Reframing & Advancing Hospitality and Tourism Workforce Research: Toward a More Human‑Centered, Inclusive and Positive Future

Call for Papers – Reframing & Advancing Hospitality and Tourism Workforce Research: Toward a More Human‑Centered, Inclusive and Positive Future

Journal: Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management (JHTM)
Publisher: Elsevier (ScienceDirect)
Journal metrics: Impact Factor 7.8, CiteScore 14.9

Full‑paper submission deadline: 30 October 2026
Anticipated publication: Late 2027

This special issue seeks to rethink and reframe hospitality and tourism (H‑T) workforce research around fair, meaningful, inclusive, and sustainable work rather than chronic crises of precarity and instability. It invites theoretical, empirical, and methodologically rigorous contributions that explore how H‑T employment can be redesigned to support decent work, job quality, wage equity, social protection, and inclusive industrial relations, with clear implications for industry practice and public policy.

Why this issue matters

• H‑T work has long been associated with high turnover, low wages, unstable hours, and difficult conditions, yet research has often stayed at the level of diagnosis rather than solutions.

• Aligning with the International Labour Organization’s Centenary Declaration on the Future of Work, this SI aims to move from “problem‑spotting” to co‑designing positive, inclusive, and sustainable futures for H‑T workers.

• Emerging forces such as automation, generative AI, demographic change, and platform‑based work can be leveraged to redesign jobs, enhance skills, and improve working conditions, rather than simply intensifying precarity.

Core themes and research areas

The SI is structured around five interconnected dimensions of the future of work, adapted from Balliester & Elsheikhi (2018):

• Future of jobs

  • How H‑T job structures will evolve under automation, AI, climate change, and shifting consumer expectations.

  • Pathways to future‑ready job creation for underrepresented groups (e.g., people with disabilities, older workers, First Nations communities).

• Job quality and decent work

  • Designing safe, stable, dignified, and meaningful work in flexible, seasonal, and platform‑mediated H‑T settings.

  • Work design that supports autonomy, skills development, and belonging in diverse cultural and organisational contexts.

• Wage and income equity

  • Reducing income inequality across roles, demographics, and employment types (e.g., core vs casual, migrants vs locals).

  • New compensation models: tip‑reform, revenue‑sharing, performance‑related pay, and recognition of emotional and relational labour.

• Social protection systems

  • Social‑protection models suited to seasonal, freelance, and platform‑based H‑T workers (e.g., portable benefits, healthcare, pensions).

  • Policy instruments that support migrants, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups in the sector.

• Social dialogue and industrial relations

  • Innovative mechanisms for worker voice, co‑governance, and representation (e.g., digital platforms, worker cooperatives, union‑linked apps).

  • Multi‑stakeholder collaborations among governments, employers, unions, and communities to shape H‑T work futures.

Submissions may be qualitative, quantitative, mixed‑method, or rigorously structured literature reviews that point to concrete pathways for research, policy, and practice.

Guest editors

• Prof. David Solnet, University of Queensland, Australia

• Assoc. Prof. Anna Kralj, Griffith University, Australia

• Dr Maria Golubovskaya, Griffith University, Australia

• Dr Ashokkumar Manoharan, Flinders University, Australia

• Dr Olivier Oren, Griffith University, Australia

• Assoc. Prof. Kate Inyoung Yoo, Kansai Gaidai University, Japan

Submission details

• Submission portal: Elsevier Editorial Manager for Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management:
  https://www.editorialmanager.com/jhtm/default.aspx

• When the system opens (1 July 2026), select article type “Reframing & Advancing Workforce Research”.

• Optional extended abstracts (500 words) may be submitted by 9 March 2026 to:
  workloadSIadmin@griffith.edu.au (feedback by 10 April 2026).

• Key dates:

  • Full‑paper submission: 30 October 2026

  • First‑round reviews anticipated by January 2027

  • Special issue publication: late 2027

• All manuscripts must follow the journal’s Guide for Authors and be submitted as original, double‑blind, peer‑reviewed work in the APA referencing style.

This SI is ideal for scholars working on H‑T work, employment relations, human‑centred HRM, decent work, and social‑protection policy, who wish to contribute to a constructive, solution‑oriented agenda for the future of hospitality and tourism workforce research.

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