Volunteer tourism advisors in Chinese volunteer sending organisations: A role identity perspective

Volunteer tourism has received much attention from academics over the past two decades, however, research on volunteer tourism staff is rare. Understanding staff’s role identities can contribute to hiring, training and retention strategies, but the study of staff’s role identity in the tourism sector is largely under-researched. Moreover, the literature about Chinese volunteer tourism and Chinese staff’s role identity is novel. This working paper presents a conceptual framework which guides the research to understand the role of advisors in Chinese volunteer sending organisations through the lens of role identity. The research aims to contribute to the knowledge of volunteer tourism staff and role identity theory in a Chinese context.