In order to foster students’ development and enhance the training quality within tourism programs at universities, this study aims to investigate the relationships among tourism students’ professional identity, academic self-efficacy, learning engagement, and university support. Professional identity refers to learners’ recognition and understanding of their study programs and is viewed as a dynamic, progressive process consisting of professional cognition, professional emotion, and professional appraisal. Data were collected from 333 tourism students studying at Chinese universities. They were analyzed through SPSS and SmartPLS. The results revealed that there is no significant correlation between students’ professional cognition and learning engagement. However, students’ professional emotions and professional appraisals positively influence learning engagement. Moreover, all three dimensions of professional identity exhibit positive effects on students’ academic self-efficacy. Additionally, students’ academic self-efficacy demonstrates a positive impact on learning engagement, and university support is associated with increased learning engagement and academic self-efficacy. This study contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the learning experience of tourism students and aims to facilitate the advancement of tourism education through cultivating students’ professional identity towards tourism and developing students’ career commitment in the tourism industry. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Under the background of higher education reform, undergraduate tourism students’ professional identity may play an important role in affecting students’ learning engagement and the sustainable development of tourism higher education. Data were collected from 551 Chinese undergraduate tourism students to investigate the potential relationships between professional identity and learning engagement. Based on the theory of social identity, professional identity is perceived as a progressive, dynamic process including professional cognition, professional appraisal, and professional emotion. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), and the findings confirmed that professional identity was in positive correlation with employee engagement. Furthermore, the results showed that professional cognition has positive influences on professional appraisal, professional emotion, and learning engagement, and professional appraisal has positive influences on professional emotion and learning engagement. In addition, the mediating effects of professional appraisal and professional emotion between professional cognition and learning engagement were analyzed, respectively. This study contributes to the understanding of the impacts of tourism students’ professional identity on learning engagement. Both theoretical and practical implications are provided.

Learning engagement among university students is a critical predictor of academic success. This study, drawing on responses from 333 questionnaires completed by Chinese tourism students, employs the fsQCA method to construct a configurational impact model of learning engagement, exploring the paths and mechanisms of its influence. The study finds that learning engagement among tourism students is shaped by the combined influence of internal and external factors, with internal factors—such as professional cognition, professional evaluations, professional emotions, and academic self-efficacy—playing a foundational and central role. External factors, such as the university environment, provide additional influence, though their impact varies depending on the type of learning engagement. A high level of learning engagement is associated with two distinct configurational paths, identified as the endogenous model and the endogenous–exogenous promotion model. Having positive professional evaluations and a strong professional identity is found to have a significant positive impact on students’ academic engagement. Conversely, a low level of learning engagement follows three distinct configurational paths, collectively termed the endogenous suppression model, in which a lack of professional emotions and low academic self-efficacy are key inhibitors of academic engagement. Theoretical and practical implications based on the research findings are also discussed.