Student career prospect and industry commitment: The roles of
industry attitude, perceived social status, and salary expectations
Yim King Penny Wan * , IpKin Anthony Wong 1 , Weng Hang Kong 2 Institute for Tourism Studies, Colina de Mong-Ha, Macao h i g h l i g h t s Perceived work nature has no signicant relationship with career prospects. Work nature is a signicant factor contributing to the perceived social status. Social status has an effect on the students perceptions of the career prospects. Perceived career prospects determines students commitment to the industry. Moderating effects of salary on industry commitment is not signicant. a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 28 June 2012 Accepted 7 May 2013 Keywords: Career prospects Employment intention Salary expectations Student Tourism Hospitality a b s t r a c t This study examines the effects of students perceptions of the nature and social status of work in the tourism and hospitality industries, and of their salary expectations, on their attitudes toward career prospects and employment intention. Results based on a sample of tourism and hospitality students in a major Asia Pacic travel destination indicated that the perceived nature of the work had no signicant relationship with career prospects; however, nature of the work was a signicant factor contributing to the perceived social status of the industry. In addition, social status had an effect on the students per- ceptions of the career prospects, and perceived career prospects was a signicant determinant to stu- dents commitment to the industry. The author further explores the moderating effect of salary expectation and discusses theoretical and practical implications of the results. Findings of this study provide a fuller understanding of industry commitment and its antecedents. 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The tourism and hospitality industries worldwide have been confronted with the problem of attracting and retaining quality employees, which has led to a shortage of skilled employees to staff the ever-growing number of hospitality businesses (Baum, 2006; Richardson, 2010). There are many factors contributing to the problem, and negative disposition toward the industries is one of them. The industries have a poor reputation due mainly to the low nancial compensation, unsociable working hours, menial work, and limited opportunities for career progression. Low job satisfaction and high turnover rate are often the result (Roney & ztin, 2007). To attract and retain employees, it is essential to un- derstand their attitudes toward and perceptions of the industries (Richardson, 2009, 2008). Having understood students attitudes toward the industries also provides hospitality and tourismrms with better insights into how to cultivate an enthusiastic workforce, which is considered vital to any rms to gain in competitiveness (Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2010). The tourism and hospitality industries require frequent and intense face-to-face interactions or encoun- ters between the service providers and customers. Customers often judge the quality of service of a hospitality rmbased on the service encounter. Employees who have positive attitudes toward the in- dustries and their jobs are more likely to deliver better service and performance, resulting in greater customer satisfaction and loyalty (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2006). Furthermore, students need to have more reasonable expectations of the industries and their future jobs and careers because this helps enhance their job satis- faction and lower the turnover rate in hospitality and tourismrms (Aycan & Fikret-Pasa, 2003; Wan & Kong, 2012). Knowing the * Corresponding author. Tel.: 853 85982175; fax: 853 28838320. E-mail addresses: pennywan@ift.edu.mo (Y.K. Penny Wan), anthonywong@ ift.edu.mo (I.A. Wong), frances@ift.edu.mo (W.H. Kong). 1 Tel.: 853 8506 1360 (ofce); fax: 853 8506 1283. 2 Tel.: 853 85983082; fax: 853 85061283. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Tourism Management j ournal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ t ourman 0261-5177/$ e see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2013.05.004 Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 values and expectations of students allows hospitality and tourism programs and faculty to guide them into right employment set- tings and this will ensure personeorganizational t (Aycan & Fikret-Pasa, 2003, p. 142). In sum, having a good understanding of students perceptions of the industries and the factors that shape their perceptions is crucial for the industries, individual rms, students and hospitality programs and faculty members. A majority of the career literature in hospitality focuses on exploring students general attitudes toward the industries, their career prospects, and their intention to enter the industries upon graduation (Aksu & Kksal, 2005; Barron & Maxwell, 1993; Jenkins, 2001; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2008; Roney & ztin, 2007). Others focus on how different variables such as gender, work experience, year of study, and inuences of friends and family members could affect students perceptions of and at- titudes toward the industries and their career intention and commitment (Barron & Maxwell, 1993; Chuang & Jenkins, 2010; Jenkins, 2001; OLeary & Deegan, 2005; Roney & ztin, 2007; Wan & Kong, 2012, 2011; Wong & Liu, 2010). There are studies that investigate the effects of work value on students career expecta- tions, goals and choices (Chen & Choi, 2008; Chen, Chu, & Wu, 2000; Pizam & Lewis, 1979; Wong & Liu, 2010). Yet, little research has been conducted to understand the effect and consequence of students industry intention and commitment (Jenkins, 2001). A nomological network that explores the direct, indirect, and moderating effects of different variables on students industry intention and commitment is lacking. Previous studies in other elds have separately discussed the relationships between the perceived nature of work and social status (Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000), between perceived social status and career prospects (Sandiford & Seymour, 2010), between perceived career prospects and employment intention (Sennett, 1998), and nally between salary expectation and students career aspirations and choice (Richardson, 2009; Ricrardson & Butler, 2012). It is imperative to understand how different factors come into play to shape students career prospects and commitment to these industries. The objective of this study therefore is to explore the direct, indirect, and moderating effects of different variables on students industry intention and commitment. More specically, it in- vestigates the factors shaping students perceptions toward the hospitality and tourism industries and their career intention (i.e., industry commitment) by comprehensively examining the roles played by students perceptions of the nature of work in the in- dustries, perceived social status, and salary expectations. We believe that the ndings will be able to contribute to the literature by providing a more thorough understanding of how different factors come into play to shape students career prospects and commitment to the tourismand hospitality industries. Tourismand hospitality educators could acquire more information to guide students into appropriate employment settings and ensure a good personeorganization t (Aycan & Fikret-Pasa, 2003). 