Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T04:22:52.398Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Student Work Preferences and Beliefs Surrounding the Tourist/Hospitality Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Glenn Ross*
Affiliation:
James Cook University
Get access

Abstract

Six hundred and seventy four high school students from an Australian tourist region responded to a range of employment choices involving the tourist/hospitality industry. Many students evinced a readiness to consider employment in this industry and over one-half of the sample would consider further studies in order to obtain a better job within the same context. Formal qualifications and practical experience were thought to be the more important factors in the attainment of tourist/hospitality jobs. It was also found that males were more likely than females to demonstrate no interest in this type of employment and less likely than females to indicate a readiness to undertake further studies. Finally, it was found that students demonstrating an internal locus of control were more likely to believe in a variety of factors as a method of attainment of tourist/hospitality industry jobs, including performance and presentation, whereas externals believed more in formal qualifications. The implications of these findings for the later employment of students and for educational psychologists working in this context were examined.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Industries Assistance Commission (1989). Interim report on the tourism/hospitality industry. Canberra: A.G.P.S.Google Scholar
O’Brien, G.E. (1983). Locus of control, work and retirement. In Lefcourt, H.M. (Ed). Research in locus of control, Vol 3. N.Y.: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Rotter, J.B. (1966) Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, 80 (1) Whole No. 609.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spector, P.E. (1982). Behaviour in organizations as a function of employee’s locus of control. Psychological Bulletin, 91 482497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spector, P.E. (1988). Development of a work locus of control scale. Journal Occupational Psychology 61, 335340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar