An analysis of the industry employment intentions of undergraduate freshmen in Shanghai majoring in tourism and hospitality management utilizing motivation and demographic information

The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of the industry employment intentions of the undergraduate freshmen majoring in tourism and hospitality management, their motivation for choosing these programs, and the relationship between their industry employment intentions and their motivation as well as demographic profiles. The 1140 undergraduate freshmen who were enrolled in the tourism and hospitality management programs at Shanghai\u27s 13 higher educational institutions in the fall of 2013 were recruited to participate in the study. In the pilot study, 244 students among 250 recruited completed the survey developed by the researcher using Self-determination Theory as the theoretic framework. In the formal study, 685 out of 890 students completed the modified survey. Data analysis techniques included descriptive statistics, one-way between-subjects factor ANOVA, and multiple regression. Results of the study showed that: (1) on average, students\u27 motivations for choosing a tourism and hospitality program were slightly above a moderate level of autonomy; (2) students\u27 intentions to find job placements in the tourism and hospitality industry after graduation were at a moderate level; (3) there were significant differences among students majoring in tourism and hospitality management from the three different tiers of higher educational institutions regarding their family SES, motivations for choosing tourism and hospitality programs, and industry employment intentions; (4) among students\u27 demographics, gender, family SES, and tier of higher educational institutions were significant predictors of their industry employment intentions, though only explaining 4.0% of the variance in students\u27 industry employment intentions; (5) degree of autonomy of students\u27 motivation for choosing their academic programs was a significant predictor of their industry employment intentions, explaining 15.3% of the variance in students\u27 industry employment intentions; (6) degree of autonomy of students\u27 motivation in choosing their academic programs was still a significant predictor of their industry employment intentions after controlling for demographics, leading to a 15.2% increase in explained variance; and (7) the degree of autonomy of students\u27 motivation in choosing their academic programs and their demographics combined predicted 19.2% of their industry employment intentions. Implications for researchers, educators, policy makers and industry, as well as recommendations for further study, were discussed