An Exploratory Research on Social Support Perceptions of Foreign Workers in Tourism Enterprises: The Case of Sinop

With the effect of globalization, migration has become one of the most important events of the modern life. Foreigners started to be seen in the employment markets with the effect of migrations and tourism enterprises became an important field of study for foreign workers. Social support of foreign employees in family, friends and work environment has positive effects on their psychology and performance and facilitates their adaptation with the host community. In this context, the main purpose of the study is to understand the perception of social support in terms of the problems experienced by foreigners working in tourism enterprises in the case of Sinop. For the purpose of the study, in-depth interviews were conducted with migrants and foreign students in Sinop. The collected data were subjected to content analysis. As a result of analysis performed that identified four themes which include the reasons for coming to Turkey, social experiences, study problems and future perceptions. The findings showed that the participants' perception of social support was not low despite problems such as unregistered work, low wages and unqualification. Participants perceived emotional, informational, togetherness and rarely financial support in family, friends and work environments. In addition, the results of the study indicate that the tourism sector is a facilitating and harmonizing field of employment for foreigners, with labor-intensive, seasonal and low-skilled jobs. The study is expected to make original contributions to the literature as it deals with the problem of foreign workers who are subject to very few studies in tourism. As a result of this study, macro recommendations for country policies towards foreign employment and micro recommendations for tourism enterprises employing foreign personnel were tried to be developed.

Keywords

Foreign Workers, Social Support, Tourism Enterprises, Refugees, Foreign Students