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This paper aims to examine transferable skills and viable career transition pathways for hospitality and tourism workers. Future career prospects are discussed, along with the importance of reskilling for low-wage hospitality workers.

A network analysis is conducted to model skill relationships between the hospitality industry and other industries such as health-care and information technology. Multiple data are used in the analysis, including data from the US Department of Labor Occupational Information Network (O*NET), wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and job computerization data (Frey and Osborne, 2017).

Although hospitality workers have lower than average skills scores when compared to workers from other career clusters included in the analysis, they possess essential soft skills that are valuable in other industries. Therefore, improving hospitality workers’ existing soft skills may help them enhance their cross-sector mobility, which may allow them to obtain jobs with a lower likelihood of computerization.

The findings shed light on workforce development theories and practice in the hospitality industry by quantitatively analyzing cross-sector skill correlations. Sharpening transferable soft skills will be essential to enhancing hospitality workers’ career development opportunities.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that specifically examines the skill taxonomy for the hospitality industry and identifies its connection with other in-demand career clusters.

There is an essential link between the success of hospitality organizations and the availability of appropriate labor resources, making employee attraction a critical concern for the industry. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the role of work experience, both inside and outside the hospitality industry, in shaping students’ attitudes toward hospitality careers. The study was conducted on the group of 338 undergraduates and graduates enrolled in tourism and hospitality studies in Poznan, Poland. The findings suggest that work experience displays a stronger relationship with preferred than with perceived job and organization attributes. It is also related to perceptions of hospitality career attractiveness both in the long and in the short run as well as to intentions to apply for a job after graduation. The results underline the importance of providing students with quality work experience by the hospitality industry stakeholders as it can influence future career decisions.

Notwithstanding the emergence of hospitality education around the world, the hospitality industry itself has struggled to establish a talent pipeline of young ambitious managers. Typically, only 30% of hospitality students are predicted to develop their careers within the hospitality industry, while the remainder will relocate to other industries such as retail, banking and consulting. Although this manifestation has been globally documented, most studies have simply adopted a quantitative approach in defining this phenomenon; hence, despite its scale being appreciated, less attention has been paid to defining the underlying causes which drive this concern. This study contributes to this issue by interviewing 18 students at three key stages of their practical placements, namely, pre-, during and post their placement, drawing on the ‘Principles of a Sustainable HRM ROC framework’. This chapter concludes with significant findings from which some recommendations have been formulated.

This study aims to investigate socioeconomic diversity in the hospitality industry by examining the relationship between social class background, family expectations and career outcomes of Generation Z employees. The relationship was further tested by investigating job titles and perceived prestige.

Two studies were developed to test the research questions – first, the social prestige of hospitality jobs compared to other industries with similar skill sets. Second, a between-subjects experimental design was used to examine the moderating effect of job title on the relationship between social class background, family expectations and career decisions.

The findings of the first study confirm the negative perceptions of the hospitality industry. Study 2 demonstrated a negative relationship between social class background and intentions to choose hospitality through family expectations among Generation Z. The negative effect was attenuated when a manager position was offered. However, college students majoring in hospitality reported positive intentions to accept a job in the hospitality industry for both frontline and managerial positions.

The findings emphasize the importance of extending organizational diversity beyond traditional demographics like race, gender and age by examining socioeconomic factors that influence career decisions among Generation Z employees. By considering social class background as a dimension of organizational diversity, the hospitality industry can cultivate a more inclusive culture and enhance recruitment and attraction efforts.

Examining the relationship between social class background and career decisions through the lens of social cognitive career theory provides insight into the social cognitive process of career development among Generation Z. The unique contribution of this study extends beyond observable dimensions of diversity to challenge the socioeconomic composition of the hospitality industry.

Given that the recovery of the hospitality industry is hampered by worker shortages resulting from the loss of talents during the ongoing pandemic, the purpose of this study is to examine how professional identity affects hospitality employees’ psychological responses to the COVID-19 crisis and their intentions to leave the industry.

This study sample consisted of 1,188 US hospitality employees. The cross-sectional data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling, analysis of variance and multigroup analysis.

A double-barreled effect of professional identity on career change intention was identified. Hospitality employees possessing a stronger professional identity were found to be more passionate and satisfied with their careers and less likely to switch to other industries. However, these individuals also feel more distressed by the pandemic crisis, which is associated with a heightened level of career change intentions.

The findings of this study confirm the importance of identity building as a means of sustaining the hospitality workforce. As nascent professionals possess a weaker identity and stronger intention to leave the industry, immediate attention should be paid to these individuals.

This study expands the knowledge surrounding the influences of hospitality professional identity as it exerts a double-barreled effect on career change intention. Further insights regarding how hospitality employees at various career stages respond differently to the COVID-19 crisis are uncovered by examining the moderating effects of industry experience.

This qualitative study deals with the career longevity phenomenon in the hospitality sector of Pakistan and aimed at exploring the factors which become the reason for continuing services in this sector for a longer period despite the prevailing perception of the short-term and unsatisfactory hospitality careers.