2. Literature review 2.1. Job nature and social status Social status is a unit of the social system. An individual obtains it within a group (Vecchio, 1992). Social status is also related to the kind of relation that a society makes with an employee, an em- ployees personality and occupation, job complexity and re- sponsibility, and the attitude of people in society regarding the employees status (Parcel & Mueller, 1983; Spaeth, 1977; Vecchio, 1992; Walsh, 1982). Social status could be acquired through the characteristics that an employee is born with (such as family name, race and wealth) and by what he/she can obtain and achieve (in terms of education, occupation, job title and nature of work) (Rostamy, Hosseini, Azar, Khaef-Elahi, & Hassanzadeh, 2008). Based on Kusluvan and Kusluvans (2000) denition, social status can be evaluated by whether an individual has pride in his/her career, if family members are proud of the job that he/she is taking, and if the job is perceived as a respected and an important occupation in the society. Several reports have recorded the relationship between the nature of a job and social status. There are studies that show the importance of job status congruence; a match between what workers prefer (e.g., autonomy or work interest) and what orga- nizations offer (e.g., status) to employees job satisfaction, organi- zational commitment and retention (Creed & Saporta, 2004; Holtom, Lee, & Tidd, 2002; Rostamy et al., 2008). Weaver (2009) conducted face-to-face interviews with the recent graduates of a universitys tourism management program in New Zealand and found that graduates regard the nature and content of the work as key attributes of a good hospitality job; interesting and challenging jobs can even overshadow the perceived weaknesses of the in- dustry image and status. A similar nding is reported in the study by Lai, Chan, and Lam (2012: p. 6). It concluded that casino dealers who perceive their occupations to have high status might shift their attention toward the positive aspects of their jobs. The study of Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000) reported the perceptions of under- graduate tourism students toward working in the tourism industry inTurkey. Their ndings indicated a signicant correlation between students perceptions of the nature of work in the tourism industry and of its perceived social status. Singh and Kaur (2009) examined the factors affecting job satisfaction and their impact on the overall job satisfaction level of Universal bank employees in India. They found that having a good supervisor contributed signicantly to employees overall satisfaction. In particularly, employees expressed that good projects that were assigned by their supervi- sors enhanced their image, prestige and status in the organization. Other studies show that if the nature of a job is interesting, em- ployees are likely to enjoy their jobs better and have a sense of pride about what they do, hence enhancing their perceptions of social status (Chuang, Yin, & Dellmann-Jenkins, 2009; Hancer & George, 2003). Based on the above discussion, it can be reason- ably assumed that the perceived nature of the work can be a good determinant of students perceived social status of the tourism and hospitality industries. 2.2. Job nature and career prospects The perceived nature of the work is also related to career prospects. Career prospects often depend on ones perceptions of the job and the industry (Richardson, 2008), which is often evalu- ated based on several factors such as rewards, advancement, pro- motion and chance of good careers (Duignan & Iaquinto, 2005). In the tourism and hospitality contexts, Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000) denes career prospects as consisting of the attributes related to ones perceptions of the promotion opportunities given in the industry, the money that one could earn when comparing other jobs within the same sector (i.e., hospitality) and other sec- tors, whether the advantages of working in the industry outweigh the disadvantages, and whether studying at university is a correct investment in career development. A number of studies have reported a correlation between the nature of the work and perceived career prospects (Connell & Burgess, 2006; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2008; Stahl, Miller, &Tung, 2002; Wan & Kong, 2012). OLeary and Deegan (2005) examine the tourism graduates perceptions of their career progress in Ireland and nd that several attributes of work in the tourism industry, such as long hours and unsociable work, lack of Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 2 personal interest in the job, and unchallenging jobs have inhibited graduates career progression and development. The theory of psychological contracts could help explain this phenomenon. Psy- chological contracts refers to the set of expectations held by the individual employee which species what the individual and the organization expect to give to and receive from each other in the course of their working relationship (Maguire, 2002, p. 167). Graduates often nd it difcult to develop positive psychological contracts, in that they cannot convince themselves to engage in a job that requires long working hours which is also uninteresting for the sake of career advancement (Kelley-Patterson & George, 2001, p. 316). Stahl et al. (2002) surveyed 494 German expatriate managers on assignment to 59 countries, and nd that there is correlation be- tween the perceived impact of an international assignment on career development and advancement. The majority of expatriates view their international assignment as an opportunity for personal and professional development and career advancement. Thus, a challenging and interesting job has effects on their perceived career prospects. Connell and Burgess (2006) examined career prospects in Australia and reported that offering promising interesting as- signments and more learning opportunities on jobs were main tactics of rms to overcome part-time employees feeling of job insecurity and give them a perception of better career prospects. Therefore we can conclude that the nature of the work is directly related to the perceived career prospects. Employees who have a negative perception of the nature of the work would develop a negative perception toward the career prospects, and vice versa. 2.3. Social status and perceived career prospects The perceived social status of an industry is related to the perceived career prospects. Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000) have reported a signicant correlation between students perceived status in the tourism industry and the perceived career prospects. They nd that students who have positive perceptions of the job status of an industry have perceived positively the career prospects of the industry. The nature of tourism and hospitality jobs, with their low pay and unsociable working hours, seasonality, low skill requirements, and poor physical working environment often lead to a poor image of the tourism industry (Roney & ztin, 2007). The relationship between job status and career prospects is also supported by Sandiford and Seymours (2010) study. They inter- viewbar workers in the UK and nd that respondents perceive that working at a bar has a higher status than other jobs because it provides better career prospects in terms of better work content, more chances to work for the positions that they like and better income. Zhao and Zhou (2008) examine career development and choices in Taiwan and also report that job status plays an important role in shaping ones perceived future prospects of career advancement (i.e., promotion) and ones decision on job commit- ment or turnover. An individual who is aware of the social and organizational importance and necessity of ones work usually makes a greater effort to fulll the job requirements and increase work productivity because of his/her positive perception of the career prospects (Tittel, 1976). Other studies have also acknowledged that perceived external prestige and social status leads to employees affective commit- ment, citizenship behavior, and more importantly their pleasant affective state in the workplace (Carmeli, 2005; Herrbach & Mignonac, 2004). Such prestige and social status portrays a posi- tive image to the employee with reference to the organization or industry they are currently engaged in. In fact, the literature also acknowledges the association between organizations that practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) and image boosting. CSR refers to the status and activities of an organization with respect to its perceived societal obligations (Brown & Dacin, 1997). It involves an integration of environmental, social, economic and ethical consid- erations into business strategies and practices (Jones, Hillier, & Comfort, 2009). Some of the good practices in the area include donating funds to help the poor and adopting measures to reduce environmental pollution (Jones et al., 2009). Companies that execute CSR activities could end up having a better corporate image in the society, with their employees holding a better self-image in the society and becoming more loyal (Collier & Esteban, 2007; Turker, 2009). 