Confucianism and Generation Y: how do two contrary value sets influence the hotel industry and East Asian young employees. Issue 4 (4th July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ryu, Kisang; Zheng, Zhongyi; Han, Seunghoon
• Is Part Of: Journal of tourism and cultural change. Volume 17:Issue 4(2019)
• Page Start: 394
• Page End: 415
• Publication Date: 2019-07-04
• Subjects: East Asian employees -- Confucianism -- Generation Y -- hotel industry -- Australia; Tourism -- Periodicals; Heritage tourism -- Periodicals; 306.481905
• DOI: 10.1080/14766825.2019.1591685
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1476-6825

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The generational diversity has attracted attention from academics, whose work has been largely conducted within Western social contexts, but which implies the importance for business managers to have a thorough understanding of this issue. In Australia, the number of East Asian staff is continuously increasing in the service industries, and most of them belong to Generation Y. Thus, organizations need to gain clear insights into this group, because they may be influenced by two different values in the workplace, Confucianism and Gen Y values. Consequently, the clarification of the possible co-influence of the two values in this group of staff on their attitudes and reactions to employee empowerment is essential if Australia's service organizations are to be able to effectively apply empowerment and ensure a high standard of service quality. For the purpose of clarifying this critical issue, semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data obtained demonstrate that Gen Y values have considerable influence on Confucianism-based Gen Y employees because a higher individualistic sense was presented by those interviewees compared to general Confucianism-based employees. The co-existence of the two values in this cohort is still evolving, and further research on this is recommended.