Career and Internship Aspirations
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Seediscussions,stats,andauthorprofilesforthispublicationat:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276859568
Tourismandhospitalityinternships:influencesonstudentcareeraspirations
ArticleinCurrentIssuesinTourism·March2015
DOI:10.1080/13683500.2015.1020772
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Abstract: Research shows that students will often change their career choices relating to the
tourism and hospitality (T&H) industries following work experiences. This qualitative study
investigates how participation in one specific type of work experience, an internship, impacts
on student participants’ career choices and goals. While most respondents did indeed change
their career aspirations following the internship, these changes reflected a shift within the
industry rather than a shift against entering the industry. Many participants indicated they had
switched their goals away from pursuing a career in hospitality in favour for developing a
career in tourism, while the reverse was not apparent.
Keywords: career goals, internships, work experience
Tourism & hospitality internships: Influences on student career aspirations
Introduction
In an era characterised by uncertainty, constant change and increasing global mobility of
employees, the tourism and hospitality (T&H) industries are frequently challenged with the
problem of attracting and retaining quality employees that possess cross-domain abilities, as
well as knowledge and competencies that match industrial trends and demands (Baum, 2007;
Kim, 2014; Teng, 2013). The disparate nature of the T&H industries provides unique
challenges to education providers, including a need for a diversely trained workforce. While
research continues to show that the ‘apprentice’ route to working in the industry is still
strongly valued by employers (Major & Evans, 2008), higher order skills and competences,
such as communication (van't Klooster, van Wijk, Go, & van Rekom, 2008), are frequently
becoming necessary for dealing with key industry issues including the impacts of
globalisation, regulation and deregulation, rapid market shifts, and environmental turbulence
(López-Bonilla & López-Bonilla, 2014). Thus it is argued that such issues require critical and
reflective thinkers, which university-level education can facilitate ( Dredge, Airey & Gross,
2014; Major & Evans, 2008).
As the T&H industries have grown to be one of the largest global employers, there has been a
concomitant proliferation of higher education tourism and hospitality degrees being offered
around the world. Despite such growth however, research shows that industry still considers
there to be a lack of skilled labour that meets industry demands (Baum, 2007; Richardson,
2012; Wan, Wong, & Kong, 2014; Wang, Ayres, & Huyton, 2010). As such, researchers
have become increasingly interested in the question of whether higher education providers
are effectively ensuring the application of classroom learning experiences to actual
management situations in a manner that meets employer knowledge and skills needs
(Hughes, Mylonas & Benckendorff, 2013; Major & Evans, 2008). In recognising the
continuing relevance of providing some level of practical training in the professional
practices required for the T&H industry, higher education T&H courses will often embed
some form of practical, or work integrated learning experience into the curriculum ( Baker,
Caldicott & Spowart, 2011; Hughes, et al., 2013; Solnet, Robinson, & Cooper, 2007).
Internships are one such practicum based educational experience that have traditionally
played an important role in enabling higher education providers to integrate industry training
(Aggett & Busby, 2011; Hughes et al, 2013). Although not easily defined due to their varied
scope (Kim & Park, 2013; Ruhanen, Robinson & Breakey, 2013; Zopiatis & Constanti,
2007), in general terms, an internship is “a short-term period of practical work experience
wherein students receive training as well as gaining invaluable job experience in a specific
field or potential career of their interest” (Zopiatis & Theocharous, 2013, p. 34). Other terms
used in the literature for internship-style training include vocational training, sandwich
placements, cooperative educational placements; industrial experience, industrial placement,
supervised work experience, or industry placements (Busby, Brunt & Baber, 1997; Solnet et
al., 2007). While there are trends for programs to review and sometimes cut aspects of their
work integrated learning and practical components (Robinson, Kralj, Brenner & Lee, 2014),
up to date literature suggests internships are still a common feature of tourism programs in
higher education (Seyitoğlu & Yirik, 2014).
