Job Satisfaction and Gender in Tourism: A Case Study in Eskişehir

This research aims to characterize and compare job satisfaction levels of workers in the tourism sector among a representative sample of male and female employers in Eskişehir which has a great domestic and international tourist potential, being a province that was chosen the Capital of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013 by UNESCO. This research is a survey-based, descriptive study. Within the study, an online self-completion survey and a cover letter were given to 80 male and 32 female employees in the tourism industry of the city. Respondents were asked for rating their work happiness on a 5-point Likert scale that had been previously constructed and tested as a measure. The data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS; Version 24.0). Findings show that women have a higher level of job satisfaction than men, similarly to the literature. However, this difference is not at a meaningful degree, statistically. As a result, unlikely the previous studies, neither a correlation nor statistically significant relationship between gender and the job satisfaction in tourism sector is found in Eskişehir province.