Employer Signals and Pre-Application Attraction Among Young People Considering Tourism Employment in Ho Chi Minh City

This study examines whether five perceived employer signals are associated with pre-application attraction and pursuit intention among young people who had applied to, or were considering applying to, tourism companies in Ho Chi Minh City. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted from January to March 2025 with a purposively recruited sample of 306 respondents aged 18-25. The proposed five-predictor model was estimated using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Employer reputation, social-media recruitment information and engagement, career development opportunities, compensation and benefits, and perceived work-life support each showed a positive, individually significant partial association with the dependent construct. Compensation and benefits produced the largest point estimate; however, pairwise coefficient-difference tests were not conducted, so the estimates do not establish a statistically distinct ranking. The model explained 69.8% of the variance in the sample. The non-probability, student-dominant, tourism-oriented sample, single-wave self-report design, and incomplete retained measurement-model documentation limit causal and population-level inference. Tourism employers should provide specific, credible, and mutually consistent information about pay, benefits, schedules, development pathways, and recruitment. The study integrates symbolic, digital, developmental, economic, and work-sustainability signals in a context-bounded model of applicant attraction in an urban Southeast Asian tourism labor market.