A Sustainable Tourism Workforce: Current issues

This book brings together issues of social justice and the neglect of a sustainable orientation to the tourism workforce. This has resulted in an impoverished, unsustainable, and transient workforce that does not meet the aims of UN sustainable goals within the sector or indeed the UNTWO Code of ethics towards its employees.

The introductory review and 15 chapters in this volume each make a unique and distinct contribution to knowledge. The opening review presents a critique of current definitions of sustainability in an employment, and specifically in a tourism employment context, acknowledging and critiquing extant literature. It uniquely recognises the themes submitted on the topic of sustainable work in the book, as well as those which comprise the final selection of chapters. These exercises culminate in the presentation of a refreshed conceptualisation of sustainable employment. The chapters were mapped onto a proposed conceptual framework, which recognises the multi-dimensional influences of the evolving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), recent Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM) and tourism literature, and fresh contributions to theory. Additionally, the introductory review offers concluding remarks that the authors hope will influence and guide future research endeavours.

The book will be invaluable to educators, students and policymakers interested in information and guidance on managing sustainable tourism. Several chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism.

Shelagh Mooney is Associate Professor at the School of Hospitality and Tourism, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. Shelagh’s research is focused on diversity and sustainable workforce issues. Shelagh is interested in how gender intersects with other aspects of individual identity and the interactions between individual, organisational and societal levels.

Richard N.S. Robinson is Associate Professor at The University of Queensland Business School, Australia. Richard’s research explores tourism and hospitality workforce issues including sustaining employment for disadvantaged groups and culinary workers.

David J. Solnet is Professor at The University of Queensland Business School, Australia. David’s research focuses on hospitality and service employees, work and employment, focusing on human resource management, service climate and culture and generation Y and Z.

Tom Baum is Professor at the Department of Work Employment and Organization, University of Strathclyde, Scotland, and Distinguished Visiting Professor in the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He is interested in the relationship between work and its wider social, cultural and economic context in frontline services.