The Sense of Belonging Amongst Tourism Students in Brazil: An assessment comparing perceptions of bachelor and associate degree students.

Edar Da Silva Añaña,Patrícia Schneider Severo,Gustavo Da Rosa Borges,Simone Portella Teixeira De Mello

doi:10.14210/rtva.v21n3.p218-238

Abstract

Abstract: This work analyzes the profiles of undergraduate students of tourism at two public universities in the south of Brazil, aiming to understand the motivations that led them to choose a career in tourism, and how they integrate themselves into the social fabric and appropriate the university as their own. It is a descriptive and predominantly quantitative study, focusing on undergraduate students enrolled in different types of career paths: a bachelor’s degree and a technologist degree (similar to an associate degree) in tourism. Primary data on the students were collected through a structured questionnaire, with questions related to the students’ personal profiles, their route of entry to the universities, their motivations for studying tourism at those universities, and their sense of belonging to the university and to the city in general. The data were analyzed using Exploratory/Confirmatory Factor Analysis (E-CFA) to test factors brought from the literature, a Structural Equation Model Analysis to assess the relationships between the factors, and mean comparisons to identify significant differences between universities and groups. The results confirmed that the motivations for choosing to major in tourism are influenced by the opinions of others and by the convenience at the university; they also confirmed that the motivations for choosing tourism as a career influence social integration and the sense of academic belongingness.

Highlights

The tourism industry is an important economic activity in Brazil, but recently, it has experienced ups-and-downs
The bachelor in tourism offered by UNIALPHA is a four-year undergraduate course that prepares students for a wide range of career paths, including entrance into master’s programs; the technological degree8 offered by UNIBETA is a two-year program that prepares students for specific activities in the tourism industry
This study analyses the influence of motivations for studying tourism in two public universities in southern Brazil, the relationships between these motivations, and the sense of belonging to the universities and to the towns/cities where they are located

Summary

Introduction

The tourism industry is an important economic activity in Brazil, but recently, it has experienced ups-and-downs. Events such as the World Cup in 2014, and the Olympic Games in 2016, significantly increased visitor numbers and brought major advances for the tourist infrastructure of certain destinations. The tourism industry, as an area of employment, is somewhat ambiguous for staff personnel: it is a glamorous area to work in, but the status and the salaries are low (Riley et al, 2002, in Richardson, 2009). According to Santos, Costa & Malerba (2015), some professionals prefer to work in other areas due to the low wages and the difficulty of advancing professionally in the tourism industry

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion