Examination of tourism undergraduates’ industry commitment, in the context of China

ABSTRACT Grounded in the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study developed a comprehensive research framework that encapsulated both personal and contextual factors in terms of tourism undergraduates’ commitment to career choice in the context of China’s social and vocational contexts. Applying structural equation modeling (SEM) to the data collected from 446 undergraduate students studying tourism in China, this study shows that “self-interest,” “others’ support,” “social status,” “outcome expectation” and “nature of work” exert significant effects on students’ commitment to career choice. Implications of the findings include suggested interventions in attracting tourism students to persist in their career path.


Introduction
The scope of tourism education has expanded rapidly in terms of offerings of education and training programs; therefore, the importance of discerning students' perceptions and attitudes towards work and careers in the tourism industry should not be overlooked. By learning the actual circumstances of the tourism industry, students could prevent a drastic flux in their career perceptions and/or discouragement from a future tourism career. The tourism programs and industry organizations may lose some highly motivated students and highly skilled employees if they do not try to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of the current students enrolled in tourism educational programs.
Previous career literature in tourism focused on exploring students' general attitudes toward the industry, career prospects, and intention to enter the industry upon graduation (e.g., Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000;Lu & Adler, 2009;Wang & Huang, 2014); in addition, literature showed how different variables such as gender, work experience, and year of study might affect students' perceptions of and attitudes toward the industry. What is lacking is a nomological network that explores the effects of different factors that lay significant influence on the student's career choice (Wan, Wong, & Kong, 2014, p. 2). While the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT, Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) has been typically applied in assessing students' perceptions of their industry commitment in the field of the tourism industry (e.g., Wan et al., 2014), it is noted that this theory was developed in the USA, and is conceptually and empirically anchored in the country's social and occupational contexts. International researchers and practitioners should be careful not to transport the theory to their own contexts without cultural adaptation and modifications (Leung, 1995).
Given the importance of understanding students' perceptions and attitudes toward their career commitment, yet only rare studies have ever been conducted in this regard in China's social and vocational contexts, this study is designed to explore and identify the influential career-related factors grounded in SCCT theory, in terms of their effects on Chinese tourism students' commitments to career choices, in an effort to increase understanding in this area, and to recommend interventions aiming to help encourage Chinese students to make career plans more effectively and efficiently.

Literature review
Past research has defined career choices "as choosing one profession over another" (Choo, Norsiah, & Tan, 2012, p. 17). According to Blustein, Ellis, and Devenis (1989), commitment to career choice can be explained as the ability of an individual to determine his or her job preferences, as well as to have a strong affiliation with specific occupational goals. SCCT, introduced by Lent et al. (1994), is derived from the selfefficacy theory (Bandura, 1986), which defines the factors that influence an individual's career options. SCCT focuses on the interrelationships among various personal, contextual and behavioral variables, which are assumed to impact performance outcome, career interests and choices. According to Choo et al. (2012), there are a few advantages of SCCT: first, social cultural factors were being considered in the SCCT; second, SCCT includes the cognitive elements that focus on self-efficacy and outcome expectation; third, it covers the contextual variables such as ethnic identity, family environment, learning experiences and others. Because of its extensiveness and the complexness of the theory, SCCT has been viewed as the most important career theory (Choo et al., 2012).
In terms of personal factors, one salient SCCT factor impacting one's career choice is self-efficacy. Bandura (1986) defines self-efficacy as an individual's ability to judge his or her capabilities to perform specific actions or designated functions through their beliefs concerning their capabilities. According to Lent and Brown (1996), individuals who had a higher self-efficacy and anticipated positive outcomes would support higher goals. Applying self-efficacy theory, SCCT posits that individuals are more likely to pursue and be successful in occupations for which they had a high self-efficacy (Lent et al., 1994). The second factor is outcome expectation, which, in response to vocational behavior, helps to determine career goals and interests (Gore & Leuwerke, 2000). Bandura (1986) describes outcome expectation as one's beliefs concerning the probable outcomes of particular actions. Lent, Brown, and Hackett (2002) define outcome expectations as an individual's beliefs concerning the consequence or outcome of completing a specific action. According to Lent and Brown (1996), an individual who has a higher self-efficacy and anticipates positive outcomes would support higher goals.
