Human resources and workforce shortages in Jeju Island due to islandness: The challenges faced by former hospitality and tourism professionals

Abstract

Workforce management is a problem in many islands. Although the Jeju tourism department and local business offer attractive promotions and opportunities, due to the demands faced by tourism professionals, many have left their positions in Jeju and returned to the mainland Korean peninsula. The purpose of this study is to explore the motivations, career decisions, and turnover behaviours of a group of former tourism professionals who had previously worked in Jeju for a period of less than two years. Based on social cognitive career and motivation theory, the study was guided by two research questions: 1) Why did the participants leave their positions in Jeju after less than two years of career development? and 2) How did the participants describe their working and living experiences in Jeju as professional tourism workers? The data from 42 participants indicated that overloaded responsibilities and unbalanced schedule, financial consideration, and personal consideration were the three major reasons for leaving Jeju. This study aims to help local businesses and governments to understand employees’ motivations, career decisions, and turnover behaviours. Further, this research seeks fill gaps in the literature regarding workforce shortages and tourism management for islands and remote regions, particularly in East Asia.

Indigenous Island Autonomy and Special Economic Zone Status: Developmental tensions of Jeju Free International City, South Korea

“…Other scholars have fruitfully studied Jeju's development from different perspectives, including different perspectives within island studies (e.g., Tran, 2022;Dos Santos, 2022;Lee, 2020;Paik, 2020;Lee et al, 2017;Jung et al, 2018). Our own choice of an island studies perspective is linked both to our conviction that Jeju can help shed light on certain knowledge gaps within island studies and to our belief that research from island studies can assist in understanding why Jeju has developed in certain ways.…”

“…Over the past two years, even during the pandemic, house prices on the island rose spectacularly (Korea JoongAng Daily, 2021), driven by both Chinese property speculation (Yoon, 2021;Shin, 2021) and substantial immigration from the mainland. High demand for property, dependence on the relatively low-wage tourism industry, and a preponderance of self-employed individuals combine with the high prices and costs of living commonly associated with island communities (Dos Santos, 2022) to make life in Jeju difficult for a great many residents, incomers and Jeju natives alike. Exacerbating this problem have been Jeju's deep income inequalities (Jeju Branch Office of Bank of Korea, 2015), hardly surprising in light of efforts to attract wealthy individuals.…”

Islanders Come Back to the Mainland: Social Identity in the People of Jeju in Mainland Korea

“…People from mainland Korea may stigmatize and discriminate against people of Jeju due to their differences, social identity, and sense of collectivism. As a result, the people and the industry of Jeju have developed their own pathways through tourism and small businesses (Dos Santos, 2022). As the central government does not contribute many resources (S.-P. Kim, 2020;Song, 2018) to the educational system, many local residents continue with their own language and sociocultural practices without significant interruption from the mainland.…”

“…The mainland people always believe Jeju is a land of cows, pigs, and chickens…some of them believe we all have farms with teas and vegetables…but many of us [people of Jeju] live in the building and work in the business industry…but many called us country boys and rural farmers…it makes me sick (Participant #11) It is also not uncommon that people from rural communities, including the people of Jeju, are asked to go back to their rural communities and islands by people from the capital city. There is a belief in many people from the metropolitan regions that people of Jeju and other rural communities come to the metropolitan to steal their career opportunities: Many island studies (Bettencourt, 2010;Dos Santos, 2022;Kuroda et al, 2021;Song, 2018;Tiku & Shimizu, 2020) have shown that workers and human resources usually want to stay on the mainland, in internship sites and places with work opportunities. However, the participants in this study indicated that returning to their home in Jeju was their priority as many had experienced issues of social identity and social stigma due to their being from Jeju .…”