Midday Break

Midday Break: Read and React: “What is my calling? An exploratory mixed-methods approach to conceptualizing hospitality career calling”

Many are feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the events industry workforce. Organizations and venues alike are struggling to hire back employees, recruit new staff, and retain existing staff. Join this PCMA PHL Midday Break to discuss an academic article that studied “calling dimensions” as they relate to advancing the hospitality workforce. According to the article, “Calling has historically been defined as a sense of destiny or prosocial obligation (Duffy et al., 2018); however, calling has more recently been understood as a sense of fulfillment or happiness, emphasizing the current workforces’ focus on meaningful careers (Duffy et al., 2018). Calling has been found to enhance academic satisfaction (Duffy et al., 2011), life satisfaction (Duffy et al., 2017), vocational identity (Galles and Lenz, 2013; Hirschi and Herrmann, 2012) and well-being (Marsh and Dik, 2020). More importantly, previous studies found a sense of calling positively influences critical job-related attitudes and behavior such as career commitment, job satisfaction and turnover (Chen et al., 2018; Duffy et al., 2012).” Join us for this session to discuss this study in more detail and what insights might be gleaned for solving current staffing challenges.

This article was written by: Lindsey Lee, School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Temple University; Sandra Sun-Ah Ponting, L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, San Diego State University; Ankita Ghosh, William F. Harrah College of Hospitality, University of Nevada Las Vegas; Hyounae (Kelly) Min, The Collins College of Hospitality Management, California State Polytechnic, University Pomona. Dr. Lee will join us as the session facilitator.

Click here to view the article.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about “calling identities” as they relate to advancing the hospitality workforce
• Discuss current challenges in staffing in event management
• Consider possible solutions, including “calling identities,” for solving staffing challenges

Dr. Lindsey Lee will participate in this discussion. She is an assistant professor at Temple University’s School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management and focuses on maximizing service performance while supporting employee wellbeing. Dr. Lee’s research interests include identifying management and organizational practices to support employees, implementing emotional labor to manage difficult guests, and employee management training and development.

The PCMA Greater Philadelphia Chapter has been approved by the Events Industry Council (EIC) as a Preferred Provider of this continuing education course, which qualifies for CMP continuing education credit. Determination of continuing education credit eligibility or Preferred Provider status does not imply EIC’s endorsement or assessment of education quality.

Registration Information: Please consider making a donation towards registration for this meeting. Registration fees are a key source of revenue for the chapter. There is a $1.00 minimum. Any amount is appreciated. A Zoom link will be emailed to registered attendees prior to the midday break.