A Study–Life Conflict and Its Impact on Tourism and Hospitality Students’ Burnout and Their Employment Aspirations

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the issue of study-life conflict and its negative consequences on students’ attitudes towards their studies and future employment in the tourism and hospitality industry. It also seeks an answer to the question: what may contribute to experiencing such a conflict by tourism and hospitality students. Therefore, in this study, a research model was developed and tested that measures relationships between tourism and hospitality students’ current working experience and study–life conflict and analyzes its relationships with students’ burnout and their employment aspirations. Data were collected through a questionnaire from tourism and hospitality students of a Higher Educational Institution of Northern Poland. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships between the study constructs. This study demonstrated that due to the competing demands of both the study and social life roles, students may experience the study–life conflict that may be additionally boosted by their current working experience. It was also reported that experiencing the study–life conflict may result in students’ burnout that exerts a significant and negative impact on students’ employment aspirations. As far as the authors know, such research concerning the issue of the study–life conflict experienced by tourism and hospitality students and its consequences for students’ burnout and its detrimental impact on employment aspirations has not been conducted before. This study is also the only one that simultaneously measures the relationships between the proposed constructs based on data from students in Poland.