Given the important role internships have in providing practical work experiences that
support academic learning, tourism and hospitality education (THE) researchers have long
been interested in THE internships as a topic of investigation. The focus of such studies
however has changed over the last several decades. In the 1980s and 90s there was an
emphasis on procedural- and curriculum-based issues and the question of how to best
integrate internships into a higher education tourism and hospitality curriculum (Downey &
De Veau, 1987, 1988). Since the turn of the new millennium, more attention has been given
to those key components of THE internships that lead to successful outcomes, including
relationships (Chen, Ku, Shyr, Chen, & Chou, 2009; Kim & Park, 2013), stakeholder
perceptions (including students, employers, and/or educators) ( Breakey, Robinson, &
Beesley, 2008; Ko, 2008; Pang, Wong, & Wong, 2013; Tse, 2010; Yiu & Law, 2012), intern
experiences (Busby, 2003; Ruhanen, Breakey, & Robinson, 2012; Ruhanen et al., 2013); and
more recently, the impact of internships on career development/choices (Chen & Shen, 2012;
Kim & Park, 2013; Zopiatis & Theocharous, 2013). It is this last issue to which this paper
makes a contribution to the emerging literature in this area: the impacts that internships have
on participants’ career aspirations. While graduate perceptions of work in T&H are informed
by many sources (media, parents, peers etc.), and the internships cannot be considered a
panacea to all the human resource management problems the industries’ organisations
grapple with (Wong & Ko, 2009), current literature suggests “the design and implementation
of effective internship programs” (Wan et al., 2014, p. 10) is certainly a key determinant as to
whether students will commit to longer term careers in the industry.
Literature review
The influence of internship on career choices
While a number of studies have examined the influence work experiences (both structured
and unstructured) has on subsequent career choices (Brown, Arendt, & Bosselman, 2014;
Jiang & Tribe, 2009; King, McKercher, & Waryszak, 2003; Raybould & Wilkins, 2005;
Richardson, 2008, 2009, 2012; Wan et al., 2014; Waryszak, 1999), only a handful have
specifically examined how engagement in an internship experience (as opposed to other types
of work experience) may affect such choices (Chen & Shen, 2012; Kim & Park, 2013). A
small number of studies have also touched on the issue of internships and career choice as
part of a wider research project into internship experiences (Hsu, 2013; Ko, 2008; Zopiatis &
Theocharous, 2013). Yet given the ongoing problem the T&H industry experiences in
relation to attracting and retaining quality employees (Lee & Chao, 2013; Soliman, 2011),
understanding how higher education internship and/or work experiences influence T&H
student career intentions and outcomes is certainly an important issue for both industry and
universities.
Results from research across all types of work experience situations suggest that such
experiences will have a certain level of influence on whether the participant will continue to
work in the industry upon graduation from a THE-based degree. Generally, these studies
concur that if a student has a positive experience then their motivation to continue working in
the T&H industry is enhanced. Likewise, negative experiences and unmet expectations
adversely affect decisions to continue working in the industry (Barron & Maxwell, 1993;
Busby, 2003; Busby, 2005; Ko, 2008; Raybould & Wilkins, 2005; Richardson, 2008; Teng,
2008; Waryszak, 1999). More worrying for industry however, is the finding that students
become considerably less interested in selecting tourism and hospitality as their first career
choice after exposure to industry through work experience (Kim & Park, 2013; Kusluvan &
Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2009). In particular, Richardson (2008) notes that it is
incumbent upon the higher education sector to provide students with a more comprehensive and
real-world view of what working life in the industry entails.
Despite the finding that many T&H graduates decide against entering the industry due to
negative perceptions developed during work experience situations, research investigating
internships has shown this specific type of work experience provides students with many
positive outcomes. Importantly, internships play a role in improving students’ future
employment prospects by helping to better manage expectations of the workforce (Busby,
2003; Chen & Shen, 2012; Kim & Park, 2013; Lee & Chao, 2013; Zopiatis & Theocharous,
2013) as well as gain insights into the career opportunities that the industry offers (Chen &
Shen, 2012; Kim & Park, 2013; Lee & Chao, 2013; Richardson, 2012; Tse, 2010; Zopiatis,
2007; Zopiatis & Theocharous, 2013). These factors are also important from the viewpoint
that a T&H degree is not always a student’s first choice (Lu & Adler, 2009). Other positive,
albeit more general, outcomes associated with participation in an internship include:
improved self-confidence and maturity (Dickerson, 2009; Ko, 2008; Walmsley, Thomas &
Jameson, 2006); improved labour market value (Kim & Park, 2013); increased familiarity
with professional practice and the ability to remain adaptable (Busby, 2003; Kim & Park,
2013; Robinson et al., 2008); knowledge exchange and engagement (Breakey et al., 2008;
Ruhanen et al., 2012); and appropriate work placement of graduates (Zopiatis &
Theocharous, 2013). Additionally, and as noted, internships are considered to be pivotal for
influencing graduates decisions as to whether they ultimately enter the T&H workforce
(Busby, 2003; Chen & Shen, 2012; Kim & Park, 2013; Ko, 2008; Lee & Chao, 2013;
Zopiatis, 2007; Zopiatis & Theocharous, 2013).
