Women’s “beach body” in Australian women’s magazines

Representations of tourism subjects, both people and places, extend beyond specifically tourism media. This paper explores the presummer images of swimwear and beach bodies in Australian women's lifestyle magazines. A content analysis of swimwear images confirmed British findings that there was a general uniformity in the characteristics of the women modelling the swimsuits: young, slim, white ethnicity (but tanned) and able-bodied. Critical Discourse Analysis highlighted that the beach body discourse is in many ways contested. On the one hand the beach is a place of abandonment, but women need to work hard to achieve the required normative image. Women's agency and choice is questioned due to the narrow normative image and the neo-liberal, consumerist systems underlying the discourse.     

Humanising migrant women’s work

Female migrants make an important contribution to the global tourism industry yet their employment experiences and histories are poorly understood. This paper draws on a phenomenological position to explore the life-world and ten-year employment trajectory of one highly skilled Polish immigrant to the UK as told through her own voice and artwork. It challenges prevailing de-personalised and gender-blind accounts of tourism migrant workers, and demonstrates the methodological potential of one-voice research to humanise the female migrant experience, document long-term employment trajectories and foreground complex working lives. The paper provides nuanced understanding of intersectional gendered and ethnic marginalisation in the labour market and explores the ways in which employment creates spaces for both oppression and self-determination for precarious workers.     

Does gender diversity matter to hotel financial performance?

This study examines the effects of executive gender diversity (EGD) and board gender diversity (BGD) on hotel financial performance in China based on the framework of the gender role, agency, and resource dependence theories. This research documents a negative effect of EGD and no significant effect of BGD on hotel financial performance. Moreover, the effect of EGD on hotel financial performance captured by return on equity (ROE) exhibits a U-shaped curve, with the profitability measure bottoming out at 21%. Our analysis also shows that a critical mass of 40% of EGD serves as a positive moderator for the EGD-ROE relationship. Beyond this point, gender-balanced executive groups evade negatives rooted in the gender role theory, enjoy positives drawn in the agency and resource dependence theories, and generate superior financial performance compared to all-male executive groups. This research offers important implications for human resource management and policy and regulation formulation.     

Why won’t she break rules to promote service? Effects of gender,gender identification,and honesty

This paper investigates the reason and the condition under which gender is related to employee’s prosocial rule-breaking to promote service (PSBS) in two studies. Unlike typical rule-breaking, PSBS aims to improve guest service. Drawing on social identity theory and gender research, we suggest that female hospitality employees engage in fewer PSBS than their male counterparts. We further propose the moderating role of gender identification and the mediating role of honesty. Study 1 sampled 324 hospitality workers through Qualtrics and showed that female employees engage in fewer PSBS. However, the effect of gender on PSBS was weaker when gender identification was low. Study 2 sampled 246 hospitality employees who are working in the hospitality industry and studying in a college. Path analyses showed that the gender – honesty – PSBS relationship was weaker when gender identification was low. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Differences between male and female sport event tourists: A qualitative study

This qualitative study, using the Zaltaman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET), investigated differences between male and female sport event tourists. Study participants cited different attributes, consequences, and values with respect to the five themes that emerged from this study: loyalty, socialization, self-actualization, volunteering, and equality through sport. The use of a grounded qualitative research approach made it possible to discover that the act of sport spectating could give sport event tourists the opportunity to reach other goals (e.g., social responsibility, self-actualization and healthy lifestyle). This study made several unique contributions to event tourism research. The most important finding, however, had to do with self-actualization. Socialization, travel, volunteering, and promoting gender equality and other social responsibilities through sport enable people to reach their potential and achieve a healthy lifestyle. These singular findings have implications to sports event management and marketing strategies.     

Gender diversity in the hospitality industry: An empirical study in Turkey

This paper, an investigation of gender diversity in the Turkish hospitality industry, focuses on two primary objectives: (a) exploring the potential relationships between gender and several demographic factors, and (b) examining the possible existence of a gender effect regarding employees’ perceptions of recruitment and earning potential decisions. Results, based on 682 surveys, show that, in the male-dominated Turkish hospitality industry, there is a significant gender effect for two of four demographic variables and with respect to recruiting efforts and earning potential. These findings could have some important managerial implications for addressing gender diversity in the (Turkish) hospitality industry.     

Hotel accounts — do men get the best jobs?

Salary levels of women in hospitality financial management appear to be lower than those of men with similar job titles. However, further analysis of a limited sample suggests that salary levels are generally dependent on the level of work and place of employment – and that men tend to be employed in the jobs with higher responsibilities and hence status. There has been some progression by women into the higher status, higher-paying jobs but certain barriers still appears to exist which affect the rate of change.     

A Confucian Analysis of Chinese Tourists’ Motivations

Studies to date of Chinese tourists as new consumers in the travel marketplace have been largely framed in the context of Western theories. This study initiates a qualitative inquiry to develop a conceptual framework for understanding Chinese tourists’ motivations. The study is informed by Confucian doctrines and extant motivation theories, and substantiated by empirical findings from 79 in-depth interviews. Seen from the perspective of Confucianism, the framework illustrates that the motivations of Chinese tourists arise as a result of the gaps between the Way (the ideal end-state) and ways (the actual state). Tourism is a functional means to bridging multiple gaps perceived in inner as well as outer cultivation. Four conceptual themes are examined as propositions from the framework.