2.4. Career prospects and industry commitment The perception of good career prospects often leads to higher industry commitment. Unfortunately, many students have a nega- tive perception of the career prospects of the tourism and hospi- tality industries, which leads to their low intention to join these industries (Wan & Kong, 2012). Jenkins study (2001) reveals that less than half of the hospitality students in Leeuwarden (44 percent) and Hudderseld (45 percent) express that they would seek employment in the hospitality industry after graduation. The absence of motivating factors such as high pay and promotion opportunities are some of the major reasons. Richardson (2008) study concludes that pay, promotion op- portunities and the relationship between students and their man- agers are the key areas that the industry must work on to ensure students have positive perceptions while they work during their degree, in order to encourage higher intention to commit to the tourism industry. Sennett (1998) also argues that career prospect attributes such as present-day work arrangements promote a short-term, opportunistic outlook among employees, which may undermine loyalty, trust, and long-term commitment. The relationship between the perceived career prospects and industry commitment can also be explained by the prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). According to this theory, decision- making of an employee in uncertain environments is largely determined by whether decision-makers frame decision choices as gains (and hence seek riskier courses of action) or losses (and hence avoid risky courses of action). Frame of reference, therefore, forms the internal standard against which individuals evaluate options or current status. For example, an individual may evaluate his/her job based on his/her own reference points concerning what he/she considers to be appropriate levels of salary, autonomy, or career prospects. Thus, if an individual places high value on career pros- pects offered by the industry that he/she engages in, he/she will be more likely to showhigher intention to commit to the industry that provides better career prospects. It can be assumed that career prospects can be proposed as a determinant of students intention to commit to the hospitality and tourism industries. 2.5. The moderating effects of salary expectations Previous research also reveals that outcome expectations affect career choices and goals (Betz & Voyten, 1997; Chuang et al., 2009; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). Outcome expectations could include both the intrinsic (e.g., praise and recognition) and extrinsic (e.g., salary and bonus) rewards (Lent et al., 1994). They are what the career choices and goals are based on (Chuang et al., 2009). If students perceive that the industry offers rewards and incentives that they desire, they may be more likely to pursue a job in that industry and demonstrate stronger career intentions and commit- ment to it (Chuang et al., 2009). The relationship between outcome expectations and career choices can also be explained by the notion of work values. The Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 3 work values scale generally embodies two value domains: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic values are those inherent in the work ac- tivity (e.g., achievement, creativity, altruism), while extrinsic values are the rewards from work such as income or prestige (e.g., way of life, security), and social or environmental value (e.g., surroundings, associates, supervisory relations) (Chen et al., 2000). Researches show that work values have a relationship with vocational choice (Super, 1973) and with work motivation, job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Elizur & Koslowsky, 2001; Mellahi, 2001). Work values are the underlying preferences and beliefs that should be satised in peoples career choices (Mok, Pine, & Pizam, 1998). In the theory of occupational psychology, work values are a key component that drives individuals to seek a certain kind of job or work environment (Ben-Shem& Avi-Itzhak, 1991). An individual tends to choose an occupation that is congruent with his/her work values. These ndings are also in line with the work in organizational behavior studies (Ashforth & Mael, 1989) in that congruency between organization and employee reduces work conict, enhances job satisfaction, and hence facilitates employee commitment. For instance, Mok and Finley (1986) surveyed 373 Hong Kong food service workers and reported that over 53 percent of them ranked pay as the most important aspect of their job. In another study, Mok et al. (1998) reported that Chinese hotel managers perceived maintaining good working relationships with superiors and peers and having good monetary rewards as two of the most important work values. Both of these studies point out that higher pay was a key driver for the respondents in job searching. Higher salary is able to increase their industry commitment because of the perceived career prospects provided. Based on the literature mentioned above, it can be reasonably assumed that the expected salary of an individual provides him/her an internal guideline or drive for career choice and goal. An indi- vidual who has high salary expectationwill look for a job that offers higher social status and better career prospects and commit to it, in order to be congruent with his/her work values. Salary expectation, therefore, acts as a moderator between social status and career prospects and between career prospects and industry commitment. Based on the forgoing literature review, six hypotheses are formed: Hypothesis 1: Perceived nature of work in the tourism and hospitality industries is related to perceived social status. Hypothesis 2: Perceived nature of work in the tourism/hospi- tality industry is related to career prospects. Hypothesis 3: Perceived social status is related to career prospects. Hypothesis 4: Career prospects is positively related to commitment to the tourism and hospitality industries. Hypothesis 5: The relationship between perceived social status and career prospects is moderated by salary expectation in that the relationship should be stronger for high salary expectation. Hypothesis 6: The relationship between career prospects and industry commitment is moderated by salary expectation in that the relationship should be stronger for high salary expectation. Fig. 1 presents the framework for this study. 3. Method 3.1. Sample Prior to data collection, the questionnaire was pilot tested. Based on inputs from the respondents, minor changes in wording were made. Data for the main study were collected by means of a self- administered survey at two major universities in Macau, China. A self-administered survey was adopted in the study in order to avoid interviewer bias and thus provide more valid responses. The data collection procedure was carried out in two steps. First, we randomly selected a tourism or hospitality program from each participating university. To better represent the student population, we selected an approximately equal number of freshman (year 1), sophomore (year 2), junior (year 3), and senior (year 4) students from each program. Second, we invited students from each of the selected program to complete the questionnaire. A total of 236 students participated in the survey and 205 of them completed the survey, which corresponds to a response rate of 86.8%. Of the respondents, 60% were tourism majors and 40% were hospitality majors; 63% were females while 37% were males. In regard to their working experience, 47% had worked in the industry for six months or less while 24% had worked in the industry for six to twelve months; however, the majority of them (78%) were not currently employed in companies relating to their eld of study. 3.2. Measures The survey questionnaire contained several scales of interest. They were assessed by a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) unless otherwise specied. Furthermore, the data did not contain any missing values; hence, Note: dash lines indicate moderating effects. Perceived Social Status Positive status Negative status Control Variables Gender Year of study Work experience Salary expectation H1 H2 Perceived Nature of Work Job interest Career prospects Industry commitment H3 H4 H5 H6
Fig. 1. Research framework.
Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 4 no data imputation was needed. Appendixes A, B, and C present the descriptive statistics, covariance matrix, and statement of the items used in the study, respectively. Perceived nature of the work. Perceived nature of the work as- sesses students perception about the nature of work in tourism and hospitality industries in respect to their eld of study. We adopted 12 items from Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000). We vali- dated the scale through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal component extraction and promax rotation methods as well as conrmatory factor analysis (EFA). Results from EFA showa three-factor solution. However, only the rst factor is able to ach- ieve the adequate scale consistency (Cronbachs alpha .77) while the alphas of the other two factors fall belowthe .70 recommended threshold. Hence, the two other factors are removed from further analysis. The extracted factor contains four items germane to perceived job interest with respect to the nature of work in the in- dustry (see Table 1). The measurement model reveals excellent t, with comparative t index (CFI) 1.00, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) .00, and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) .01. Perceived social status. This construct assesses the perceived so- cial status of the tourism and hospitality industries among the students surveyed. Six items are taken from Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000) and Wan and Kong (2011). We validated the 6-item scale through both EFAand CFAas mentioned above. The results indicated a two-factor solution with four items converging onto the positive social status factor and two items converging onto the negative social status factor (see Table 1). The reliability statistics of both factors are adequate (alpha > .70). The measurement model shows a good t with the data: CFA 1.00, RMSEA .03, and SRMR .03. Career prospects. Career prospects assess students perceptions of the industries after they graduate from their corresponding tourism or hospitality program. We adopted 10 items from Wan and Kong (2011). We validated the scale using both EFA and CFA. Results from EFA reveal a three-factor solution. Because only one of the three factors maintained scale reliability above the recommend threshold, the other two factors were not included in subsequent analysis. The retained factor contains ve items with alpha .73 (see Table 1). The statistical t of the measurement model is adequate: CFA .98, RMSEA .08, and SRMR .05. Salary expectation and industry commitment. Salary expectation denes the salary students expected for the rst job they obtained after graduation. The construct was assessed by a six-point single- item scale ranging from USD 625e1250 to USD > 3125. Industry commitment measures students intention to work in the corre- sponding tourism or hospitality industry after they graduated. We adopted a single item from Richardson (2008) (Do you intend to work in _______ after graduation?). A 5-point semantic differential scale ranging from 1 (denitely not) to 5 (denitely) was used to assess the item. Control variables. In their research framework, Wan and Kong (2011) propose that gender, work experience, and year of study may inuence students industry commitment. As a result, these three variables were controlled in this study. Multicollinearity diagnostic. We diagnosed for multicollinearity based on the variance ination factor (VIF). Our results show that Table 1 Scale items for perceived nature of the work, social status, and career prospects. Scale items Pattern coefcient g Cronbachs alpha Composite reliability Perceived nature of work (job interest) 2.39 .77 .78 Jobs in the industry are interesting .77 There are always new things to learn each day .78 Jobs in the _______ industry are challenging .75 Meeting new people by working in the ______ industry is a pleasant experience .79 CFI 1.00, RMSEA .00, SRMR .01 Total variance explained 59.67% Perceived social status (positive status) 2.30 .73 .74 My family is proud of my job in _______ .69 _______ is a respected occupation .80 _______ is an important job in our society .73 I have pride in my career in _______ .77 Perceived social status (negative status) 1.70 .79 .82 ______ staff are not valuable to the society .90 ______ jobs are immoral and dirty .92 CFI 1.00, RMSEA .03, SRMR .03 Total variance explained 66.64% Career prospects 2.43 .73 .73 Promotion opportunities are satisfactory in the ________ .50 To study _______ at the university level is a correct investment in career development .72 One can make good money by working in the ________ .84 One can make more money in the _______ than in other sectors .77 In general, the advantages of working in the _______ outweigh the disadvantages .61 CFI .98, RMSEA .08, SRMR .05 Total variance explained 48.49% Note: all other pattern coefcients are below .40 and are not reported. g eigenvalue. CFI comparative t index, RMSEA root mean square error of approximation, SRMR standardized root mean square residual. Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 5 multicollinearity is not a problem in this study, as the VIF was below 2.0. 4. Findings Table 2 presents zero-order correlations among the construct of interest. We investigated the hypotheses proposed in Fig. 1 using LISREL 8.8. Hypotheses 1e3 propose a relationship between perceived nature of the work and career prospects through the partial mediation of perceived social status. We tested the three hypotheses and the mediating effect of perceived social status in Models 1e3 by following the procedure of Baron and Kenny (1986). Results from Model 3 show that perceived nature of the work (job interest) is signicantly related to positive perceived social status (PPSS; b .70, p <.001), but not related to negative perceived social status (NPSS; b .07, n.s.). The results partially support Hypoth- esis 1. Model 3 also reveals a direct and signicant relationship between perceived social status and career prospects in that PPSS is positively related to the career prospects (b .73, p < .001) but NPSS is negatively related to this criterion variable (b .45, p < .001), in support of Hypothesis 3. Results from Model 1 and 3 further reveal that the effect of perceived nature of the work (job interest) is fully mediated by PPSS in that the effect diminishes after controlling for perceived social status. The results fail to support Hypothesis 2. Hypothesis 4 postulates a direct relationship be- tween career prospects and industry commitment. We tested this hypothesis in Model 4. The results show that the relationship is signicant (b .37, p < .001), in support of Hypothesis 4 (Tables 3 and 4). Hypothesis 5 proposes that the relationship between perceived social status and career prospects is moderated by students salary expectation. Model 5 examined the moderating effect of salary expectation. The ndings indicate that the PPSS salary expecta- tion interaction term (b .14, p < .05) and the NPSS salary expectation interaction term(b .11, p <.10) are both signicant, in support of Hypothesis 5. Salary expectation is also signicantly related to career prospects (b .20, p < .01). The results suggest that while salary expectation improves students perceptions of their career prospects, the positive effect of PPSS is more pro- nounced for students with high salary expectation, while the negative effect of NPSS is less pronounced for students with high salary expectation. To illustrate the moderating effect graphically, we followed Aiken and West (1991) and dened the moderator as high and low salary expectation by plus and minus one standard deviation from the mean (see Fig. 2a and b). Hypothesis 6 proposes that the relationship between career prospects and industry commitment is moderated by students salary expectation. Model 5 further reveals that the career prospects salary expectation interaction is signicant (b .18, p < .01) while the direct effect of salary expectation on industry commitment is not signicant (b .08, n.s.). The results fail to support Hypothesis 6. Fig. 3 graphically depicts the negative interaction term and suggests that the effect of career prospects is more salient for students with low salary expectation than those with high salary expectation. This nding may be counterintuitive as it implies that students who have high career prospects in their eld of study are more likely to commit to the tourism and hospi- tality industries; however, this relationship is less salient