In addition, a large body of research using the SCCT indicates that self-interest has a large impact on career choices (Bandura, 1986;Lent et al., 1994). Sibson (2011, p. 56) observed that the two influential factors with the highest mean score were "enjoyable work" and "interesting work," indicating that individual interest in the choice of a career was of paramount importance, and strongly related to the notion of interest were perceptions of enjoyment. Further, outcome expectation strongly influences self-interest in the area of motivation (Bandura, 1986;Fouad & Smith, 1996). It is inferred that students' personal interests play an important role in students' commitment to career choice.
Besides the personal factors, the nature of work is considered a critical, contextual factor influencing students' career commitment. Wan et al.'s (2014) study indicates that the nature of work contributes significantly to the perceived social status of work. However, in Wan et al.'s study, the construct of "nature of workjob interest" seems to contain two different meanings: one is nature of work and the other is selfinterest, which may require further investigation by breaking up this factor into two separate parts. In a study of Chinese tourism students, Wang and Huang (2014) observed that the students' perceived "nature of work and social status of work" have a significant impact on their career perceptions of the industry. The nature of work in tourism, such as low pay and unsociable working hours, may exert a negative influence on job expectation and satisfaction, and force them to leave the industry (Parsons & Care, 1991). While an individual's career prospects often depend on one's perceptions of the job and the industry (Richardson, 2008), social status could be evaluated by whether an individual had pride in his/her career, if their family members were proud of the job, and if the job was perceived as a respected and an important occupation in society (Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000). Social status could introduce contextual pressures, supports, and barriers related to career expectations (Rice, 1999).
In addition, it is assumed that the support and understanding of the important others of a student (e.g., parents, teachers, and friends) may significantly impact his or her career interest and expectations. The importance of the others' support can be explained with the theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985). One of TPB's core determinants is the "subjective norm," which refers to the perceived social pressure from important others to perform or not to perform a behavior; people are more likely to perform a behavior when they get support from their referents than when they do not (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). Previous studies found that the perceptions and expectations of parents, friends and teachers regarding their students' abilities in academic majors influenced the child's self-interest and career expectation (e.g., Bleeker & Jacobs, 2004;Jacobs, Finken, Griffin, & Wright, 1998;Speering & Rennie, 1996).
China's early tourism education studies discussed both the overall situation of China's higher education in tourism as well as the major problems facing China's tourism education (Chen, 1990;Lew & Yu, 1995;Xiao, 1999;Zhao, 1991). In recent years, more research was conducted in an attempt to understand what factors influenced Chinese tourism students' career perceptions and attitudes (Gu, Kavanaugh, & Cong, 2007;Jiang & Tribe, 2009;Lu & Adler, 2009;Wong & Liu, 2010). For instance, Wong and Liu (2010) examined the perceptions of tourism undergraduates regarding their parental influences and how they predicted their career choice intentions with regard to the tourism industry. It is noted, however, that few researchers have ever attempted to examine the interactive effects of the factors when determining students' career choice or industry commitment.
Based on the conceptual model proposed by Wan et al. (2014), a comprehensive framework is developed to encapsulate the factors already discussed, i.e., working conditions, others' support, and social status (which are contextual variables), and selfefficacy, outcome expectation, and self-interest (which are personal variables). The main purpose of this study is to identify important contextual and personal factors and their interrelationships in impacting students' commitment to career choice in the context of China's tourism industry and education.