The study has taken up an interpretive social constructivism approach to carry out the research. The purposive sampling technique is used to solicit expert insights into the dynamics of the hospitality career. A thematic analysis was employed to identify the common themes, extract the meaning from the discussion patterns of the respondents, and outline viewpoints and ideas of the respondents.

The findings of the study are discussed at three levels of career, i.e. entry level, development level, and consolidation level. Long careers in the hospitality sector are a product of dedication and commitment to the job, professionalism, variety, complexity of the job, and healthy relationship with coworkers, supervisors, and guests.

The study links the belief of belonging and socialization attributes to the retention of employees in the hospitality sector jobs. Secondly, the study uses a qualitative approach to provide a diverse perspective of employee–industry loyalty rather than employee–organization loyalty. Thirdly, the study brings forth practical implications for personnel managers in the hospitality sector and proposes that the management should systematically stimulate the socialization of the workers to hold the talent despite providing workers with the opportunity to join another sector. Finally, the study informs about research limitations and directions for future research.

This paper aims to examine the interplay between self-efficacy and career inheritance and its influence on career commitment in the hospitality sector. High labour turnover, unclear career paths and the transient nature of the work available in hospitality render it a suitable industry context that allows us to explore career commitment patterns.

Drawing on life history methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with hospitality professionals holding a relevant degree but no longer employed in the hospitality industry.

The findings revealed the interplay between self-efficacy, career inheritance and career commitment, as well as the speed of decline of career commitment, visualised as patterns of the leaving process. Although an infinite number of variations are possible, data unveiled the three main patterns.

The schematic illustrations of the patterns of the leaving process are not representative. The purposive sample comprises only ex-hospitality professionals, and generalisations can be considered in future studies.

This newly conceptualised understanding of career commitment enables researchers to reconsider the fundamental reasons why individuals leave the hospitality industry, whilst also offering hospitality managers deeper insights into how the three identified patterns could inform recruitment and selection.

This paper contributes to the literature through its meaningful theoretical extension in the context of career development studies. The unique concept of the leaving process addresses the prevalent issue of turnover and generates important implications.

The purpose of this paper is to explore why workers remain in long hospitality careers and to challenge the frequent portrayal of careers in the sector as temporary and unsatisfactory.

The study took an interpretative social constructionist approach. Methods used were memory-work, semi-structured interviews and intersectional analysis.

A key finding in this study is that career longevity in hospitality is not solely dependent on career progression. Strong social connection, a professional self-identity and complex interesting work contribute to long careers.

The study contributes detailed empirical knowledge about hospitality career paths in New Zealand. Conclusions should be generalised outside the specific context with caution.

The findings that hospitality jobs can be complex and satisfying at all hierarchical ranks hold practical implications for Human Resource Managers in the service sector. To increase career longevity, hospitality employers should improve induction and socialisation processes and recognise their employees’ professional identity.

This paper significantly extends the notion of belonging and social connection in service work. “Social connection” is distinctly different from social and networking career competencies. Strong social connection is created by a fusion of complex social relationships with managers, co-workers and guests, ultimately creating the sense of a respected professional identity and satisfying career.

The contemporary concept of a successful hospitality career is associated with an upwards career trajectory; however, this paper suggests that at the lower hierarchical levels of service work, many individuals enjoy complex satisfying careers with no desire for further advancement.

This paper seeks to unlock the career transitions of hospitality managers through applying Schein’s career anchors theory. It seeks to understand how Schein’s Career Anchors help explain the career transitions of managers in the Scottish hospitality industry.

The paper adopts a non-sequential multi-method design. All 22 hospitality managers who participated in the study completed an online version of Schein’s Career Anchors containing 40 items covering all eight career anchors. The career histories of participants were then gathered through use of a semi-structured interview. Comparisons were then drawn across the career anchor classification and the data on career transitions collected from participants.

The results highlight the continued relevance of Schein’s career anchors theory and indicate that Schein’s career anchors theory may constitute a useful tool for understanding hospitality managers’ career needs and engaging in meaningful career planning.

The study provides a useful insight into hospitality managers’ career motivations, and knowledge of career anchors will help hospitality organisations more effectively engage, recruit and retain hospitality managers.

Most of the research on hospitality jobs has focused on the least enjoyable aspects of hospitality careers, while overlooking its “upside”. This paper aims to look at the “love” side of what could be described as a love‐hate relationship that hospitality managers share with their jobs.

The research used qualitative interviews with 83 hotel managers in 23 registered hotels belonging to the three‐ and four‐star categories in Zimbabwe.

The most liked attributes of hospitality management careers among Zimbabwean hotel managers were found to be: interacting with people from various countries, cultures, and lifestyles; working in a “nice” environment; perks; challenging work; stimulating work; glamour/prestige; the global nature of the industry and associated mobility; opportunities for networking with various groups of people; growth opportunities; dynamic and exciting nature of the industry; ability to apply individual creativity; and working with a diverse workforce.

The use of a Zimbabwean sample means that findings cannot be generalised for the worldwide hospitality industry.

The research rebalances the assessment of hospitality work by looking at the often overlooked “upside” aspects of hospitality careers.