Kwangsoo Park, Ph.D.

Associate Dean and Director of the White Lodging School of Hospitality and Tourism Management

Introduction

I serve as Associate Dean of the College of Business and Director of the White Lodging School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. I try to operate with open and honest communication, advocate for the HTM and wholeheartedly support our students, faculty and staff.

Research Overview

I have researched on disability inclusion in hospitality and tourism. I investigated how people with disabilities and their family could be better served and how consumers without disability perceive when observing disability-inclusive service provision.

The ultimate goal of my research is to reduce prejudice about disability and enhance quality of experience of consumers with or without disabilities in service provision.

I am thrilled to create an environment where our students thrive, and our faculty and staff find happiness and fulfillment.

Select Publications

Jung, S., Park, K., Lee, Y. (2023). Exploring global trade show website content accessibility and policies worldwide for social inclusion of persons with disabilities. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. [ABDC “A” journal, SSCI]

Heo, Y, & Park, K. (2023). A hedonic analysis of P2P accommodation rates: New approach from a Language Expectancy Theory perspective. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. [ABDC “A” journal, SSCI]

Song, S. & Park, K. (2023). Observing disability inclusion in service provision. Annals of Tourism Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103551 [ABDC “A” journal, SSCI]

Park, K., Jeon., H., & Park, S. (2022). Disability e-Inclusion for accessible tourism websites. Current Issues in Tourism. 25(22), 3571-3578. [ABDC “A” journal, SSCI]

Heo, Y., Kim., B., Park, K., & Back, R. (2022). A comparison of Likert scale and Best-worst Scaling method on P2P accommodation attributes. Journal of Business Research, 148, 368-377. [ABDC “A” journal, SSCI]

Teaching Focus

My primary teaching interest is in hospitality management. I have successfully taught various event and hospitality management courses by using experiential learning methods, including Convention and Meeting Planning; Foundation of Event Management; Food and World Cultures; Hospitality Accounting; Hospitality Sales and Marketing.

I am also developing a Customer Service Experience Management course to be offered.

Fun Fact

I am very passionate about researching disability inclusion. Why? There are more than 25% of adults in the United States have certain degrees of disabilities according to the CDC report. Accommodating consumers with disabilities is no longer a choice as more than one billion people around the world live with a certain level of disability.

As a scholar, I would like to find better ways to provide inclusive service to consumers with disabilities and their families.