While the model focuses on the functions of the contextual and personal factors in students' commitment to career choice, the roles of some categorical variables such as gender, year of study, and work experience are not included as part of the discussion, which does not mean the moderating roles of these variables are not important in the process of a student's career choice (Chuang, Walker, & Caine-Bish, 2009). Internships, for instance, which can be supported by proper career and placement services, enable college students to gain industry-related experience, improve their networking skills in the industry, and increase the rate of job placement upon graduation (Chi & Gursoy, 2009). Kim and Park (2013) examined the impact that undergraduate students' internships have on their perceptions of careers in the hospitality and tourism industry, and observed that desirable social experiences during students' internship periods can ultimately lead to a change in students' perceptions, thereby decreasing negative perceptions regarding various factors relating to a career in the hospitality and tourism industry. Students who experienced internships before they began their formal careers were found to have stronger career goals for the industry than those who did not (Chuang & Dellmann-Jenkins, 2010). Positive perception of the industry as an intern can reinforce a student's aspiration to and prospects for a future career in the industry, whereas negative perception is likely to adversely affect aspirations.
The conceptualization of the interrelationships among the predicting and outcome factors is proposed and outlined in Figure 1. Setting, sample, and data analysis A survey was administered at a university in South China, the data from which were used to test the conceptual framework and hypothetical relations. The questionnaire contains items designed to measure the proposed constructs, i.e., perceived nature of work, significant others' support, social status, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, selfinterest, and commitment to career choice. The items used to measure each construct are gleaned from the previous literature (Kusluvan & Kusluvan, 2000;Taylor & Betz, 1983;Wang & Huang, 2014). Kusluvan and Kusluvan (2000) employed a multi-dimensional attitude scale in their study of Turkish tourism students that addressed factors such as nature of work, social status, outcome expectations, and commitment to the industry. The measurement scales of "self-efficacy" and "self-interest" are based on the studies of Taylor and Betz (1983) and Wang and Huang (2014), respectively.
The first part of the survey addresses students' profile information including gender, year of study, major, and work experience; also included in this part is the single-item variable used to measure students' commitment to career choice ("Do you intend to work in the tourism industry after graduation?"), based on a seven-point scale (1 = definitely no to 7 = definitely yes). The second part of the questionnaire measures students' self-efficacy items with a seven-point scale (1 = not confident at all to 7 = completely confident); the remaining questionnaire items measure the constructs of outcome expectations, perceived self-interest, social recognition, significant others' support and nature of work, all utilizing a seven-point scale from 1 = extremely disagree to 7 = extremely agree.
A total of 29 items are generated to measure these constructs. Among them, the "self-efficacy" items are: How is your self-efficacy in self-appraising your ability, interest and values?; How is your self-efficacy in looking for occupational information?; How is your self-efficacy in terms of goal selection?; How is your self-efficacy in career planning?; and How is your self-efficacy in problem-solving? The "outcome expectation" items include: Promotion opportunities are satisfactory; One can make good money by working in the tourism industry; One can make more money in tourism than in other sectors; It is hard to find tourism jobs; It is hard to find desired jobs. The perceived "selfinterest" contains such items as: Tourism jobs are interesting to me; Working in the tourism industry is enjoyable to me; Working in the tourism industry has long been my dream; I feel enthusiastic about starting my first job in the tourism industry following graduation. Social recognition items are: I talk to my relatives/friends about my major with pride; My family is proud of my profession in tourism; Working in the tourism industry is not valued in society; People working in the tourism industry are not respected by other people. "Others' support" items include: My parents are supportive of my career goal in tourism industry; My teachers encourage me to choose a tourism career; My friends/classmates are supportive of my career. Lastly, the "nature of work" items include: There are no regular working hours; Work pressure is too high; Need to start with lowest position; Working hours are too long; Relationship between managers and staff is poor; Most tourism jobs are low skilled; The working environment is pleasant.
The survey instrument was initially written in English and was translated into Chinese by the researchers, who are fluent in both English and Chinese. A pilot survey was conducted prior to implementing the formal survey. Using a systematic random sampling approach, 30 students from a pre-selected class were selected and asked to fill out the survey and make comments on the survey questions, to make sure all the questions were easily understandable. The questionnaire was distributed in November 2014 to all the tourism freshmen, sophomores and juniors studying at the selected Chinese university. The background information and the purpose of the survey were provided to the students beforehand to ensure they were well informed when providing their responses to the questions. Students were assured that participation in this survey was entirely voluntary and confidential, with no coercion or pressure of any kind to participate; students' names and identifiers were not recorded and the survey was anonymous. To secure a high response rate and accurate sampling without bias, the questionnaire was self-administered and hand-delivered by student coordinators to each class.