While the learning outcomes received by students participating in an internship have received
much attention from researchers, the influence that such participation has on the subsequent
career aspirations of students has, however, received much less attention. Importantly, the
findings from the studies that have explored the issue are also mixed. Kim and Park (2013),
for example, found that after engaging in an internship, participants generally became quite
pessimistic regarding their future jobs. Yet, they also found social experiences act as a
moderating factor that could decrease negative perceptions and enhance interest in working in
the industry (Kim & Park, 2013). These authors thus warn that undergraduates’ perceptions
of career paths in the T&H industry are heavily influenced by first impressions formed during
internships and it is these impressions that may either enhance or damage the industry’s
reputation.
In examining the attributes of an internship that have the greatest effect on participants’
subsequent choice to work in the industry, Chen and Shen (2012) found two elements to be of
notable importance: quality of the internship programme planning and industry involvement.
They describe internship programme planning as the design of the program, including related
assignments and performance evaluations, as well as the support and consultation received by
the student from the university throughout the duration of the internship (Chen & Shen,
2012). Industry involvement is the assurance of a safe working environment and support
from the work placement personnel for problem resolution, on-the-job training and fair and
reasonable performance evaluations. With regard to the importance of work placement
personnel, Zopiatis and Theocharous (2013) alternatively found no causal relationships
between participants’ intention to pursue a hospitality career and the role and contribution
made by the interns’ on-the-job supervisor. These authors also found no correlation between
the benefits derived from engagement in an internship and students’ intention to pursue a
hospitality career. They did however find a positive correlation between students’ perceived
success of an internship and their future career choices, concluding that a successful
internship experience can positively influence students’ hospitality career intentions.
Similarly, Ko (2008), as part of a wider study into student satisfaction with internship
programs, found that training satisfaction influenced confidence in future career ambitions
through job satisfaction. Ko’s research showed that the two most important factors
influencing training satisfaction were those of learning and administration (i.e. internship
programme planning). As part of a wider study into job burnout, Hsu (2013) found no direct
evidence suggesting job burnout during an internship hinders students from pursuing a career
in the T&H industry. This however, is contrary to the findings of Richardson (2008), Ko
(2008) and Kang and Gould (2002).
The mixed findings regarding the influence participation in an internship may have on
students’ career perceptions and aspirations are, as Kim and Park (2013) and Zopiatis and
Theocharous (2013) rightly argue, a result of the fact that there is still relatively little
empirical research exploring this important element of education Reinforcing this, numerous
scholars (e.g. Brown et al., 2014; Chen & Shen, 2012; Gibson & Busby, 2009; Ko, 2008;
Koyuncu, Burke, Fiksenbaum, & Demirer, 2008) highlight the need for further investigation
into the efficacy of THE internship practices. From a human resource management
perspective, Kim (2014) suggests that because a large portion of employee movement is
within the industry rather than between industries, increased understanding of practicum-
based educational experiences, including internships, may deliver valuable information for
improving HRM practices within the T&H industry.
Of those studies that have investigated the effect internship experiences have on student
career choices, the focus of the majority of these has been hospitality-specific. While the
hospitality industry is closely connected to, it is at the same time distinct from, tourism -
future research needs to more fully consider tourism-specific internships. Furthermore, the
majority of the studies also adopt a quantitative approach, often using questionnaire research.
Qualitative studies therefore have a role in obtaining a richer understanding of the feelings
students hold towards the T&H industry, as well as for gaining an understanding of the effect
an internship work experience placement may have on career choices and opinions about the
industry. This paper responds to the acknowledged research gaps regarding the influence of
internships of students’ career perceptions and aspirations (e.g. Richardson, 2008, 2009)
while also expanding the research focus beyond hospitality specific investigations. The aim is
to address the issue of student commitment to THE careers by reporting on a qualitative study
of two cohorts of students who completed an internship program in Australia.
