Comprehensive Literature Review: Part-Time Employment and Students

This literature review explores the multifaceted impact of part-time employment on students, examining the factors influencing their decisions to work and the consequences on their academic and personal lives. The review synthesizes research from various scholars, including Shaw and Ogilvie, Robotham, Curtis, and Barron and Anastasiadou, highlighting the interplay of financial needs, gender, family background, and ethnicity in shaping students' choices. It analyzes both positive and negative aspects, such as the development of work-based learning skills and the potential for increased stress and time constraints. The review concludes that while challenges exist, part-time work generally offers more benefits than drawbacks, particularly in terms of skill development and future career prospects. The analysis underscores the importance of understanding these dynamics to support students in balancing their studies and employment effectively.

Running Head: LITERATURE REVIEW ON PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT
LITERATURE REVIEW ON PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT
NAME OF THE STUDENT
NAME OF THE UNIVERSITY
AUTHOR’S NOTE

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ABSTRACT
There has been a lot of research on the aspect of Part-time work and how it affects the students.
The decision to take up part time work is a conscious decision and a number of factors affect the
students to take up part time work. These decisions might be based on a number of factors such
as the gender, family of origin, ethnicity, and country of origin. These factors lead to the students
deciding upon taking a part time work. There are both positive as well as negative aspects of
taking part time job but the positive aspects are more than the negative aspects.

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
DISCUSSION..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

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INTRODUCTION
The decision to take up part-time work is a carefully thought after decision and the
students decide to do part-time work based on numerous factors. These factors crucially point
out the aspects, which affects the ability of the students to balance both the studies as well as the
part time work. The research done by eminent scholars reveals the aspects, which affects the part
time work. The part time work brings both positive as well as negative aspects and all these
aspects are analyzed and evaluated in order to ascertain the effect of part time work on a
student’s life.
DISCUSSION
Shaw, S. and Ogilvie, C., 2010. Making a virtue out of a necessity: Part time work as a site
for undergraduate work-based learning. Journal of European Industrial Training, 34(8/9),
pp.805-821
The research done by Shaw and Ogilvie (Shaw and Ogilvie 2010) attempted to research
on the factors, which detracted the students doing part time work from their studies and
highlighted evidences to prove their point. The research also attempted to understand the
potential of the Work Based Learning (WBL) and whether part time work enables the students in
their learning process.
The methodology followed by the researchers in this research has been to study the
related information regarding the research from the secondary sources, most notably the existing

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literature on Work Based Learning. The other researchers used the primary sources as their
sources for gathering information.
The key findings of this research has been the ascertaining of the fact that Work Based
Learning approach does help the students benefit both in their studies as well as their learning
gathering skills. This further helps them in their performance, job satisfaction reward and
prospects in their future endeavors. This is in conformity with the other findings of the other
researchers who also found that the part-time work helps the students in their learning process.
Robotham, D., 2012. Student part-time employment: characteristics and consequences.
Education+ Training, 54(1), pp.65-75.
The research conducted by the researcher David Robotham attempts to examine the
impact the part-time work has on the studies of the students doing the part-time work. The
research conducts surveys on the part-time employees to ascertain whether stress affects their
studies (Robotham 2012).
The methodology used by the researcher consisted of a Web-based survey of the full-time
undergraduate students who were enrolled in any of the post- 1992 university in the United
Kingdom. It differs from the methodology of the other researchers because the other researchers
used different methodologies other than web-based survey.
The key findings of this research are that the students who were involved in part-time
work were staying for longer duration in their work than in their classrooms and studies.
However, the research concludes with the finding that the overall positive aspect of the part-time
work outnumber the negative aspects of the impact which the work has in the studies.This is in

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conformity with the findings of the other researchers that part-time work helps the students in
their future endeavors and academic careers.
Curtis, S., 2007. Students' perceptions of the effects of term-time paid employment.
Education+ Training, 49(5), pp.380-390.
The research conducted by Susan Curtis attempts to find out the perceptions of the
students regarding the impact of the part time work on their academic careers (Curtis 2007). The
research was done in order to ascertain whether the increasing debt owing to lack of financial
contribution from the parents is forcing the students to take up part-time work. The financial
aspect of taking part-time work plays a dominant role in the student’s life. Many of the students
coming from economically poor households opt for taking part time work to support their
studies.
The methodology followed by the researcher involved the questionnaire-based approach
and 336 undergraduate students were surveyed by the questionnaire. This approach is different
from the other methodologies, as all the other researchers have used different methodologies to
conduct their research.
The key findings of this research are that the general perception towards part-time work
among the students is positive with the majority of the students stating that the positive aspects
of part-time work are far more than the negative aspects. The other findings of the other
researchers are also in alignment with this finding.
Barron, P. and Anastasiadou, C., 2009. Student part-time employment: Implications,
challenges and opportunities for higher education. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management, 21(2), pp.140-153.

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The research conducted by Barron and Anastasiadou attempted to analyze the pattern of
the part-time working amongst a group of students who were involved in the hospitality and
tourism courses in the universities in Scotland (Barron and Anastasiadou 2009).
The Methodology involved a questionnaire model wherein the students enrolled in the
hospitality and the tourism management courses were given a questionnaire with the intent to
investigate the impact of part-time employment on their studies. The questionnaire included
questions on demographic background as well as about the level and type of their part time work.
The students were also given open-ended questions to seek their opinions as how to improve the
relationship of the parties who were involved in part-time work.
The key findings of this research were that the female students were more likely to take
up part time studies. This might be due to numerous factors such as gender oppression, the
women not given enough financial support from the parents. The other findings of this research
included that the students from the Eastern European countries who were employed in part-time
job worked for longer duration as compared to their peer group.
CONCLUSION
From the above review of literature on the aspects of part time work, it is observed that
numerous factors are impacting the student’s to arrive at the decision to take up part time work.
This decision is a carefully thought out decision and the decision is based on the aspects
influencing the availability of money, gender, family background, country of origin. There are
certain areas where the research could have been more elaborate such as the role of stress and
financial backgrounds of the students belonging from different ethnic backgrounds. The

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researches reveal that part-time work generally has positive effects on the students rather than
negatively affecting them.

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REFERENCES
Barron, P. and Anastasiadou, C., 2009. Student part-time employment: Implications, challenges
and opportunities for higher education. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 21(2), pp.140-153.
Curtis, S., 2007. Students' perceptions of the effects of term-time paid employment. Education+
Training, 49(5), pp.380-390.
Robotham, D., 2012. Student part-time employment: characteristics and consequences.
Education+ Training, 54(1), pp.65-75.
Shaw, S. and Ogilvie, C., 2010. Making a virtue out of a necessity: Part time work as a site for
undergraduate work-based learning. Journal of European Industrial Training, 34(8/9), pp.805-
821.