when they have a high salary expectation. Likewise, students who have low career prospects are less likely to commit to the industry per- taining to their eld of study; however, this relationship is more salient for those who have a low salary expectation. This nding may be attributed to the fact that students acknowledge that if they expect a high salary, they may have to nd jobs in other industries (e.g., the government, which often offers signicantly better salary to new employees than the tourism and hospitality industries (Statistics and Census Service [DSEC], 2012)), as we will further discuss in the section that follows. In addition, results fromModel 5 show signicant effects of the three control variables emanating onto industry commitment. The ndings show that the gender ef- fect is negative (b .15, p < .05), suggesting that female students are less likely to commit to the industry of their eld of study than their male counterparts. The negative effect of year of study (b .12, p < .10) indicates that the more senior students are less likely to nd jobs in the industries pertaining to their eld of study. Finally, students who were currently working in the industry per- taining to their eld of study while this research was conducted were signicantly more likely to continue to work in that industry (b .19, p < .01). We further examined the indirect effect of perceived nature of the work (job interest) emanating onto the criterion variables. The results show that it exercises a signicant indirect effect on both career prospects (b .48, p < .001) and industry commitment (b .21, p < .001) (see Model 5). The indirect effects of PPSS (b .26, p < .001) and NPSS (b .24, p < .001) emanating onto industry commitment are both signicant. In sum, all ve models reveal adequate t with c 2 /df 2.0, CFI .94, RMSEA .07, and SRMR .08. The nal model is able to explain a good portion of the variance of PPSS (R 2 .56), career prospects (R 2 .79), and industry commitment (R 2 .25), but not NPSS (R 2 .01). 5. Discussion This study examines the roles played by students perceptions of the nature of the work, perceived social status, and salary expec- tation on their attitudes toward the tourism and hospitality in- dustries and their career intention (i.e., industry commitment). The results present a nomological network of relationships among these constructs and show the direct and indirect effects of the perceived nature of the work and social status, as well as the Table 3 Parameter estimates of the direct effects. Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Career prospect PPSS NPSS Career prospect Perceived work nature (job interest) .40*** e .70*** .07 .04 Positive perceived social status (PPSS) e .56*** e e .73*** Negative perceived social status (NPSS) e .59*** e e .45*** R 2 .16 .54 .50 .01 .73 Note: ***p < .001. Parameter estimates are standardized. Mode t statistics for Model 3: c 2 /df 1.91, CFI .95, RMSEA .07, SRMR .08. Table 2 Descriptive statistics, correlations, and scale reliability. Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 1. Perceived work nature (job interest) 3.75 .61 (.77) 2. Positive perceived social status 3.61 .62 .51*** (.73) 3. Negative perceived social status 3.21 1.07 .08 .06 (.79) 4. Salary expectation 2.43 .86 .17* .00 .00 e 5. Career prospect 3.39 .56 .37*** .48*** .33*** .15* (.73) 6. Industry commitment 3.13 1.15 .10 .07 .55*** .02 .30*** e Note: values on the (diagonal) are Cronbachs alpha. Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 6 moderating effects of salary expectation, on students career pros- pects and commitment to the hospitality and tourism industries. Perceived nature of the work is found signicantly related to positive perceived social status, but not related to negative perceived social status, thus partially supporting Hypothesis 1. Tourismand hospitality jobs have poor images (Baum, 2006; Roney & ztin, 2007). Previous researches showthat assigning interesting and challenging jobs to employees could boost their perceived image of the industries (Chuang et al., 2009; Hancer & George, 2003; Weaver, 2009). However, our ndings show that in Macau high status and image of the tourism and hospitality industries has little to do with the job nature. It is because jobs in the industries have long been gaining good reputations in the city because it is an important occupation in the society (Wan & Kong, 2011, 2012). The industry has employed about one third of the local workforce and generates more than 80% of Macaus tax revenue, with the gaming industry alone contributing 72% in 2009 (Financial Services Bureau, 2010). Accordingly, an interesting job could only further enhance the industrys social status and image and is less likely to impose negative impacts on it. The results, however, do not support our Hypothesis 2. Incon- sistent with the previous research ndings (Connell & Burgess, 2006; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; OLeary & Deegan, 2005), na- ture of the work (i.e., an interesting job) in the industries has no signicant relationship with the perceived career prospects when perceived social status is controlled. Previous studies have observed that challenging and interesting jobs and opportunities for career advancement have positive effects on employees perceived career prospects in their companies (Connell & Burgess, Fig. 3. The moderating effect of salary expectation on industry commitment. Table 4 Parameter estimates of the direct and moderating effects. Model 4 Model 5 Career prospect Industry commitment Career prospect Industry commitment Control variables Gender a e .16* e .15* Year of study b e .12 y e .12 y Work experience c e .19** e .19** Main effects Perceived work nature (job interest) (.48)*** (.18)*** (.48)*** (.21)*** Positive perceived social status (PPSS) .63*** (.24)*** .63*** (.26)*** Negative perceived social status (NPSS) .54*** (.20)*** .54*** (.24)*** Career prospect e .37*** e .42*** Moderating effects Salary expectation (SE) e e .20** .08 PPSS SE e e .14* e NPSS SE e e .11 y e Career prospect SE e e e .18** R 2 .72 .20 .79 .25 Note: y p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. Parameter estimates are standardized; values in (parentheses) are indirect effect parameter estimates. Mode t statistics for Model 3: c 2 /df 1.74, CFI .94, RMSEA .06, SRMR .08. a Male 1, female 2. b Freshman (year 1) 1, sophomore (year 2) 2, junior (year 3) 3, senior (year 4) 4. c Not currently working in the industry 0, currently working in the industry 1. Fig. 2. The moderating effect of salary expectation on career prospect. Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 7 2006; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; OLeary & Deegan, 2005; Richardson, 2008; Stahl et al., 2002). The theory of psychological contracts explains that employees have a set of expectations that specify what they and the organization expect to give to and receive from each other in the course of their working relationship (Maguire, 2002). However, in the case of Macau, job nature is found to have no signicant relationship with the perceived career prospects. The author believes this has to do with the very prom- ising career prospects that the tourism and hospitality industries are offering in Macau. These industries have faced an acute shortage of labor since the liberalization of casino licensing in Macau in 2002; hotel and casino operators are willing to offer higher salary to attract employees. For instance, the median monthly income of employees working in the gaming and enter- tainment sector is about US$1712, which is ranked second amongst all other sectors, just behind the public administration sector (US$2587) (DSEC, 2012). The number of those who changed their jobs went up from 25,100 in 2006 to 39,000 in 2008. Recreational, cultural, gaming and other services are the most popular industries for the job changers (DSEC, 2009). With the rapid growth in the numbers of casinos and hotels, employees can easily shift to other jobs that offer higher salary and better benets and promotion opportunities. Industry partners are also urged to offer better fringe benets and promotion opportunities to reduce the high turnover rate (Chan & Kuok, 2011). Due to the promising career prospects offered, with jobs almost guaranteed in the very tight labor market, whether the job itself is interesting or challenging has less effect on students perceptions of their