Methodology
This research specifically sought to investigate student commitment to T&H careers
following an industry internship. This study reports the findings from qualitative research
undertaken with 34 students who participated in two iterations of an internship in 2009 and
2010. The students were all completing a degree in tourism and/or hospitality at an
Australian university with various majors, including events, commercial recreation and
sports, tourism, travel and hospitality and the internships were typically undertaken in the
final year of their three year program. Approximately 120 students per year undertook one of
four work integrated learning streams, which were embedded within a professional
development class. The internship represented one of the four options, and given it provided
the opportunity for travel and in-region stays, student selection into the internship was
competitive. All students who participated in the 2009 and 2010 cohorts of the internship
participated in the research, representing a response rate of 100%. The students were a
mixture of domestic and international students (21 international and 13 domestic). While all
but two students were female, this gender bias is not unusual for the T&H industry (Gretzel
& Bowser, 2013; King et al., 2003).
The internships in which the students participated were completed in partnership with one of
six different tourism regions in Australia and had two distinct components to the experience.
First, the students undertook their internship placement at one of the host destinations over a
mid-semester university break for between eight and 10 days. This period was bookended by
a half-day ‘familiarisation’ visit prior to the internship and a presentation to the industry hosts
and other stakeholders post-internship. During the internship itself the students were ‘fully’
immersed in a destination, where they lived, while working on a nominated project for a
regional stakeholder thus interacted with the broader community. Typically, the internship
revolved around a destination management organisation (DMO) and in particular the local
tourism manager. However, several of the interns were placed with other stakeholder groups,
for example leaders of progressive small accommodation provider associations. Whether the
key contact in-region was a DMO manager or a president of a tourism-related association
their responsibilities vis-à-vis the learning and pastoral care of the students was ratified in a
‘Memorandum of Understanding’ with the university. Regardless of who the key in-region
tourism contact was the students were exposed to a wide variety of stakeholders during their
internship from the region’s mayor and/or municipal tourism councillor/s, to visitor centre
staff, transport and tour operators, accommodation providers, tourism and/or event product
and experience professionals, various enterprises connected to tourism, for example
foodservice providers, as well as the local community who were often consulted on the
research the students conducted. Second, as part of their internship, the students also
undertook a strategic research project nominated by their host region. Part of this experience
included presenting the findings of the research, once completed, at a knowledge exchange
forum in their host destination to an audience of community and academic stakeholders.
Following the placement, the students were required to complete a reflective assessment on
their internship experiences.
To investigate student commitment to T&H careers following an industry internship, the
student participants were asked to reflect on their experiences during a semi-structured
interview, which was conducted after the students had submitted their post-internship
reflective assessment. Semi-structured interviews generate rich, in-depth empirical research
data (Jennings, 2010). The interview guide was framed to explore students' career intentions,
as well as their perceptions of the industry (pre- and post-internship). All interviews were
undertaken face-to-face by a researcher who had no prior involvement with the students or
the internship program. The interviews ranged from 30 to 60 minutes in duration. Research
participants were asked to reflect on the expectations they had held with regards to
employment opportunities in the industry prior to undertaking their internship experience. To
further uncover those elements that are important to students when embarking on a new
career, participants were also asked to describe their dream job and to indicate what career-
related plans they were preparing to undertake at completion of their degree. While previous
quantitative studies have asked students to indicate, from a list of elements, those that are
important to them in a potential job (Brown et al., 2014; Hjalager, 2003; Kim et al., 2010;
Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2012), this study purposively asked participants
about their dream job and career-related plans in order to uncover those elements that they
may desire in a career but may not necessarily associate with a specific job, such as the
ability to travel. The students were then asked to reflect on if and how participation in the
internship affected their career aspirations, post-study plans and the hopes they held about
their dream job.
As qualitative research generates a significant volume of rich data, a qualitative computer
program, NVivo®, was utilised to facilitate thematic content analysis. All 34 interviews
were audio recorded and then imported and managed in NVivo® together with the
transcripts. The software enabled the systematic sorting and arranging of data so that
relationships could be examined. This analysis therefore provided a framework for
discussing the identified themes, concepts and patterns that are the basis for all qualitative
research analysis (Neuendorf, 2002). Content analysis was then used to identify and organise
the data (Krippendorff, 2004) relevant to this enquiry, to reduce and transform the data into
an accessible and understandable form, and to draw out various themes and patterns
associated with the participants being studied. Finally, thematic analysis guided by previous
research and theories, organised the data into the following key themes, in accordance with
the study’s overall aims.
