Working title: Job-hopping expectation of Chinese hospitality management graduates
Background of the study
In China, and across the world, hospitality management industry records a high number of job-hopping cases. In China, the hospitality culture seems to be losing value in the hospitality industry (Li, 2010). This has significant implications for the employees and new entrants, who are the fresh hospitality management graduates. Additionally, research by hospitality experts indicates that the culture of job hopping has had a significant effect on fresh Chinese graduates (Meister, 2012). From the first aspect, job hopping has an effect on how the new graduates are absorbed into the industry, and how they are most likely to behave while developing their careers.
There has also been a change in attitude amongst the graduates because of the culture of job hopping. Hospitality studies put an emphasis on professional discipline (Burns, 2010). However, the practice of job-hopping manipulates the graduate’s perception of professional conduct and personal ambitions. Just like any other industry, the behavior of the veteran employees affects the conduct of the incoming professionals. The extent to which this positively or negatively influences the incomers has been subject to debate and research. One of the arguments is that job-hopping triggers self-inner reflections about career ambitions within the graduates, who are yet to join the market. Additionally, it may be seen as a predictor of how the employees will behave once they join the job market. Given that the Chinese hospitality industry is one of the biggest in the world, delineating the effect of job-hopping on the graduates needs extensive research, which can unearth the trends and future of the same.
One of the main interests of carrying out the research is to find out the relationship between job-hopping and career success (Fabricant, Miller and Stark, 2013; Burke, and Cooper, 2007). In doing this, researchers can come up with information which shows the effect of one on the other, and statistics about how staying at one establishment for a certain period shapes careers. This information has far reaching implications for career development for the fresh graduates, who largely depend on secondary information for decision making. For instance, the research provides information for the reasons why there are so many cases of job-hopping in the hospitality industry, and what implications this has for the job hoppers. Having such information can help the graduates to plan their future careers just before they enter the job market (Uda, 2005).Additionally, job-hopping research gibes information about industrial dynamics, such as the qualification of the new graduates, and the development of establishments to attract the best qualified professionals.
Given the nature of the subject, the research methodology would focus on secondary sourcing. Several researches by industrial experts are essential in providing the information about the trends of job-hopping and the effects they have on the graduates. Therefore, the research methodology which is adopted for an analytical research like this one is fundamentally related to the evolutionary research method. Generally, the methodology selected is meant to provide information about the reasons for job-hopping and the general impact the same has on the Chinese hospitality management graduates. Contemporary secondary research compares information collected from sources that contain data that is relevant to the topic, be it the methodology is qualitative or quantitative. Some of the benefits of using secondary sources is that it can be used to offer general background information and equally important, be helpful in putting the research in context. Nevertheless, use of primary research methodology would help to provide fresh information about the topic, given that the size of China’s hospitality industry means that the issue takes new shape quite often.
Research questions，aim and objective
Research questions
Does job hopping positively affect wage growth for the graduates?
Is there a correlation between job quits and relocations? What does it mean for the students?
Do the students support the behavior?
Research aim：
It is to explore the main factors on job-hopping for Chinese hospitality management graduates.
Research objectives
Overview the background of turnover situation in hospitality industry.
The analysis of the related literature which reflect to the reason of the high turnover rate in hospitality industry.
To explore the main reason by questionnaire why Chinese hospitality management graduated students practice job-hopping.
To determine whether it is the private establishments or public establishments that have the highest labor turnover rates.
Collect and compare the data, identify the results and compare the results from different objective groups.
Make recommendations.
Literature review
According to Moomaw, Olson and McLean, the only way that one can find a better job than the one they are currently doing is by quitting. This has been the motivation behind the practice of job hopping, which of recent times has hit a peak high in China(Moomaw, Olson and McLean, 2009). A research conducted by Ariga, Ohtake, Sasaki and Wu focuses on the joint processes of migration and school to work transition (Ariga, Ohtake, Sasaki abd Wu, 2012). By putting focus on the young workers, Arigaet al were able to observe the crucial process of career information in the modern Chinese Labour market. The main objective was to evaluate the relationship between special and labor mobility. Additionally, by focusing their study on the graduates, they were able to investigate the changing characteristics of job hopping in the Chinese market. Arigaet al selectively used recent literature on the labour market in China, and focused on the direct effect job hopping had on the new graduates.
