TEC-funded MPhil/PhD Student Abstract
| Title | : | An Analysis of Students’ Commitment towards Employment in the Tourism and Hospitality Sector: A Case of Mauritius |
| Student | : | CHELLEN Harmon |
| Institution | : | Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius |
| Level | : | MPhil - PT Year : 2010 |
| Supervisor | : | Assoc. Prof Dr Roubina Juwaheer
Assoc. Prof Dr Elmarie
Slabbert (North West University, South Africa)
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| Abstract | : | The tourism industry depends largely on human interaction. Tourism is a service orientated industry where humans play a pivotal role in delivering a product that will influence the overall experience of tourists. There is a common notion that the tourism and hospitality sector offers low pay, very little training and career prospects, limited scope for promotion, and unsociable working hours which have collectively formed a negative image of tourism as a career. As a result, the tourism industry is, to-day, facing more than ever greater challenges in attracting skilled and motivated staff than the emerging sectors in the economy. In view of these challenges, the purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of students’ commitment towards employment in the tourism and hospitality sector in Mauritius. The study is informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) which remains largely utilized in social science research, including tourism, to study the behaviour of people. The present research attempts to develop and test a model of student commitment around the core constructs of TPB. The model proposes that student commitment (dependent variable) is influenced by their attitude towards employment in the tourism and hospitality sector, their subjective norms (SN) and their perceived behavioral control(PBC) (independent variables). In addition, the study further borrows from the tourism and hospitality literature on this topic and proposes that student commitment is also influenced by their perceived social status, promotion opportunities, and career prospect in the industry. The study will use data collected from students studying for tourism and hospitality courses in a number of academic and vocational institutions in Mauritius. The model of study will be tested using the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. The study is expected to contribute theoretically and practically to the literature.
Key Words: Tourism Employment, Students’ Commitment, Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).
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