Results
Career goals
To explore career intentions prior to the internship experience, the participants were asked
about their goals or reasons for undertaking a tourism and/or hospitality degree. While
considerable research has previously explored this question ( Hjalager, 2003; Jiang & Tribe,
2009; Kim et al., 2010; Richardson, 2012), the quantitative nature of previous studies means
respondents are often asked to select options from a list of choices. In this study an open
ended question was purposively used to ensure participants were not limited to a finite
number of tourism or hospitality career options. Predictably, respondents mentioned career
options that ranged from employment in event management, hospitality, tour guiding and
travel agency operations, the hotel or tourism industry, and marketing and destination
development. Real estate and property development were also mentioned. A surprising
result was that about a fifth of the respondents professed to have no career goals or
aspirations before embarking on a T&H degree. This accords with previous studies (Lu &
Adler, 2009). Indeed, Lu and Adler suggested this may be because T&H degrees can often
not be students’ first choice program. Regardless, comments included:
I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and, yeah, I just kind of was lost.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do yet - I could only think of being a tour guide or being in a
travel agency.
At face value these statements are quite astonishing. From both an industry and educator
perspective, such uncertainty begs the question as to why students choose to study a T&H
based degree over other options if they have no career aspirations related to working in the
industry. Albeit dated, research by Barron and Maxwell (1993) may shed some light on this
question. These authors found that a majority of new students in T&H courses come straight
from high school and have little, if any, real work experience. The perceptions of these
students about careers in the industry are therefore influenced by the so-called glamour of the
industry (Riley, Ladkin, & Szivas, 2002). Richardson (2009) concurs that many students
enter tourism and hospitality programs, and even internships, with no real understanding of
the types of work available in the industry and with little idea of its employment conditions.
The disconnect between classroom experiences and the reality of those in the field is starkly
evident in this data.
Expectations of T&H careers
Researchers investigating the expectations and attitudes of students embarking on a T&H-
related degree or career agree that while students often hold unrealistic or misinformed
expectations, those students who undertake work experience in the industry do hold more
realistic expectations (Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2009). Research has also
found however, that commonly these more realistic expectations lead to negative perceptions
of the industry (Barron & Maxwell, 1993; Brown et al., 2014; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000;
Richardson, 2008, 2009; Teng, 2008; Wan et al., 2014). Consistent with previous research,
this study found that students who had no work experience (mostly the Asian international
students in the sample) had relatively little knowledge about the opportunities available to
them in the T&H industry. Comments, which given the interviews were administered after
the participants had completed post-internship journaling assessment are likely influenced by
that reflection, included:
I thought that it (the industry) was only really hotels and things like that.
If you want to work in the tourism industry I think you have to work for government.
On the other hand this can be interpreted as a positive finding in that the unique nature of the
regional tourism experience, being based in a destination rather than an organisation per se,
broadened the career horizons for the interns. With regards to employment opportunities, this
study found most students felt very positive about being able to secure a job in the industry:
I thought that it would be quite easy to get an event management job especially within a hotel
even though that’s not really what I wanted to do but I thought that you could get one easily.
Employment opportunities are pretty good because tourism has been picking up in the recent
years. There’s an economic downturn and stuff but it still wasn’t a major economy risk.
While most participants were optimistic about being able to secure a job in the industry on
completion of their degree, perceptions regarding the nature of work in the industry were
mixed. Again, exposure to a range of stakeholders during the internship, while not
facilitating in-depth exposure to specific occupations or organisations, seems to have
impacted on the students’ broader environmental awareness in terms of employability. In
line with previous studies (Barron & Maxwell, 1993; Richardson, 2009) however, those
students already working in the industry or in retail-type jobs held more negative
expectations about the nature of the work in the T&H industry:
It is labour intensive. Yeah and because I came from a retail background and I think they’re
(T&H and retail) quite similar in terms of service and working hours and stuff, so I sort of
knew that a lot of times you have to be on your feet talking to people, meeting people,
repeating things.
Low pay and long hours, inflexible hours and demanding, because you have to interact with
those guests where they might not really appreciate...
Others however, held more positive views about what the work might entail, displaying the
tendency to glamorize the industry, as found previously (Riley et al., 2002):
Anything that will allow me to travel!