Lee says that job hopping in China has become rampant, as the economy chases the most skilled workers(Lee, 2006). According to research that was conducted by Hewitt Associates, China’s overall job-hopping increased by a record 6% from the advent of the new millennium (Lee, 2005). The records did not include the people whose contracts were terminated. When compared to the Unites States of America, the largest economy in the world, this rate was still quite high (Witt and Redding, 2013). According to Chinese job market experts, turnover is particularly rampant amongst the youngest workers and recent graduates. This represents the population that grew up when Beijing only allowed one child per family as an effort to control the population and the economy. In return, this has driven up the cost for the employers, and significantly contributed to wage increase (Jaffrelot and Van der Veer, 2008). However, according to Lee, many young workers blame the employers for the high turnover rates, claiming that they do very little to keep their man power. For instance, the employers seem to standardize medical insurance and pension plans, and training programs are not common.
The employers develop a perception towards the graduates by studying the job-hopping trends amongst their employees. According to one of the leading CEOs in China, the contemporary management and clients are more satisfied with candidates who stay for at least five years in a given company (Zhuang, 2013). Zhuang asserts that career moves make more sense when it is evaluated from experience growth perspective. In a large economy, such as that of China, it is increasingly important to have a set of contacts to obtain information about the market dynamics. This contradicts the notion that job-hopping is unsuitable for career development. According to research information about global business, the leading CEOs had experience with several companies (Chokar, Brodbeck and House, 2013). This has no exception for the hospitality industry in China. Hence, many fresh graduates are led to believe that job-hopping is one of the most effective ways to develop their future careers in the hospitality industry.
According to Budhwar, job hopping has become one of the most important issues facing the Chinese hospitality industry (Budhwar, 2004). This does not only affect hotel management and operations, but also has a psychological impact to the incoming employees. The psychological impact may affect the manner in which the graduates relate with their seniors and leaders in the hotel industry, and how they will conduct themselves. According to The U.S Chinese Embassy, a recent survey showed that Beijing, Shanhai and Guadong, amongst a number of other cities and regions, recorded an average turnover rate of about 30% (Beijing-China, 2014). This has also led to stiffening competition in the hotel industry, as the employers rush for the best graduates to absorb, and the graduates look for employers with the highest wages, amongst a number of other benefits. Despite the negative effects of job hopping, the practice has helped many graduates to recognize the need to improve competence and effectiveness as they enter the job market.
Cumming asserts that job-hopping only has negative effects for the employers, and even worse implications for the graduates(Cumming, 2012. According to him, the high number of job quitters who leave to take up jobs with new establishments leaves a negative image for the managers, who have no option than to restructure their human resource departments. Given this, the management has little faith in the incoming employees, who are mainly the fresh graduates who are entering the job market for the first time. Additionally, this trend has developed a sense of entitlement amongst the employers, who have shifted away from the tradition of taking feedback from the employees. By doing this, the fresh employees, mostly recent graduates, find it hard to cope along with their seniors in the management departments.Rao explains that in the dynamic hospitality industry, this does not mean well for job development(Rao, 2007). In the long run, the phenomenon of job hoping continues to rock the industry.
Evans says that for China’s relentless new graduates, job hopping has become quite popular(Evans, 2012). Over a third of the country’s recent graduates quite their jobs less than a year after finishing their schooling. However, Evans asserts that the graduates ought to think carefully before quitting their current jobs and searching for another. Surprisingly, a study showed that the salary of the fresh graduates declines according to the number of times they changed their jobs (Shierholz, Wething and Sabadish, 2013). For instance, amongst the 2010 and 2011 graduates, more than 30% of the graduates quite their jobs within the first few months, mainly because of the hopes of landing better paying jobs. Additionally, job dissatisfaction and long hours evoked the thoughts of quitting amongst the graduates.
