Modeling locational factors for tourism employment

• Reconceptualising tourism employment attractiveness informed by management and organizational behavior principles.
• Introduces location environment fit to complement person-job and person-organizational environment fit.
• Proposes a three-dimensional eight cell model for tourism contexts with supporting propositions.
• Critiques theoretical and practical utility of three-dimensional model in tourism contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to focus attention on developing a workforce development strategy that comprehensively includes the critical determinants of how employees fit a particular job in a particular organization at a particular location. Appropriating the Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) framework, and incorporating person-location with person-job and person-organizational environment fit we present a three-dimensional eight cell model that includes the often neglected influence of job locations on tourism employment decisions. This model, supported by eight propositions, facilitates a multi-level and holistic appraisal of employee fit. The article then discusses the theoretical implications and applications of this model to raise research agendas and practical implications for meeting workforce challenges of tourism organizations, associations and destinations, especially those in remote locations.