Mobility of tourism academics in the United Kingdom higher education environment

Introduction

Universities are key stakeholders of the knowledge economy (Kleibert, 2021). Some destinations such as the United Kingdom are particularly benefiting from this economy (Kozak & Kozak, 2017). Mobility is not just a Higher Education Institution and/or student matter, but also an academic career key topic, as quite often faculties have to move from an institution to another to progress in their career (Ladkin & Weber, 2009), when internal progression is not possible (Henningsson & Geschwind, 2021). This study which is articulated around two main research questions:

Research Question 1: What are the tourism hubs in the United Kingdom Higher Education environment?

Research question 2: how are academics circulating amongst these hubs?

This study is of importance because academic research in tourism has so far failed to address the topic of mobility from a tourism academic perspective.

Methodology

This study on tourism academics labour market in the United Kingdom is based on a netnographic methodological approach, which “seeks to follow group behaviours in the online context” (Torres, 2022, p.191).

Step 1: over the period July 2020 – March 2022, all the jobs in tourism and related topics (113 jobs) advertised on jobs.ac.uk were recorded (Appendix A), and then pinpointed on the map (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Tourism hubs in the UK HE environment.

Source: The author

Step 2: the profile of tourism academics from each university listed in Appendix A has been checked (using both, LinkedIn, and their university profile page) to identify the different institutions they have worked for. The number of profiles checked for each institution was based on the number of jobs in tourism the university advertised. As a result, this study considered 98 profiles, as in some cases a certain number of profiles were not available, and/or the number of jobs advertised by the university is higher than existing member of staff (Appendix B).

Results

The results show that London (hub 1) is the main hub, followed with hub 2 (South East, West Midlands, East Midlands, Yorkshire). In this hub can be found the main recruiters for academic jobs, but also the most visited destinations in the United Kingdom (Statista, 2019 [Online]). This overlap contributes (even if not systematic) to a convergence of ideas between businesses and Higher Education Institutions (Teixeira & Baum, 2001). As for hub 3, it is across Wales and the South West. Finally, hub 4, is in Scotland.

Like hubs in other sectors, these four hubs are well-established and mature, not only because hubs were introduced in the United Kingdom in 1998 with the Competitive White Paper (Keeble & Nachum, 2002; Sadler, 2004), but mainly because the first courses in tourism in the United Kingdom are dating back 1960s (Airey, 2008).

Appendix B reveals that most academics have their first jobs in hub 2. A significant number of them remain within this hub their entire career. When they don’t, they go to hub 3. The two other hubs are way less popular alternative options. This limited mobility of tourism academics is mainly because most advertised jobs are full-time and permanent; and because of the linear/horizontal recruitment of academics in the United Kingdom, which equates with limited promotion opportunities (Keller, Gordon & Storlie, 2013).

Conclusion

This study has three main contributions: First it has identified four hubs within the United Kingdom Higher Education environment. Second, it has identified how academics are circulating amongst these four hubs. Finally, the study has provided a two-step research method that can be replicated in other destinations to identify hubs and mobility within a Higher Education environment.

This study has been carried out during a pandemic period (COVID-19), which has severely impacted Higher Education institutions (Sigala, 2021). A longitudinal study could look at both: first, investigating if these results remain stable a few years after the pandemics; second, adopting a different approach to determine hubs and mobility in the United Kingdom Higher Education environment, and compare them against the findings of this study. Additionally, future research could investigate hubs in other destinations that excel in tourism studies such as China, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Australia, South Africa, United States of America (Shanghai ranking, 2021 [Online]).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hugues Séraphin

Hugues Séraphin is a Senior Lecturer in Event/Tourism Management Studies and Marketing. Hugues Seraphin holds a PhD from the Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (France) and joined The University of Winchester Business School in 2012.

Appendix A.

Appendix A: Recruitment of academics in tourism (and related topics) per university

Table

Name of the University	Number of recruitments (01.07.20–01.03.22)
Anglia Ruskin	3
Birmingham City University	10
Bournemouth University	2
Coventry University	7
London Metropolitan	2
Manchester Metropolitan	4
Nottingham Trent University	1
Queen Margaret University	1
Surrey University	6
University Manchester	1
University College Birmingham	3
University Bedfordshire	2
University Cumbria	3
University Lincoln	3
University of West England	4
York St John University	2
Wrexham Glyndwr University	1
University of Bristol	3
University Wolverhampton	1
University of Sunderland	5
University of Plymouth	3
University Northampton	1
University of Greenwich	3
University of Gloucestershire	1
University Est London	1
University of Chester	1
University Central Lancashire	1
University East London	1
Teesside University	1
Swansea University	5
Stratfordshire University	1
Solent University	1
Sheffield Hallam university	1
Robert Gordon University	1
Queen Margaret University	1
Oxford Brookes University	5
Nottingham Trent University	1
Leeds Beckett University	2
Hertfordshire University	1
Glasgow Caledonian University	2
Falmouth University	3
Edinburgh Napier University	7
De Montfort University	1
Cardiff Metropolitan University	1
Buckingham New University	2
Abertay University	1
TOTAL	113

Source: The author

Appendix B.

Journey of academics in tourism (and related topics)

Table

Profile considered for the study	98
Number of profiles not available	5
Nb. of existing member of staff lower than Nb. of jobs advertised	10
Gender	Male: 44
	Female: 54
Title	Professor: 13 Associate Professor: 32 Senior Lecturer: 26 Lecturer: 27
Mobility 1 (1^st job)	Hub 1: 16% Hub 2: 50% Hub3: 19% Hub 4: 13%
Mobility 2	Hub 1: 13% Hub 2: 28% Hub3: 14% Hub 4: 5%
Mobility 3	Hub 1: 4% Hub 2: 15% Hub3: 5% Hub 4: 3%
Mobility 4	Hub 1: 1% Hub 2: 3% Hub3: 1% Hub 4: 2%

Source: The authors