This study targeted university students majoring in tourism, in order to analyze the problems of manpower training, and supply and demand in the tourism industry which is getting bigger and bigger each year. Many students select majors according to sc...
This study targeted university students majoring in tourism, in order to analyze the problems of manpower training, and supply and demand in the tourism industry which is getting bigger and bigger each year. Many students select majors according to school records, employment conditions and surrounding situations, without a proper understanding of majors or aptitudes.
Especially, the tourism-related major is being recognized to be highly familiar and accessible, with the improvement in the quality of life and the expansion of the leisure concept. For this reason, many students select the tourism-related major without prior information or detailed and deep knowledge.
But some of them are not satisfied due to the determining factors for selecting the major, fail in major flow and have big difficulties deciding future careers.
Therefore, this study aims to examine the elements such as wills and characters of students which were applied to the selection of the tourism-related major and see the effects of the determining factors for selecting the tourism major on the major satisfaction, the major flow and the career decision-making self-efficacy, since potential human resources(students majoring in tourism) in the tourism industry can be the foundation for the growth of the domestic tourism industry in the future.
For achieving this purpose, a total of 460 questionnaires were distributed to students majoring in tourism at 4 colleges and 4-year universities(including social education centers with the academic credit bank system) in Seoul and Gyeonggi area. Then, a total of 412 questionnaires were empirically analyzed, except 48 ones with unreliable responses.
For an analysis of the collected data, the SPSS 2.0 program was used, and frequency analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation coefficient computation, simple regression analysis and multiple regression analysis were carried out.
The study findings, extracted from the empirical analysis, are as follows:
First, the determining factors for selecting the tourism major had significantly positive effects on the major satisfaction. Among the sub-factors, both personal and prospect factors improved the major satisfaction to feel positive about the major and not to regret the selection of the major, by increasing the intention to select the tourism major.
Second, the determining factors for selecting the tourism major had significantly positive effects on the major flow. Among the sub-factors, both personal and prospect factors improved the state of the major flow to be voluntary about diverse activities related to the major with deep attention and attachment, by increasing the intention to select the tourism major.
Third, the determining factors for selecting the tourism major had significantly positive effects on the career decision-making self-efficacy. Among the sub-factors, both personal and prospect factors improved the career decision-making self-efficacy which refers to trust and belief in themselves about solving and getting over problems or situations by themselves, and a positive conviction and evaluation about the decision of future careers, by increasing the intention to select the tourism major.
Fourth, the major satisfaction had a significantly positive effect on the major commitment. The state of the major commitment of the students deepened, as their major satisfaction improved.
Fifth, the major satisfaction had a significantly positive effect on the career decision-making self-efficacy. The career decision-making self-efficacy of the students increased, as their major satisfaction improved.
Sixth, the major commitment had a significantly positive effect on the career decision-making self-efficacy. The career decision-making self-efficacy of the students increased, as the major commitment deepened.
These results demonstrate that determining factors for selecting the tourism major had positive effects on the major satisfaction, the major commitment and the career decision-making self-efficacy and can be suggested as basic data to understand the conditions of students and help them overcome a sense of failure or a loss of will which might lead to school dropout or the selection of jobs that are irrelevant to the major.
Moreover, this study provides an important implication to contribute to the growth and development of students as tourism experts after graduation.