The inverted U-shaped relationship between employment quality and subjective well-being among tourism workers: Evidence from China

The inverted U-shaped relationship between employment quality and subjective well-being among tourism workers: Evidence from China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The inverted U-shaped relationship between employment quality and subjective well-being among tourism workers: Evidence from China Jing Wang, Dengming Xie, Haojie Huang, Yiqun Zhuang, Weihan Zhu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9032103/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Although prior tourism research has extensively examined tourist well-being, the well-being of tourism workers, who constitute the backbone of the industry, has received comparatively limited attention. Using microdata from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this empirical study examines the effect of employment quality on the subjective well-being of tourism workers and further explores the underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal a notable departure from the linear relationship commonly assumed in the existing literature: rather than increasing linearly, workers’ well-being exhibits a pronounced inverted U-shaped association with employment quality. Further analysis grounded in Social Cognitive Theory suggests that improvements in well-being depend not only on objective enhancements in employment quality but also on workers’ subjective cognitive processes, in which perceived social fairness, perceived socioeconomic status, and emotional states play pivotal roles. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis indicates that this relationship varies across employment types: the well-being of self-employed tourism workers increases linearly with employment quality, whereas that of salaried tourism workers follows the classic inverted U-shaped pattern. This study extends the scope of well-being research within the tourism labor market and offers important policy implications for improving worker welfare in a differentiated manner and promoting the sustainable development of the industry. Business and commerce/Business and management Social science/Business and management Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology Employment quality Tourism workers Well-being Social cognition Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9032103","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":619233583,"identity":"e2acd795-0958-4f9d-8235-9d9563d7c5b2","order_by":0,"name":"Jing Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"East China Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jing","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":619233590,"identity":"3a2f0e06-05b7-42f5-a132-b0fe2553f5b3","order_by":1,"name":"Dengming Xie","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hainan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dengming","middleName":"","lastName":"Xie","suffix":""},{"id":619233595,"identity":"2f8aba2f-d9d0-421b-839d-4bca69d156ea","order_by":2,"name":"Haojie Huang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xiamen University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Haojie","middleName":"","lastName":"Huang","suffix":""},{"id":619233600,"identity":"c71821d1-d60a-4cd1-beee-67356ba56301","order_by":3,"name":"Yiqun Zhuang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yiqun","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhuang","suffix":""},{"id":619233609,"identity":"5c5a5d32-5efa-4433-a995-48db0c2aaec9","order_by":4,"name":"Weihan Zhu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACNv7mg49/VNgwM7Y3HyBOC5/EsWRjhjNp7Mw9xxKI0yLHkKMmzdh2mJ99ho8BkQ5jOMMgXXCGWZp3Bs/HG28Y7OR0GwhpYe49YDyjgs1YcnbvZss5DMnGZgcI2nIuIYHnDE+y4Zyz26R5GA4kbiOsJcfgAG+bRP3+GznPiNZi2MzbZsDMOCOHjUgtwEBmnHEmgZmx55ix5RwDIvwi3998/MeHiv+gqHx4402FnRxBLShAgofIqEHWQqqOUTAKRsEoGBEAAHcIQ4Z//REPAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Xiamen University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Weihan","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-04 15:53:22","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9032103/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9032103/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108401208,"identity":"7b7db3d8-f927-423a-81d8-6356eccf9961","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-04 08:56:41","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":373492,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"RevisedManuscriptCleanVersion.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9032103/v1_covered_f69026be-9479-47de-b80f-ce092f0f8d31.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"The inverted U-shaped relationship between employment quality and subjective well-being among tourism workers: Evidence from China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Employment quality, Tourism workers, Well-being, Social cognition","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9032103/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9032103/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eAlthough prior tourism research has extensively examined tourist well-being, the well-being of tourism workers, who constitute the backbone of the industry, has received comparatively limited attention. Using microdata from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this empirical study examines the effect of employment quality on the subjective well-being of tourism workers and further explores the underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal a notable departure from the linear relationship commonly assumed in the existing literature: rather than increasing linearly, workers\u0026rsquo; well-being exhibits a pronounced inverted U-shaped association with employment quality. Further analysis grounded in Social Cognitive Theory suggests that improvements in well-being depend not only on objective enhancements in employment quality but also on workers\u0026rsquo; subjective cognitive processes, in which perceived social fairness, perceived socioeconomic status, and emotional states play pivotal roles. 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