To get paid to travel would be nice…
Important career attribute expectations
Career aspirations extended to what attributes students believed a job in the industry could
deliver, or its affordances. Knowledge about participants’ dream jobs, as well as their post-
degree career-related plans provided further insight into the expectations they may hold about
the nature of the work they will undertake in the T&H industry. It also helps to uncover
those elements that are important to future T&H employees (students) when embarking on a
new career. The strongest theme to emerge was a desire for mobility, or to travel, and to be
able to do this as part of one’s career or further training. Comments included:
I plan to head to [a European country] to commence a yearlong internship with [a tourism
organisation].1
Travel and try and get a job with Tourism XXX and travel with my job.
The finding that travel was one of the more important factors mentioned by participants when
asked to describe their dream job and post-degree career-related plans somewhat contradicts
previous research findings (Brown et al., 2014; Richardson, 2012). This could be attributed
to the fact that while this current study uses qualitative questioning, previous studies have
used quantitative questioning to respondents to indicate, from a list, the attributes important
to them when choosing a career. It may also be the unique nature of the internship model
under investigation, which did require students to travel, and stay, in destinations.
A second clear theme to emerge with respect to participants’ dream job and post-degree
career-related plans was independence. This was expressed through the desire to own a
1 Details withheld in some quotes to preserve anonymity of individuals and organisations
business or to work in an independent manner. To date, little research has not found the
ability to work independently to be a particularly important attribute to students when
choosing a career. Comments included:
It reconfirmed my determination of one day setting up my own business in a tourism related
field.
I want to open a backpackers in Solomon Islands.
Other students indicated interests in consultancy. Comments included:
It helped me to see that I wanted to do more consultant research type work.
Hopefully get into consultancy and research after that in tourism.
While on their internships the students met a variety of stakeholders, but there were many
owners and operators of SMEs, and this may have impacted their perceptions.
Changes in career choice aspirations
To explore the impacts that internships have on students’ career aspirations, participants in
this study were asked if their career aspirations had changed as a result of undertaking the
internship. A majority of the participants agreed their career aspirations had changed
following the experience. The participants were then asked how their aspirations had
changed. While some researchers have found that students who undertake some form of
work experience are more likely to decide against entering the industry (Major & Evans,
2008; Richardson, 2008), others have found this movement is within the industry rather than
between industries (Kim, 2014). In this study, the changes in career aspirations reflected a
shift within the industry: for instance, a majority of the participants expressed a shift in focus
away from building a career in hospitality to establishing a career in tourism instead.
Comments included:
During the internship I had some experience in food and beverage and I decided that it is not
really what I want. I am looking more at the tourism sector now.
The only thing that’s actually changed is that I now want tourism to be a major part of my
career.
This finding is not surprising given the dynamic, often outdoor and mobile opportunities the
unique internship model delivered. This is perhaps in contrast to, for example, even a
traditional rotational hotel internship. Indeed, research opportunities incorporated into hotel
internships have also been proposed as a strategy to make them more rewarding experiences
(Wan et al., 2014). Finally, comments by the participants also generally confirmed results
from previous studies that have found when expectations are accurately met students have
more positive attitudes towards entering the industry (Brown et al., 2014; Kim et al., 2010;
Ko, 2008; Richardson, 20122). Comments included:
Yes, I feel more prepared. I feel more confident in presenting my ideas, and speaking up…
I experienced the real world, and realised that I need to take things step-by-step in my career.
It was good to experience the front line and customer feelings, as well as communication.
Discussion & future research
Many tourism and hospitality degrees now require students to undertake an internship as a
part of their degree program. It is therefore vital that both education providers and their
industry partners understand the impacts such experiences have on the subsequent career
goals and industry perceptions of students. In spite of the considerable amount of literature
accumulated on the subject of work experience placements, little empirical research has
explored the possible factors that may affect students’ career perceptions arising from
participation into the specific work experience situation of internships (Wan et al., 2014).
Given that research shows work experience placements are one of the most influential factors
impacting on students’ career decisions (Kim et al., 2010; Richardson, 2008), there is a
continued need to more fully understand how internship experiences shape such decisions.
This study contributes to this space. Furthermore, from an industry perspective, retaining
competent, talented employees is one of the most important challenges facing the global
T&H industry (Lee & Chao, 2013) and internships are a key factor, within the higher
educational environment’s control, potentially impacting student perceptions and career
aspirations (Wan et al., 2014). To thus maximize the ability of enhancing student T&H
career-related goals, quality internship placements need to be a priority for education
providers and industry partners. Thus in the following discussion we conclude by suggesting
the features of this internship that may be applied to more conventional placement models.
