Exploring the MICE industry career path

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to explain and resolve the paradoxical situation in China regarding how it is difficult to get an offer of employment in China while people are unwilling to pursue or embark on a career in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry. Therefore, the MICE industry career path should be carefully explored.Design/methodology/approachThe paper used semi-structured interviews with more than 30 representative managers from key MICE companies, a social community perspective and conceptions of the social world combined with the traditional career-ladder model.FindingsThe study’s key findings are: a general career path exists in the MICE industry in China; there are three main types of career paths and two different kinds of promotion mechanisms, which vary according to the type of ownership, scale or other characteristics of companies; and a feedback mechanism, linking social-world events and social community characteristics, affects individual employees and their career paths in the MICE industry, leading to promotion in or retreat from the industry. Typically, the mechanism fits high-level employees better than the freshmen, which leads to high turnover in the MICE labor market.Practical implicationsThis paper provides a better understanding of MICE industry and facilitates people’s employment choices.Originality/valueThis paper provide a new social community perspective for exploring the MICE career path; there are also significant practical implications for MICE elites, which present a new framework for future research and industry applications.