career prospects of the industries; they realize they can always change jobs if they nd they are not happy about the nature of their work. The theory of psychological contracts could still offer an explanation to this situation in Macau in the sense that employees have a set of expectations regarding what they and the tourismand hospitality industries (instead of the organization) have to give to and receive from each other. Results of this study support our Hypothesis 3; that is, a direct and signicant relationship between perceived social status and career prospects is evidenced. While the nature of the work has no effect on the perceived career prospects, students who have posi- tive perceptions of the social status of an industry have perceived positively its career prospects, echoing the previous research ndings (Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Sandiford & Seymour, 2010; Zhao & Zhou, 2008). This result points to the fact that students care about howothers perceive their jobs and occupations. In particular, they care about whether family members are proud of the job that he/she is taking, and if the job is perceived as a respected and important occupation in the society. The result therefore highlights the importance of maintaining and upgrading the industries social status and image to enhance students intention to enter and commit to the industries. In addition, our Hypothesis 4 is supported. A signicant rela- tionship between the perceptions of career prospects and industry commitment is found. In other words, students who believe that the industries have offered sound career prospects show higher employment commitment to the eld. This result is in line with the ndings of previous studies (Jenkins, 2001; Richardson, 2008; Roney & ztin, 2007; Wan & Kong, 2012) and further helps to explainwhy a negative perception of career prospects often leads to a low intention to join the tourism and hospitality industries. By using the prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979), the phe- nomenon can be explained by the fact that students have their own frame of reference which forms their internal standards when they evaluate job options. Students in general look for jobs that offer good career prospects. More promising career prospects would denitely help increase their intention to enter and commit to the industries. Furthermore, the results support Hypothesis 5. The relationship between perceived social status and career prospects is moderated by salary expectation, which is consistent with the ndings re- ported in the study of Rosenbaum (1979) and Zhao and Zhou (2008). The outcome expectations theory and work values theory suggest that students have their own outcome expectations and work values (Betz & Voyten, 1997; Chuang et al., 2009; Lent et al., 1994). Those who look for higher salary would consider jobs that provide better career prospects in order to be congruent with their work values and expectations. Finally, the results do not support Hypothesis 6 in that the moderating effect of salary expectation is negative rather than positive as we postulated. Furthermore, inconsistent with the ndings of the previous studies (Mok & Finley, 1986; Mok et al., 1998), the direct effect of salary expectation on industry commit- ment is also not signicant. The results suggest that salary might function well to project students a positive image of the career prospects, which encourages them to be committed to the tourism and hospitality industry. However, students who look for a high salary have to nd jobs in other industries, particularly the gov- ernment sector, which offers much higher salary than that of the tourismand hospitality industry. Students who are attracted to stay and commit in the tourism and hospitality industries have their own outcome expectations and work values (Betz & Voyten, 1997; Chuang et al., 2009; Lent et al., 1994), which go beyond the extrinsic rewards (e.g., salary and bonus) and are tied to intrinsic ones (e.g., praise, recognition, a sense of job stability and pride working in the industries). This nding therefore suggests that rather than offering higher salary to attract talent to stay and commit to the tourismand hospitality industries, operators might need to use other motiva- tors and strategies to entice employees, such as by creating a fun working environment, improving working conditions, providing a more exible working schedule and supervisors encouragement and understanding. Other important ndings of this study include the following. Female students and senior students are less likely to commit to the industries of their eld of study than their male and junior coun- terparts; and students currently working in the industry are signicantly more likely to continue to work in that industry upon their graduation. To encourage more graduates to commit to the eld, industry partners and hospitality educators have to join hands to deal with the issues seriously. 6. Conclusion The study contributes to the knowledge of student career intention and commitment in the area of hospitality and tourism. Previous career studies in the hospitality setting focused on what students think about the industry and their career intention and commitment using a linear equation (Aksu & Kksal, 2005; Barron & Maxwell, 1993; Jenkins, 2001; Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2008; Roney & ztin, 2007; Wan & Kong, 2011, 2012). This study, however, realizes that career choice is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, and multiple factors come into play that shape students career prospects and commitment to the tourism and hospitality industries. Thus, a nomological network is developed to explore the direct, indirect, and moderating effects of variables such as perceived nature of the work, social status and salary expectation on students perceptions of career prospects in the industries and their intention to work in the eld. The ndings provide deeper understanding of the values and expectations of young people, and of approaches both to encourage them to enter and commit to the workforce upon graduation, and to provide them the right employment settings which ensure a good personeorganization t. The ndings show that that the Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 8 perceived nature of the work of the industries has no signicant relationship with career prospects if the industry offers promising career prospects in a society, such as Macau, due to the booming tourism and hospitality industries and the acute shortage of labor. However, nature of the work is a main factor contributing to the perceived social status of the industry. Social status has signicant effects on the students perceptions of the career prospects of the industries. Perceived career prospects are a key determinant to students industry commitment. This study also contributes to the hospitality and tourism career literature by highlighting the importance of maintaining and pro- moting the social status of the industries in order to attract stu- dents to enter the eld. In addition, students who look for high salary are not much attracted by hospitality and tourism jobs because of their lower pay compared with other sectors. This nding contributes to human resources practices in highlighting the importance of investigating what kinds of non-monetary mo- tivators could replace higher salary to attract those who are moti- vated by higher pay. Perhaps a more important contribution to the literature is the moderating role of salary expectation. First, our ndings show that the relationship between perceived social status and career pros- pects is conditioned by salary expectation, in that the effect of pos- itive social status is more salient while the effect of negative social status is less pronounced for students with high salary expectation. Second, our results suggest that salary expectation negatively moderates the relationship between career prospects and industry commitment, in that the career prospects effect is less acute for students who look for high salary. The collated evidence attests that the relationships among social status, career prospects, and industry commitment are not as straightforward as prior research indicates. In fact, prior research is limited in understanding how work expec- tations, and perhaps other contextual factors, may alter these re- lationships. Hence, this study