A key finding from this study, which concurs with that reported in previous research, is that
many students embark on a T&H program of study despite having vague career aspirations
related to working in the industry (Lu & Adler, 2009). A potential problem arising from this
situation is the expectation gap (Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000) that may occur as students
embark on a degree with no real commitment to a career in tourism or hospitality (Koyuncu
et al., 2008). To thus manage expectations and influence aspirations of potential students,
education providers and industry partners need to work towards better informing potential
T&H students about the opportunities available and employment conditions that can be
expected. Such education needs to begin before students embark on a degree. Richardson
(2009) agrees that all potential T&H students should be given an extensive overview of not
only the types of careers available in the industry, but also the working conditions on offer,
including pay levels, promotion opportunities and career paths. Kusluvan and Kusluvan
(2000) suggest that giving potential students realistic information will enhance the potential
that those students will form more realistic expectations about the industry. Such information
may be provided through open days or information sessions provided jointly by education
providers and industry within an industry setting.
A contribution from this study is the finding that two commonly mentioned attributes that
participants related to their dream job and/or post-degree career-related plans were the ability
to travel and to work in an independent manner. Compared to previous research this is a
reasonably novel finding and therefore one that needs to be explored further. It may be
suggested that this finding differs from previous studies due to the qualitative nature of this
study and the different way in which respondents were asked to consider those attributes
important in their career choices. Furthermore, the research participants were a mixture of
both hospitality and tourism students, while in most previous studies the participants have
been exclusively hospitality students. How a student’s study major affects their career
expectations and perceptions was not explored in this study and is certainly an interesting
topic for future research.
As mentioned, while the ability to travel as part of one’s job has not previously emerged as a
particularly important career attribute, Hjalager (2003) did find that slightly less than a third
of their research participants considered the opportunity to engage in an international career
as a bonus. In this current study many participants mentioned the desire to travel as part of
their future employment and for some this included the desire to partake in further paid work-
experience in the form of an industry-lead internship in a foreign location. For those
graduates who undertake an overseas internship, research has shown they enhance their
employability through the development of more refined cross-cultural competencies and
management skills, including more sophisticated communication skills (van't Klooster et al.,
2008). In an era where globalisation means cultural interactions have become more frequent
and intense, such international experiences undoubtedly improve participants’ future
marketability and ability to deal with a wide range of global issues.
The ability to work independently in one’s own business or in consultancy-type work is
another career attribute that emerged as important to participants in this study. Again, while
it is an attribute that has not previously emerged as particularly significant, notwithstanding
recent studies (see Soliman, 2011; Seyitoğlu & Yirik, 2014), Hjalager (2003, p. 29) did find
just over 40% of respondents considered the ability “to make decisions and to work
independently” as an important feature of a future job. Given a large portion of the current
generation of university students exhibit the characteristics of self-reliance and independence
(Chen & Choi, 2008; Richardson, 2012), it is somewhat surprising that the ability to work
independently has not emerged as more important career attribute in previous studies. Future
research could explore further into what independence in a career means to the current
generation of future T&H employees. Researchers and industry alike need to also consider
how future employees of larger T&H enterprises may be given independence in their roles to
thus provide these employees with a sense of self-reliance.
The implementation of strategies that enable T&H enterprises to maintain competent
employees is one the most important challenges facing the industry globally (Lee & Chao,
2013). Undoubtedly, the experiences students have while undertaking an industry internship
are an integral component to the industry’s ability to attract and maintain competent
employees as the perceptions developed during an internship ultimately shape participants’
commitment to pursuing a career in the industry (Kim & Park, 2013; Richardson, 2012;
Wong & Ko, 2009). Indeed, this study supports the findings from previous research that
show when expectations are met during an internship experience, then the student
participants have more positive attitudes towards entering and developing a career in the
industry. In recognising how a student’s internship experience can affect his or her
perceptions of and choices with regards to the industry, this study found that participants’
career aspirations did change following the experience. A positive finding for the T&H
industry as a whole is that the internship experience strengthened participants’ resolve to
pursue a career in tourism or hospitality. Within the industry however, the findings were less
positive for hospitality enterprises with the majority of participants switching their goals
away from pursuing a career in hospitality in favour of developing a career in tourism. While
the reasons students majoring in hospitality develop unfavourable perceptions of the
hospitality industry are well addressed in the literature (Chen & Shen, 2012; Kim & Park,
2013; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2008; Zopiatis, 2007), there is little research
specifically examining students’ perceptions regarding careers in the tourism industry
(Busby, 2003). Given the findings from this study that students are swayed away from
hospitality towards pursuing a career in tourism following an internship, future research
needs to investigate those aspects of the tourism industry that students are finding more
appealing. It would also be worthwhile examining the expectations and perceptions that
students majoring in tourism hold about the tourism industry.