To conduct the formal survey, this study employed a convenience sampling technique, in the hope of including all three years' students. Classes were selected to make sure all the tourism students (from freshmen to juniors) were covered, and in each class one student coordinator was assigned to administer the survey. The reason for choosing to conduct the survey in each class is that, in China's colleges, each student is assigned to one unique class till graduation, and it is very convenient and efficient to survey all the students through each such class. A total of 600 questionnaires were distributed and 446 usable surveys were collected, representing a response rate of 74.3%. The respondents comprised the following student rankings: 33.8% freshmen, 42.1% sophomores, and 24.1% juniors. Female respondents represented the majority of the participants in the study (69.9% female students versus 30.1% male students).
Cronbach's reliability test was performed to measure the internal consistency of each of the scales used in this study. Based on the reliability test, two items were removed due to their negative contribution to the scale's overall reliability score. Additionally, values of two "nature of work" items and "social status" items were recoded, ensuring the values were consistent with the other items' values for consequent data analyses. In essence, all 27 items were scaled in the same manner, with "1" representing extremely negative and "7" representing extremely positive.
The data were screened for any violations of underlying assumptions by conducting descriptive statistics analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 20, 2013). All the cases were retained for further analysis. Statistical analytic software was used in implementing structural equation modeling (SEM). The data were analyzed according to Anderson and Gerbing's (1988) two-step approach, involving a preliminary step of confirmatory factory analysis (CFA) to test whether the measured variables reliably reflect the hypothesized latent variables using LISREL (8.80). Construct reliability and validity (of the construct measurements) were tested, as well as the overall goodness of fit of the measurement model based on the construct reliabilities, average variance extracted (AVE), and correlations among the constructs. The structural model was then tested to investigate the relationships among the constructs. The goodness of fit indicators demonstrated a good fit for the structural model. They were inspected based on the indices of χ2/df, p-value, comparative fit index (CFI), normative fit index (NFI), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA).

Results
The summated mean scores of the constructs, from the highest to the lowest, are 4.85 (self-efficacy or SE in short), 4.25 (outcome expectation or OE), 4.25 (commitment to career choice or CCC), 4.03 (self-interest or SI), 3.95 (others' support or OS), 3.92 (social status or SS), and 3.56 (nature of work or NW) (see Table 1). All the constructs' summated means range from 3 to 5, which are considered moderate. The construct with the highest mean is SE and the one receiving the lowest mean is NW.

Measurement model
A CFA for the proposed model of seven constructs -SE, NW, OE, CCC, SI, OS, and SSwas conducted, and the model showed acceptable level-of-fit indices, x 2 (304) = 1261.34, p = 0.01; NFI = 0.91; CFI = 0.93; RMSEA = 0.08, which indicated an acceptable fit (MacCallum, Brown, & Sugawara, 1996). Overall, the measurement model showed an acceptable fit for the data. Convergent validity was assessed by the significant loadings between the observed variables and each latent variable. All the observed variables were loaded and indicated at least 0.40 on their delegated latent variables and were statistically significant (p < 0.01). The composite reliabilities of all the constructs exceeded the cutoff value of 0.70 (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998), ranging from 0.735 to 0.883. Thus, the multiple item scales were acceptable for measuring each of the constructs.

Structural model
The structural model was employed to examine the hypothetical relationships. The results showed that the goodness-of-fit indices (goodness-of-fit statistics: x 2 (312) = 1287.24, p = 0.01; NFI = 0.91; CFI = 0.93; RMSEA = 0.08.) exceeded the acceptable level, suggesting the model is adequate. The variables of self-interest, selfefficacy, and outcome expectation explained 37% of the variance of the variable of commitment to career choice. As for the other endogenous variables, 61%, 70%, and 87% of the variances of outcome expectation, self-interest, and social status were explained by the indicator variables, respectively. Table 2 shows the significant paths with standardized coefficients and t values. There are four types of path relationships in this study i.e., the relationships of contextualcontextual, contextual-personal, personal-personal, and personal-commitment variables. All the paths were shown to be significant.
