"New kids on the ship": Organisational socialisation and sensemaking of new entrants to cruise ship employment

Matuszewski, Imke and Blenkinsopp, John (2011) "New kids on the ship": Organisational socialisation and sensemaking of new entrants to cruise ship employment. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 18 (1). pp. 79-87. ISSN 1447-6770

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Abstract

Drawing upon the organisational socialisation and sensemaking literatures, this article examines the implications of potential mismatches between prospective cruise workers' perceptions and their subjectively defined reality of working on board. The study reveals how individuals make sense of this mismatch and how they define their onboard experiences. Participants, who were former cruise ship workers, were asked about their perceptions and expectations relating to working on board — before joining the ship, while on board and after returning home. Though claiming to have few prior expectations, direct questions about surprises when joining the ship highlighted that participants had tacit expectations. Participants differentiated between working and living on board, and although their expectations of work were realistic, their expectations of life on board proved unrealistic. Their awareness of being in an unusual working environment led them to describe the cruise ship as another world, which was described as impossible for people who had not lived in that world to understand. The liminality of their situation, betwixt and between two social worlds, appeared an important feature of their sensemaking, although in many cases it was not until they returned home that they fully recognised this. This revealed a mismatch not only between their tacit expectations and experienced reality, but also between the cruise ship workers and their peers and family back on land. Reflecting on their return home, participants displayed a degree of nostalgia for working on board, and romanticised about cruise ship life which was portrayed as carefree and secure, involving both freedom and captivity.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Published online 17th April 2013.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	cruise ship employment; cruise tourism; organisational socialisation; sense–making
Subjects:	C800 Psychology N100 Business studies
Department:	Faculties > Business and Law > Newcastle Business School
Depositing User:	Paul Burns
Date Deposited:	01 Nov 2016 16:07
Last Modified:	19 Nov 2019 09:52
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/28330

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