction, motivation, retention, and performance of highly qualified employees. Despite its reputation of precarious working conditions and high turnover rates, the T&H industry is changing, and higher-level skills are being required. Having become a growing career choice, questions arise regarding the industry’s ability to contribute to long-term growth and retention of T&H professionals. The purpose of this research is to contribute to a deeper understanding of work experiences of highly educated individuals in the hotel sector, and on how these experiences have been shaping retention and career longevity. This study attempts to contribute to offer new insights and nuanced, critical understanding of career dynamics in the T&H industry, grounded on the capitalisation of dedicated T&H tertiary education. A constructivist-interpretivist stance with a critical orientation is taken, seeking to highlight the underlying complexity of analysing the various themes involved in this study. This research adopts a multi-method qualitative (QUAL→qual) research design. The research approach relies on in-depth, first-hand accounts of three groups of purposefully selected participants at different career stages: Employees (graduates currently employed in the industry), Leavers (graduates no longer working in the industry), and Newcomers to the labour market (students majoring in T&H-related degrees). The core component of the study is based on in-depth interviews with a total of 56 informants nationwide, with different job positions in the hotel sector. The three groups offered diferente viewpoints of career experiences and decisions, feelings and perceptions on T&H. A supplementary component, aimed at providing deeper explanations within the context of the core component, involved the consultation of a set of key actors in the T&H industry and experts from different disciplines. By extending existing research on Hospitality careers, turnover intention, and quality of working life, this study makes a relevant contribution to understanding the employee perspective on how Hospitality careers unfold. The study findings encapsulate the multi-faceted and complex nature of career decisions and trajectories. Special emphasis is given to the cognition of quality of working life, a largely untapped topic in the existing T&H literature, informing the way people give meaning to work/career experiences. Findings reveal that an interplay of factors influence the relationship between graduates’ perceptions and evaluation of work experiences and their intentions regarding on joboccupational permanence or change. By discussing the T&H industry ability to remain competitive as a long-term career choice, this study thus seeks to make theoretical and practical contributions which may have wider implications for a higher valuation of T&H jobs and careers. |
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