sheds new light in the literature by offering an alternative view of the factors that shape students per- ceptions of career prospects and their industry commitment. In summary, this study provides newinsights to the literature in several ways. First, while prior research examines the antecedents of organizational commitment, this study focuses on a more fundamental issue in human resource management: industry commitment. Our ndings therefore differ from prior research in that the study shows the antecedents of industry commitment. Hence, this article offers a complementary view of the existing commitment theory in that organizational commitment could be a consequence of industry commitment. The negative effects of gender and year of study also add to the commitment literature in that they jointly suggest female and more senior students are less committed to the tourism and hospitality industries. The ndings could be attributed to the characteristics of the two industries, as they often require long hours of work and night shifts. We also add to the commitment literature by understanding the role of career prospects and salary expectation. Although the relationship be- tween career prospects and industry commitment seems fairly straightforward, it is however contingent on peoples expectation of the salary in the industry. Our ndings (see Fig. 3) provide a fuller understanding of the career prospectecommitment relationship in that students with low career prospects rely signicantly more on salary to be committed to an industry. Hence career prospects hold the key to industry commitment, although salary does help when students have low career prospects. Second, the full mediation of perceived social status indicates the importance of social factors in developing favorable career prospects. Yet, this study differs fromprior studies as it investigates the contingent effect of salary expectations on the social status- career prospects relationship (see Fig. 2a and b). By taking the moderating effect into account, this study shows that expectation of future income serves as a facilitating factor which enhances the positive effect of perceived social status on career prospects. It also serves as a mitigating factor which reduces the negative effect of perceived social status. We believe that these are important and new contributions to the literature. 7. Managerial implications Our research ndings have several practical implications. First, as the nature of the work could enhance the social status of the tourism and hospitality industries, which in turn has effects on perceived career prospects, it is crucial for industry partners to put efforts in their job design to make the jobs more interesting and challenging, since this factor is often identied by students as the key desirable attribute of hospitality and tourism jobs (Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000; Richardson, 2008). In practice, work interest could be enhanced by giving employees room for using their creativity to solve problems, and allowing them to work in different areas within the company to meet new friends and to become familiar with work others are performing. A good example is that some hotels provide chances for their new management trainees to conduct research to propose some future strategies for the com- panies. The research process requires the trainees to approach the heads and staff in different functional departments within the companies for information. In this way, they are allowed to inte- grate the knowledge they learn from school with the real hotel settings, which in turn enhances the job interest. More importantly, through this exercise, the trainees are given the opportunity to know people in the hotels and to develop good social networks, paving their way to future success. Given also that the perception of good career prospects often leads to higher employment commitment, industry partners and hospitality educators should try their utmost to provide and project a fabulous career prospect to students. We have two suggestions. First, a clear career path has to be provided and explained to the employees to attract and retain employees. It is common that jobs are opened but planning for career path is lacking. Also, even when a clear career path is set, it might not be clearly presented and explained to employees and potential employees. Employees have a perception that they can never climb up to the next career ladder because most of the middle and higher levels of positions are occupied by non-local people (i.e., those from Hong Kong and Malaysia). This is part of the reason why the turnover rate in Macau is high (Chan & Kuok, 2011). Human resources (HRs) staff of the industry should carefully design a career path for each position. HRs might not know enough about the career prospects of a posi- tion in a particular department. They need to actively collect in- formation from each department and compile it into an organized document. Heads of each department should from time to time update the information to the HRs. Firms could also conduct sem- inars and visits to different universities to introduce their company, the job opportunities and the career development paths offered by the company. The career development paths and the skills and experiences required for promoting to the next paths should be clearly spelled out and explained to candidates/employees during job interviews and employee orientations. All these efforts aim to convey clear messages to the potential employees that the com- pany cares about their career development and has tried its utmost to help them to pursue and develop their career in the company. In the case of a position that provides less or no opportunities for further progress, rms should also clearly explain to the potential employees the reason why and alert them to the situation in order to prevent any misunderstandings and perceived poor company image in the future. Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 9 Second, Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000) suggest that a promising career prospect is evaluated based on the salary, but also the pro- motion opportunities, and other benets such as learning oppor- tunities and work-life balance that could make students believe that the advantages of working in the tourism industry outweigh the disadvantages. It is imperative to conduct research to under- stand what is considered a promising career to students and em- ployees and what are their work values and expectations. In particular, rms from Western cultures (e.g., the US and Australia) should be aware that the work values and expectations of the employees in Macau could be different from those in Western countries. There are reports showing that the hospitality employees in Macau place more value on salary and the promotion opportu- nities (Chan & Kuok, 2011; Wan, 2010); whereas in Western countries, employees place a higher value on a fun working envi- ronment, enjoyable work and interesting jobs (Weaver, 2009). Also, the work values are found to be different among different genders (Elizur & Koslowsky, 2001). Thus, the strategies adopted to attract and retain different types of employees should be varied. Furthermore, as the perceived social status has signicant ef- fects on the perceived career prospects, which in turn has an effect on students industry commitment, it is essential for the industries as a whole to join hands to maintain and upgrade the industries social status. In Macau, although the tourism and hospitality in- dustries have already gained a good reputation as the foremost important industry in the city, their social status is not much enhanced by the nature of the work. Jobs in the sectors are generally considered as low-paying, stressful and requiring long working hours and shift work. Casino jobs are even considered as dirty in the Chinese culture (Lai et al., 2012). There is a general perception that those who choose to work in the casinos are mainly there to earn higher salary, and therefore it is not a very respected occupation. It is believed that the social status of the sector could further be enhanced if the nature of the work could be improved. For example, to reduce students/employees perception of a frequently changing work schedule, managers could consult with their employees before making the work schedule and try not to alter it frequently unless