Specifically, the relationships between the contextual variables, both the indicator constructs of "others' support" and "nature of work," had significant positive influences on "social status" (β os ss = 0.88, t = 16.95; β NW ss = 0.16, t = 3.78): meaning that, if students are assured of strong support from their parents as well as their teachers and friends, and are aware of more positive images regarding the nature of work, they would perceive the social status of the tourism industry more positively.
The relationships between the contextual and personal variables were examined and it was determined that the construct of "others' support" had a positive impact on the construct of "self-interest" (β os si = 0.27, t = 4.13). As for the construct of "outcome expectation," significant impact was evidenced by the variables of "social status" (β ss oe = 0.76, t = 10.97), "self-efficacy" (β se oe = 0.10, t = 2.28), and "outcome expectation" (β os oe = 0.62, t = 3.73).
In terms of the relationships between the personal variables, the variable of "selfefficacy" had a significant impact on "outcome expectation" ðβ se oe = 0.10, t = 2.28), which in turn produced a significant impact on "self-interest" (β oe si = 0.62, t = 7.83).
Regarding the relationships between the personal variables and "commitment to career choice," "self-interest" and "outcome expectation" and "self-efficacy" were found to have positive effects on the variable of "commitment to career choice" (β si ccc = 0.40, t = 4.22; β oe ccc = 0.26).

Direct and indirect effects
Predictors' effects on outcome variables can be either direct, indirect, or both. The direct effect is the pathway from the exogenous variable to the endogenous variable while controlling for the mediating variable, hence is called the direct effect; the indirect effect describes the pathway from the exogenous variable to the outcome through a mediator, hence is called the indirect effect. Table 3 lists the predictor variables that had significant direct effects and indirect effects on the outcome variables. Among these effects: -Others' support had significant direct effects on social status, self-interest and outcome expectation, and indirect effects on outcome expectation and commitment to career choice. -Nature of work had a significant direct effect on social status and indirect effects on outcome expectation, self-interest and commitment to career choice. -Social status had a significant direct effect on outcome expectation and indirect effects on self-interest and commitment to career choice. -Self-efficacy had significant direct and indirect effects on outcome expectation, and direct and indirect effects on commitment to career choice. However, interestingly, the total effect of self-efficacy on commitment to career choice was insignificant (standardized total effect value: −0.10; t value: −1.65). This is because that the direct effect and indirect effect are not consistent: while we generally expect direct and indirect effects to have the same sign, this is not the case in this studythe direct effect is negative and the indirect effect is positive, and the two effects tend to cancel each out. As a result, the total effect is suppressed. -Outcome expectation had a significant direct effect on self-interest, and direct and indirect effects on commitment to career choice. -Self-interest had a direct effect on commitment to career choice.
The results show that the personal variables of self-interest and outcome expectation had significant direct effects on commitment to career choice; outcome expectation additionally exercises a significant indirect effect on commitment to career choice through self-interest. The contextual variables of others' support, nature of work and social status showed significant indirect effects on commitment to career choice.
The Sobel test (Sobel, 1986) was utilized to test the significance of the mediating roles of: social status to the impacts of others' support on outcome expectation, and to the impacts of nature of work on outcome expectation; self-interest to the impacts of others' support on commitment to career choice; outcome expectation to the impacts of social status on self-interest and commitment to career choice, and to the impacts of self- SI = self-interest, SS = social status, OS = others' support, NW = nature of work, SE = self-efficacy, OE = outcome expectation, CCC = commitment to career choice. Effect with an asterisk (*) means not significant; all the other effects are significant. efficacy on commitment to career choice. The results of the Sobel tests, including the Sobel test statistics (STS), and their corresponding two-tailed p-values are listed below: Others' Support→Social Status→Outcome Expectation, STS = 6.46, p-value = 0.01, significant; Nature of Work→Social Status→Outcome Expectation, STS = 2.05, p-value = 0.04, significant; Others' Support→Social Interest→Commitment, STS = 2.89, p-value = 0.01, significant; Outcome Expectation→Self-interest→Commitment, STS = 3.80, p-value = 0.01, significant; Social Status→Outcome Expectation→Self-interest, STS = 6.31, p-value = 0.01, significant; Others' Support→Outcome Expectation→Self-interest, STS = 3.21, p-value = 0.01, significant; Others' Support→Outcome Expectation→Commitment, STS = 2.20, p-value = 0.03, significant; Social Status→Outcome Expectation→Self-interest, STS = 6.31, p-value = 0.01, significant; Self-efficacy→Outcome Expectation→Commitment, STS = 1.80, p-value = 0.07, not significant.
