career and internship aspirations

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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276859568 Tourism and hospitality internships: influences on student career aspirations Article in Current Issues in Tourism · March 2015 DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2015.1020772 CITATION 1 READS 928 3 authors: Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Special Issue, Journal of Sustainable Tourism View project Enabling exits from disadvantage for youth via gaining and sustaining meaningful hospitality employment View project Richard N. S. Robinson University of Queensland 60 PUBLICATIONS 308 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Lisa Ruhanen University of Queensland 103 PUBLICATIONS 698 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Noreen Breakey University of Queensland 42 PUBLICATIONS 133 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Richard N. S. Robinson on 19 February 2016. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are added to the original document and are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately.

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Seediscussions,stats,andauthorprofilesforthispublicationat:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276859568

Tourismandhospitalityinternships:influencesonstudentcareeraspirations

ArticleinCurrentIssuesinTourism·March2015

DOI:10.1080/13683500.2015.1020772

CITATION

1

READS

928

3authors:

Someoftheauthorsofthispublicationarealsoworkingontheserelatedprojects:

SpecialIssue,JournalofSustainableTourismViewproject

Enablingexitsfromdisadvantageforyouthviagainingandsustainingmeaningfulhospitality

employmentViewproject

RichardN.S.Robinson

UniversityofQueensland

60PUBLICATIONS308CITATIONS

SEEPROFILE

LisaRuhanen

UniversityofQueensland

103PUBLICATIONS698CITATIONS

SEEPROFILE

NoreenBreakey

UniversityofQueensland

42PUBLICATIONS133CITATIONS

SEEPROFILE

AllcontentfollowingthispagewasuploadedbyRichardN.S.Robinsonon19February2016.

Theuserhasrequestedenhancementofthedownloadedfile.Allin-textreferencesunderlinedinblueareaddedtotheoriginaldocument

andarelinkedtopublicationsonResearchGate,lettingyouaccessandreadthemimmediately.

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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