necessary. If there is a need to change the work schedule, communications and explanations to employees are desirable. Further, research shows that the stress experienced by hospitality and tourism workers is often associated with poor management, such as the lack of empowerment, poor leadership, and poor work design, leading to role ambiguity and role conict (Karatepe & Uludag, 2008; Ross, 1997). Managers should pay attention to these aspects to reduce the work stress level of their employees in order to improve the image of jobs in the tourism and hospitality sector. A longer-term solution to enhance the industries social status is to encourage and speed up the development of casino-integrated resorts (IRs), which is what the Macau government is doing and many casino operators are aiming for. As mentioned earlier, although tourism and jobs in general have high social status in the Macau society, jobs in casinos are still considered as dirty in the Chinese culture (Lai et al., 2012). Integrated resorts, however, are more than a casino. They are a one-stop entertainment center having over-the-top architecture, the largest and highest grade hotel accommodation and casinos in the world, Michelin-quality ne dining, and status as major players in the convention and meeting business (Eadington & Doyle, 2009). The target market is not only gamblers but also the leisure market that has little or no interest in gaming (Eadington & Doyle, 2009). With extensive amenities, the IR is believed to have the potential to bring higher revenue than purely gambling. The author believes that the social status and image of the tourism and hospitality industries could be further enhanced and results in greater industry commitment if employees have a sense of pride in working in a higher-end resort that offers a large variety of hospitality jobs than merely the casino dealing positions. The direct effect of salary expectation on industry commitment is insignicant. Students who look for a high salary are not much attracted by the hospitality and tourism jobs because of their lower pay compared with other sectors. This result suggests that more research is needed to examine what other non-monetary in- centives could motivate students to enter and stay longer in their jobs. Industry partners could invite some universities to conduct longitudinal studies on this issue using both qualitative and quantitative surveys of students. Female students and seniors are less likely to commit to the industries than their male and junior counterparts. To encourage more graduates to commit to the elds, faculty members might want to spend more time with the female students to understand their attitudes and change some of their negative perceptions. They could also build female students condence by pointing to the example of successful women leaders in the industries. Also, greater attention could be paid to barriers that confront females in their professional life. Some previous studies have found that the more exposure a student has to the hospitality and tourism industry, the less commitment he or she demonstrates (Barron & Maxwell, 1993; Jenkins, 2001). This could partially explain why the senior students show a lower intention to enter and commit to the industries than their counterparts, as reported in this study. The phenomenon could be attributed to having bad experiences in nding an internship job related to the hospitality industry (Wan & Kong, 2011) and in becoming familiar with and understanding the na- ture of the work (Jenkins, 2001; Richardson, 2008). It is therefore imperative for hospitality educators to nd out the reasons for lower intention, through meeting and interacting with their students. Last but not least, students who are currently working in the industry are signicantly more likely to continue to work in those industries upon graduation. Thus students could be encouraged to take part in some part-time work while they are studying. Equally important is the design and implementation of effective internship programs. Educators should continue to rene internship programs that promote students professional growth as well as realistic ex- pectations of the industry. Industry organizations are also encour- aged actively to seek partnership with universities to design internship programs for students that ensure the students have positive experiences. 8. Limitations and directions for future research As with other studies, this study is not without limitations. First, the sample size is small; future studies could expand the sample size in order to substantiate the reliability of our results. Second, this study only examines the attitudes and perceptions of the tourism and hospitality students in Macau. The same research could be applied to other cities/countries to further add insights into this research area. Third, this research uses a quantitative approach. Further research in the same area could be done by un- dertaking qualitative assessments to provide more in-depth un- derstanding of students perceptions and attitudes and the moderating effects of salary expectations. Future research could also explore students perceptions about the entry position in a specic industry and sector upon graduation. Fourth, the re- spondents of this study only focus on the tourism and hospitality students studying in Macau. Similar studies could be conducted in other areas and destinations in order to verify the ndings and obtain a better insight of the topic. Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 10 Finally, as work experience and years of study are two important factors shaping students commitment in the tourism and hospitality industries, further research is encouraged to explore the underlying reasons that could better explain these ndings. Some of the underlying factors may persist at the social or institutional level, suggesting a more complex and hierar- chical nature of social inuences on students perceptions. Future research will greatly benet from understanding the plausible factors that exist at multiple levels of the social sys- tem; researchers could explore the effects of an economy or a destination on the tourism and hospitality industries and how the industry characteristics inuence students perceptions be- haviors, as well as the possible moderating effects of their education. Appendix A. Means and standard deviations of scale items Scale items Mean S.D. Perceived work nature (job interest) Work1 3.73 .78 Work2 3.68 .76 Work3 3.77 .79 Work4 3.82 .82 Perceived social status (positive status) PPSS1 3.34 .86 PPSS2 3.59 .77 PPSS3 3.94 .85 PPSS4 3.59 .83 Perceived social status (negative status) NPSS1 3.20 1.07 NPSS2 3.21 1.28 Career prospect Career1 3.38 .80 Career2 3.68 .82 Career3 3.31 .85 Career4 3.07 .88 Career5 3.50 .73 Salary 2.43 .84 Commit 3.13 1.15 Note: Work1eWork4 refer to questions 1, 7, 10, and 12 on Part 4 (nature of work) of the questionnaire (see Appendix C) respectively. PPSS1ePPSS4 refer to questions 1, 2, 3, 6 on Part 5 (social status) of the questionnaire respectively. NPSS1 and NPSS2 refer to questions 4 and 5 on Part 5 (social status) of the questionnaire respectively. Career1eCareer5 refer to questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 on Part 6 (career prospects) of the questionnaire respectively. Salary refers to question 3.1 of the questionnaire. Commit refers to question 2.7 of the questionnaire. Appendix B. Variance and covariance matrix 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1. Work1 .60 2. Work2 .29 .58 3. Work3 .27 .25 .62 4. Work4 .29 .31 .31 .68 5. PPSS1 .19 .12 .15 .17 .74 6. PPSS2 .16 .18 .17 .24 .28 .59 7. PPSS3 .19 .21 .26 .26 .21 .36 .73 8. PPSS4 .28 .16 .22 .29 .26 .31 .25 .68 9. NPSS1 .01 .02 .10 .02 .04 .22 .07 .03 1.15 10. NPSS2 .08 .00 .15 .07 .06 .21 .01 .12 .91 1.64 11. Career1 .12 .07 .11 .15 .21 .14 .13 .20 .03 .10 .64 12. Career2 .21 .11 .19 .20 .19 .26 .17 .30 .06 .15 .21 .67 13. Career3 .18 .11 .19 .12 .16 .10 .22 .23 .29 .42 .19 .32 .71 14. Career4 .12 .04 .15 .01 .06 .07 .13 .17 .27 .41 .15 .26 .48 .78 15. Career5 .15 .08 .11 .12 .13 .13 .14 .21 .14 .17 .09 .20 .22 .20 .53 16. Salary .07 .11 .07 .11 .08 .03 .03 .03 .02 .03 .01 .05 .12 .15 .02 .75 17. Commit .10 .02 .15 .01 .04 .15 .03 .03 .65 .70 .03 .11 .32 .40 .11 .02 1.32 Y.K. Penny Wan et al. / Tourism Management 40 (2014) 1e14 11 Appendix C. Questionnaire Y.K. 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