Do Gen Zs feel happy about their first job? A cultural values perspective from the hospitality and tourism industry

What is it about?

Generation Z’s role in the emerging workforce tends to get attention of both researchers and professionals. The influences of Cultural Values on intern students’ Subjective Well-being (SWB) which in turn, predicts their future job intentions in this industry appears to be an untouched research area in relative term. This paper addresses a research gap by identifying the influences of cultural values on the SWB of intern students which, in turn, affects their future job intentions in the hospitality and tourism industry. It provides empirical insights into the way that Generation Z’s SWB is influenced by the Cultural Values with specific references to the Chinese intern students in Macau. Findings show that Chinese intern students’ average SWB in the workplace was above average. It also suggests that two cultural dimensions can be identified as playing a significant and salient role in shaping their SWB in the workplace as well as their future job intentions, namely, attitudes towards work, and job-related face values. However, no significant relationships with the other three dimensions of CCVs were found to influence their SWB or future job intentions, namely, attitudes towards people, moral discipline and status and relationship. This research results may lack generalizability because the respondents chosen in Macau cannot be fully representative of Chinese Generation Z. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to widen the respondent base. Furthermore, cultural influences are tempered by many macro-contextual factors. Although this study focuses on unpacking Generation Z’s mental status from the level of national culture, other factors such as organizational considerations warrant future academic attention.

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