The Sobel tests show the significant mediating roles of the three variables, i.e., social status, self-interest and outcome expectation. As a result, except for self-efficacy, all the other variables showed significant direct and/or indirect effects on student's commitment to career choice.

Discussion and conclusion
Based on the Social Career Choice Theory and previous studies concerning tourism students' industry commitment, this study examined the roles of personal factors (selfefficacy, outcome expectation, and self-interest) and contextual factors (nature of work, significant others' support and social status) on students' commitment to career choice in the context of China's social and occupational context. To recall, self-interest influenced commitment to career choice; outcome expectations influenced self-interest and commitment to career choice; others' support influenced outcome expectations via social status, then influenced self-interest and commitment to career choice; nature of work influenced social status, and then influenced outcome expectations.
The findings indicate that many tourism students in China may not hold positive perceptions concerning their future careers in the tourism industry. This has indicated serious implications for students, education providers, and the tourism industry. If potential students were losing interest in tourism education, education providers would find it difficult to recruit students and would lose vigor in designing high-quality programs. Ultimately, the tourism industry would find it difficult to seek or keep qualified employees to meet customers' expectations of service and satisfaction. Future research, focused on students who show a strong interest in the tourism industry and other positive underlying reasons toward the industry, would provide further insight into how to encourage positive perceptions among students who lack self-interest in the tourism industry.
Students' perceived nature of work had effects on perceived outcome expectations and self-interest via the variable of perceived social status, which in turn influenced their commitment to career choice. One implication is, in order to enhance students' career commitments to the tourism industry, industry leaders and educators should improve the image and prospects of the tourism industry as well as its social status. For instance, Litteljohn and Watson (2004) argued that educators' role of enhancing employability is more than just providing students with a skill base; it is about educating them for "appropriate attitudes and aspirations to guide their career trajectories and industry vision" (p. 412). Tourism educators may consider holding more seminars and workshops by inviting successful tourism professionals and companies to the classroom, sharing their stories with students. It is believed that a better recognition of the image and nature of tourism work, as well as a better defined tourism career prospect, would positively influence students' career commitments in the tourism industry. Students in general look for jobs that offer good career prospects and which are promising career prospects that would definitely help increase their intention to enter and commit to the tourism industry (Wan et al., 2014).
Notably, the effects made by self-efficacy occurred at a nuanced level, which is not consistent with the findings of previous studies (Chuang et al., 2009). This may be because students who perceive high self-efficacy believe they are overqualified for the tourism industry given the lowly perceived nature of work and social status of tourism jobs by Chinese students (Wang & Huang, 2014). This may also have to do with the intervention of an erroneous variable Guanxi (network of relationships), which can be attributed as a unique Chinese business culture. If a student in China does not have the right Guanxi network working for him or her, the student may not perceive satisfactory outcome expectations or be confident in securing a job even when he or she possesses high confidence in self-efficacy. In the context of Chinese students, future research may consider adding Guanxi as a control variable in coping with the confounding issue. Yet, hopefully, this situation may gradually change along with the country adopting a mature market economy and the tourism sector encountering fierce competition.
Educators in China have the highest levels of public respect (Coughlan, 2013); correspondingly, Chinese educators and colleges are deemed to bear high responsibility in taking care of students' campus life, study, and their future careers. That said, what is taught in class about the industry may directly affect students' perceptions of factors such as the nature of work, social status, and career expectations, and Chinese students (and their parents) tend to greatly rely on their teachers and colleges for advice about their future careers. The results of this study indicate that, to make students committed to a career choice in tourism, tourism educators in China should make efforts to foster students' interest and prospects in the career. Tourism educators need to identify students who perceive negatively the nature of the work and the industry's social status; in addition, to identify those students who choose the major unwillingly, then formulate methods by which to enhance the interest and perceptions of these students based on how their inadvertent decisions affect their future career perceptions.
