The mediation role of academic procrastination on the effect of the university students’ long-term orientation to career intention in the tourism industry

Individuals who are trained at university level are expected to work in appropriate jobs for their education. In this direction, a research has been carried out to determine the mediating role of academic procrastination behaviours under the influence of tourism education students' career intentions in tourism. In the descriptive study, the data were compiled with a questionnaire based on the literature. The universe of the research consists of undergraduate and graduate students in Turkey. The target population of the research consists of the students who reregister in the fall semester of 2016-2017 academic year for the Tourism Management program of the Faculty of Tourism and Tourism and Hotel Management program for the Vocational School of Tourism of the two public universities. The questionnaire was applied face-to-face between November 23, December 5, 2016, using the convenience sampling technique. The data of 462 questionnaires were subjected to factor analysis and stepwise regression analysis as well as descriptive statistics. It was determined that 9.3% of the planning and diligence can explain career intention in tourism. In addition, it was found that diligence was a partial mediator. The study concludes with the suggestion that students who want to pursue a career in tourism sector should achieve this not only with their planning but also with their diligence.