Understanding seasonal work: a study on Nordic ski instructors in Lofer

Pedersen, Alexander Dige

4. term

Tourism, Master

2024

2024-05-30

53 pages

Seasonality has always been influencing the tourism industry significantly, by affecting the demand structures of tourists according to change in weather conditions and other factors influenced by the calendar year such as public holidays. Within the literature on tourism seasonality is being associated with various challenges. The changing demand structures results in uncertainty and inconsistencies for tourism organizations, resulting in unstable revenue streams and a varying need of workforce. The inconsistency in the need for employees can be very challenging, since it may decrease the loyalty of the workforce, when you are unable to offer work throughout the whole year. In an industry where success is closely related to employee performance this is a significant challenge, which makes it relevant to study. This thesis aims to understand a certain group of seasonal workers. With the help of practice theory, Nordic seasonal workers will be investigated during their time as ski instructors during the winter season at the Austrian ski resort in Lofer. The practice among these workers will be investigated throughout focus group interviews, and the findings will be analyzed with the help of relevant literature on seasonal labour, retention, place attachment, and more. This way the thesis will contribute to theory building, by investigating a group of seasonal workers with a new perspective. The literature will be utilized to understand and analyze the practice and how these Nordic workers engage with it, and how they produce meanings about it. During the process a new type of seasonal workers has been identified as: Nordic privileged lifestyle-oriented temporary seasonal workers. The key concepts of the social constructivism will be affecting this study, to understand how the Nordic seasonal workers socially co-construct these meanings within the practice, and how they socially affect the practice in general. The process with this thesis was mainly influenced by the inductive approach, as the case was approached with an open mind, and started with the data collection. First thereafter relevant theories were found to help with the analyzing process of the collected data, in order to answer the research question. The analysis enlightened a clear challenge in maintaining these Nordic privileged lifestyle-oriented temporary seasonal workers as permanent workers, since their approach towards the practice is affected by a temporality, which seems rooted in their mindset. However, the importance of the strong social community within the practice, seems to be key to strengthening the intention to return for this type of workers, as this proved to be what was most important among them.

Seasonality ; Skiing ; Worker behavior ; Practice theory

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