An important caveat to acknowledge regarding the findings of this study is that the internship
the students undertook was quite dissimilar to the traditional placement whereby they are
placed within organisations, typically accommodation or travel (Seyitoğlu & Yirik, 2014),
and even single departments within these organisations (Yiu & Law, 2012). Moreover,
internships often consist of longer periods of placement, for example over a semester or
summer break (Busby et al., 1997). Thus aspects of the implications of this study may be
somewhat moderated in these traditional conditions. For example the interns in this study
were influenced by the dynamism of the sector that they were exposed to, in contrast to the
monotony of tasks sometimes inherent to ‘set posts’ (Yiu & Law, 2012). In the internship
subject to this investigation students encountered a variety of stakeholders within a
destination, in particular SME owners and operators, who would not normally have the
capacity to host interns under traditional models. Moreover, students undertook research
projects, mooted as a way to enhance internships (Wan et al., 2014) but not necessarily
common within traditional models. Nonetheless, it is clear to imagine that several of the
unique properties of this internship model could be incorporated, at least in part, to augment
traditional models and thus facilitate students with the broader career aspirations this study
reports.
Conclusions
Through a qualitative examination of students’ career goals and aspirations and the influence
that engagement in an internship may have on those goals, this study has contributed to
knowledge in the area of industry placements in the T&H industry. While this study
generated some novel findings related to the influence participation in an internship may have
on students’ career aspirations, it also raised a number of questions that need to be more fully
investigated through further research. Foremost, was that students seemed to shift their
career aspirations from seeking opportunities in hospitality occupations, for example in hotels
or foodservice, to broader tourism pursuits. It seems this may have been partially motivated
by the affordances of perceived mobility, in terms of travel, that tourism careers might
deliver, although this may have been influenced by the unique regional destination nature of
the internship that was the subject of this investigation. Key amongst the results was also the
finding that an aspiration of students was to seek entrepreneurial business opportunities, one
that seems to be corroborated by only few recent studies to date (e.g. Soliman, 2011;
Seyitoğlu & Yirik, 2014). Most notably, there is an evident lack of research investigating
tourism-specific internships as opposed to hospitality-specific internships. Given the strong
shift observed in this study related to students changing their career aspirations away from
hospitality and towards tourism following their engagement in an internship, more research is
needed to understand those aspects of a T&H internship that make the tourism industry
become more appealing and the hospitality industry less so. A more in-depth understanding
may thus serve to enhance the ability of hospitality enterprises to design internship programs
that more effectively boost the industry’s reputation. Closely linked is the parallel
exploration of how a student’s study major (i.e. hospitality major versus tourism major) may
also affect their career expectations and perceptions.
As with other studies, this study is not without limitations. First, the sample size is modest
and limited to T&H students from one Australian institution. Moreover, although there are
internships of varying typologies and duration, it is acknowledged that the variant
investigated in this study is quite unique and short in nature such that caution should be taken
when generalising career impacts on students undertaking internships defined by other
parameters. Future studies could expand the sample, applying the same research to other
contexts to thus add further insights into this research area. Second, it is suggested future
studies pay more attention to selecting a sample of students whose major are either tourism or
hospitality and not a combination of the two in order to more fully explore the effects of a
student’s study major on their career aspirations after undertaking an internship, and being
attentive to matching majors with sectors to more accurately determine aspirations related to
the context of their studies. In this current research the student participants were studying
various majors, including events, commercial recreation and sports, tourism, travel and/or
hospitality. Future studies should also distinguish between hospitality-specific internships and
tourism-specific internships to thus examine more fully the influence of the industry context.
Finally, internships are only one of many factors that might influence the career aspirations of
students (Wan et al., 2014), but the nature of internships is firmly within the remit of higher
education providers to influence, and as such this study takes a step forward in that direction.
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