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The Exploration of Perceptions and Experiences of Migrant Workers in the Bar and Restaurant Industry of Galway city in Ireland

Ogunpaimo, Olaiwola Jamiu (2022) The Exploration of Perceptions and Experiences of Migrant Workers in the Bar and Restaurant Industry of Galway city in Ireland. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

To a large extent, international workers are becoming more common within the Irish hospitality industry. However, globalization is already identified as one of the key factors that are responsible for this occurrence. Several reports have shown that a major employer of migrants in Ireland is the food and beverage (F & B) industry, particularly, the bar and restaurant sector.

In recent times, the study area, which is the city of Galway, was nominated among all the cities in Europe to host the European Capital of Culture in 2020. The same city was described by UNESCO as the film city, and Galway is currently referred to as the Irish cultural heritage. This advancement of Galway city is believed to have a direct and significant relationship with the bar and restaurant sector which forms the largest part of the F & B industry. Despite the international recognition and sectoral advancement, there have been reports on the challenges that migrant workers face in the bar and restaurant industry of Galway city, and till present, scholarly reports on these challenges have been so minimal.

Hence, this research explored the perceptions and experiences of migrants who work in the bar and restaurant sector of Galway city to arrive at suggestions and recommendations that could assist key stakeholders in decision and policymaking. The research is a two-case study, and a positivist approach with a deductive quantitative methodology design was used. An online closed-ended survey with a Yes or No, and 5-Likert Scale was adopted for data collection. The survey was anonymized to protect the identity of the participants. Descriptive statistics were used to report the demographics of the participants, and SPSS was adopted to analyse the remaining data collected to achieve the other objectives of this research. Welch Test was used to test for the hypotheses.

Findings revealed that migrants working in bars and restaurants of Galway city do not agree that their job responsibilities correspond with the wages they receive and their educational qualifications. Although they agree that they are well integrated into various activities that take place at their workplace and despite this, they do not plan to progress their career in the bar and restaurant industry.

As a result, it was concluded that there are still gaps and points to improve with regards to wages paid, and the educational qualification used for the employment of migrant workers in the industry. Therefore, the study recommends that employers in this sector should endeavour to give letter of contract to the migrant workers, and set minimum educational requirements to be used to employ people in the industry, and this should also correspond with wages paid.

Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
Supervisors:
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Email
Ebenade, Kesiena
UNSPECIFIED
Subjects: J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration
H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Specific Industries > Hospitality Industry
H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Issues of Labour and Work > Quality of Work Life / Job Satisfaction
Divisions: School of Business > Master of Science in International Business
Depositing User: Tamara Malone
Date Deposited: 22 Mar 2023 12:15
Last Modified: 22 Mar 2023 12:15
URI: https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/6382

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