The global tourism industry is rapidly recovering from the unprecedented crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of international tourists in 2024 recovered to the 2019 level prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, and South Korea's number of outbound tou...
The global tourism industry is rapidly recovering from the unprecedented crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of international tourists in 2024 recovered to the 2019 level prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, and South Korea's number of outbound tourists in 2024 also approached the 2019 level. The tourism industry is organically connected to other industries (transport, lodging, eating out, culture, etc.) rather than performing its own independent role, and functions as a high value-added core industry that plays a major role in raising national and local brand awareness that cannot be evaluated by quantified data. In other words, the tourism industry does not end only with a numerical recovery after compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. It can be said to be the core of the global economy as it affects the linked industry, the national economy, and the global job market.
The 'tour guides' can be cited as an important human resource in the tourism industry, which is the core of the global economy. Tour guides are evolving beyond their traditional role as mere escorts to become experts who connect travelers with diverse nations, cultures, and societies, designing and enriching their experiences.
Although the demand for free independent travel (FIT) is increasing, many travelers still choose the overseas package travel product. Since many travelers choose a package travel productthat plays a large role in overseas travel selection, it is necessary to accurately check what parts are necessary for the tour guides’work performance.
The tour guides should identify the various interests, requests, and requirements of each traveler, provide appropriate services accordingly, and proceed with the entire planned schedule. Therefore, the tour guides should quickly grasp the rapidly changing trends and characteristics of travelers and provide services accordingly. In addition, the tour guides should understand the politics, economy, society, and culture of the travel destination that change from time to time and deliver information to travelers. On the other hand, tour guidesare working in a work environment where changes are frequent and predictable. Even in this situation, appropriate job performance must be achieved and customer satisfaction must be realized.
For this purpose, this study attempted to investigate the effect of tour guides’ learning agility on positive psychological capital, job crafting, job performance and customer orientation, the effect of tour guides’ positive psychological capital on job performance and customer orientation, and the effect of tour guides’ job crafting on job performance and customer orientation.
Accordingly, the subjects of this study were Korean-speaking tour guides responsible for conducting overseas package tour programs, whose main customers are Koreans traveling abroad.This study attempted to overcome the limitations of indirect data that depend on travelers' travel experiences and limited studies to specific countries due to restrictions on access to guides staying abroad in previous studies related to guides. Ultimately, this study aims to identify the key competencies that tour guides should actually strengthen, thereby contributing to both the individual performance of tour guides and the realization of customer satisfaction.
To achieve the purpose of this study, a survey was conducted through an online survey from August 1 to 15, 2025 for incumbent tour guides who are actually in charge of the overseas package travel product of travel agencies in Korea. The questionnaire was distributed by targeting 16 regions (a total of 26 sub-regions) around the world among the current overseas package travel products sold in Korea. A total of 727 valid responseswere selected for the final analysis, and the data were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Using SPSS version 25.0, frequency analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were conducted. To verify the validity of the research model and hypotheses, an EFA was performed, and four final factors of learning agility among tour guides were extracted and named as self-awareness, mental agility, people agility, and change and result agility. The total variance explained was 62.276%, indicating a satisfactory level of explanatory power. Multiple regression analysis was then conducted to examine the correlations among the variables, and the results are as follows.
First, the analysis of the relationship between tour guides’ learning agility and positive psychological capital showed that among the components of learning agility, self-awareness, mental agility, and change and results agility had positive effects on self-efficacy, whereas people agility did not. In addition, self-awareness, mental agility, people agility, and change and results agility had positive effects on optimism, hope, and resilience, which are components of positive psychological capital.
Second, the analysis of the effects of learning agility on job crafting revealed that self-awareness, people agility, and change and results agility positively influenced task crafting and cognitive crafting, while mental agility had no effect. In the relationship between learning agility and relational crafting, people agility and change and results agility had positive effects, whereas self-awareness and mental agility did not.
Third, among the components of learning agility, only change and results agility had a positive effect on job performance, while self-awareness, mental agility, and people agility did not.
Fourth, self-awareness, people agility, and change and results agility had positive effects on customer orientation, whereas mental agility had no significant influence.
Fifth, regarding the effect of positive psychological capital on job crafting, all components—self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience—positively affected task crafting, cognitive crafting, and relational crafting.
Sixth, in terms of the effect of positive psychological capital on job performance, self-efficacy, optimism, and hope positively influenced job performance, while resilience had no significant effect.
Seventh, the analysis of the relationship between positive psychological capital and customer orientation showed that self-efficacy, hope, and resilience had positive effects on customer orientation, but optimism did not.
Eighth, all dimensions of job crafting—task crafting, cognitive crafting, and relational crafting—had positive effects on job performance.
Finally, all three components of job crafting also had positive effects on customer orientation.
In conclusion, the results confirmed that tour guides’ learning agility influences positive psychological capital, job crafting, job performance, and customer orientation; positive psychological capital influences job crafting, job performance, and customer orientation; and job crafting affects job performance and customer orientation. These findings identify the key competencies required for tour guides who perform at the frontline of customer service to provide appropriate services and achieve desired performance outcomes. If systematic support—such as training, incentives, and rewards—is provided to develop tour guides’ learning agility, positive psychological capital, and job crafting capabilities, it will contribute to increasing customer satisfaction and ultimately have a positive impact on the repurchase of overseas package tour products, creating a virtuous cycle in the tourism industry.