While job hopping in China is quite common, the level of movement in public and private establishments differs. This is a determinant factor for fresh graduates who are choosing between the public and private sectors. The major difference between the private and public sectors is the number of employees they take in and the wage rates. However, according to Wolfington and Wolfington, China’s tourism education system would benefit greatly through collaboration between the two sectors(Wolfington and Wolfington , 2012). On its side, the public sector has to implement a standard tourism and hospitality curriculum, to enable it to hire the highest qualified personnel. The private sector also ought to facilitate training programs and outline to offer the most critical industrial skills (Dunbar, 2013). The involvement of the private sector in the development of the curriculum would help top prepare the graduates for the job market, as well as equip them with professional ethics. By doing this, the rates of job-hopping between the two sectors could be regulated.
Research methodology
For the purposes of collecting primary information, questionnaires will be used. There will be two sets of questionnaires, one for the job-hoppers from the hospitality management industry and another for graduates. The reason for this is to collect information that covers both sides, so as to provide data to answer the research objectives and questions. A total of 100 copies of research questionnaires will be distributed to job-hoppers and 200 copies to the graduates. The questionnaires will collect information about the student’s perception of job-hopping, and whether or not they would practice it. Questionnaires filled by the job-hoppers will be used to collect information on why they quit their jobs.
Data about the hospitality industry job market will be collected from surveys that have already been conducted by previous researchers. The main information that will be collected is about employee satisfaction about their previous and present jobs, and information about career priorities when choosing to quit jobs. Additionally, surveys will provide key information about the graduate’s perception of the hospitality industry and what they think about their future careers. Surveys information will also be instrumental in assessing the private and public sectors in the hospitality industry, and how the two relate to each other. Also significantly, the effect of job hopping on wage growth will be assessed by information collected from surveys, and the correlation between job quits and job relocation. All these have implications for graduate’s careers in the industry.
Data collection
A pilot test will be conducted by giving out questionnaires to recent graduates of hospitality and tourism. A total of 300 questionnaires will be collected for the initial pilot test. During this stage, all minor editing will be done so as to fine tune the data collection process. If necessary, there will be changes and minor the structuring of the questions, given that job market dynamics are set to change. Given that a good number of Chinese students have a good understanding of the English language, most of the copies will be in English. However, for a few exceptions, a number of them will be in Chinese language.
Justification of methodology
The main purpose of the secondary data is to extract relevant information from sources that cover the Chinese market. Additionally, the secondary data will be important in fact finding, which will be helpful in developing theory and assumptions for the purposes of the paper. The descriptive information from other researchers will be used to support the research’s objectives (Armstrong, Adam and Denize and Kotler, 2014). Given the nature of the research, the relationship between two or more variables will be easily specified. For instance, the correlation between job quitting and relocations will be specified from information from the secondary sources. According to Cant, Strydom and Jooste, some of the advantages of secondary data are that it is a faster way of collecting information, it is less expensive and less activity such as field trips is required(Cant, Strydon and Jostem 2009). On the other hand, Primary data collection is very important in research as it collects raw information, which has not been tampered with. Bhardwaj says that the data from primary techniques is more reliable and free from bias(Bhardwaj, 2009). By using primary data collection methodologies, the researcher will find it easier to note the effects of job hopping and the influence on the graduates more easily.
Practical outcomes and timescale
The tasks will be submission of proposal, supervision, reading and research, data collection, analysis, write-up and submission of report. The first step is collecting information from secondary sources, and grouping types of data to investigate the various objectives and research questions. Then the research questions will be formulated and structured to address the research questions and objectives. The research questionnaires will be then distributed to the respondents, and collected. Follow up will be done, during which information fine tuning will take place. The final tasks will be writing up the report and finally submission. The table below represents the research timescale.
Table 1: Showing the research activity and timescale
Task Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7
Proposal submission
Supervisor feedback
Reading and Research
Data collection
Analysis
Write up
Submission
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