Tourism undergraduates in China rely on the schools and their advisors/teachers to know and connect with the industry. A successful tourism program should not only teach students how to grasp the required knowledge, skills and competencies, but, more importantly, ensure students and their parents good career prospects. The schools should be well aware of students' actual perceptions of the nature of work and the social status of the industry; whenever necessary, they should correct any misconceptions held by students regarding the industry and convey their major concerns to the industry.
In the survey, some of the students offered comments on their career choices, complaining about their school's limited information on the industry, few communications with tourism professionals and industry leaders, or little chance to do an internship in well-known companies or in a competitive position; some students reported that they are not clear about their future career paths or not confident in their competency in the real workplace. Results of the descriptive statistics analysis also indicate that tourism students may hold a negative or lukewarm image of the industry. Therefore, a successful tourism program should be able to directly address students' concerns in these regards, for instance, by providing students with good advice services and well-tuned internship opportunities, to strengthen effective communications with the parents, providing them with more positive information about the industry. These efforts will hopefully enhance students' self-interest and outcome expectations, and will in turn strengthen their career commitments in the tourism industry.
The effects of the nature of work, social status, and the others' support are closely related to the socioeconomic status and actual impacts of the industry. From the industry's perspective, it is highly recommended that the industry share the concern with tourism educators, by providing up-to-date information on the industry and its positive impacts on the society and economy, well-planned internship opportunities, and job opportunities for tourism students. Educators need to make efforts to invite industry leaders and entrepreneurs to the schools, for instance, by serving on tourism schools' industry advisory boards, paying regular visits to the schools, making guest lectures and providing internship opportunities to students. The universities need to take the initiative and be more proactive in public relations, to establish relationships not only with the industry, but with the media as well to enhance the image of the tourism major.
This study posited and empirically confirmed that the predictive model of students' commitment to career choice, in the context of China, should include some important factors such as students' self-interest, the social status of a tourism career, and others' support. Students' self-interest is a significant predictor of commitment to career choice, which should be measured as a separate predictive variable. In addition to the perceived nature of work, this study identifies social status and others' support as two important contextual variables that should be included in the predictive model of students' career commitment. It is recommended that future studies on Chinese tourism students' career commitment should incorporate the variables of self-interest, the perceived social status, and others' support. This study presents a theoretical framework that provides a centralizing structure through which one can better understand what and how important factors may significantly affect Chinese tourism students' industry commitment. While the study was conducted in China, it is suggested that future research delve into testing the theoretical framework to further verify the validity of the measurement model as well as the predictive model in different social and vocational contexts, to consolidate the conceptual model and better understand how to assess undergraduate tourism students' overall career commitment worldwide.
This study focused on examining the interactive roles of self-interest, outcome expectation, self-efficacy, nature of work, social status and the others' support on students' industry commitment. However, it is acknowledged that students' career choice is a complicated process, in which other factors may also interfere. For instance, work experience has been stressed in tourism literature in terms of their impacts on students' perceptions of the industry. For instance, Kozak and Kizilirmak (2001), cited in Roney and Öztin (2007) observed that Turkish tourism undergraduate students' work experience as trainees in the industry affected their perceptions in a negative way; Jenkins (2001) noted that, in the UK and the Netherlands, hospitality students' perceptions of the industry tended to deteriorate as they progressed in their studies. It is reasonably assumed that students' status variables, such as work experience, year of study, gender, and work experience, may moderate the relationships between the SCCT variables and students' industry commitment. It is recommended that, to be of more practical significance, future research should further explore the moderating effects of these variables. One limitation of this study is that the sample of tourism students was collected from a single university in China; caution should therefore be taken when interpreting the results. However, this study is significant as the university is a national tier-one university in China, with students coming from all different areas of the country.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.