The Core and the Periphery: an examination of the flexible workforce model in the hotel industry”, Hospitality Management

This paper examines the complexities of the peripheral workforce in an industry traditionally known for its use of contingent labour, namely, the hotel industry. In particular, it investigates the peripheral workforce in the hotel industry, as defined by Guerrier and Lockwood (1989). While previous research has examined the flexible firm from a range of perspectives such as pay flexibility (Walsh, 1993), temporal flexibility (Walsh and Deery, 1997) and gender segregation (Bagguley, 1991), this study examines the precariousness of the hotel peripheral workforce in relation to access to the internal labour market (ILM). The study examines the perceptions of employees in relation to the ILM components of training, promotional opportunities and job security. A sample of 287 non-supervisory hotel employees from seven Central Business District (CBD) Melbourne hotels was surveyed. These respondents were grouped into peripheral and non-peripheral clusters according to widely accepted labour force segmentation criteria. Various statistical techniques, including discriminant analysis, were used to assess differences between the clusters in terms of internal labour market components and employee attitudes. The findings question previous research that propose clearly defined workforce groups in the hotel sector. Key Words: core, periphery, workforce flexibility, internal labour markets.